'Restrictions will be the new freedom in malls & cinemas for people', says mcgarrybowen India report

mcgarrybowen India, the creative agency from the house of Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN), has launched its latest report, ‘The New Darwinism’ which uses creativity to predict how human beings will behave once the lockdown is lifted across the country.

The report talks about understanding of future through the lens of present. It gives an idea of post-Covid transformations, changing lifestyles and new work culture. It suggests brands to get prepared for the new behavioural factors, making them easily accepted by their consumers.

Key Behavioural Trends:

• Travel will not focus on exploration and discovery of unknown places as people will look towards their comfort areas. The choice of destination will not be governed by just the quest for unseen but will be guided by cities/places that have a good support infrastructure and bigger hotel chains which can guarantee safety. Experimenting with local or authentic cuisine in a restaurant in a remote area will change to trying out food at safety-certified big restaurants. Since people will be wary of travelling, staycations will rule over vacations.

• Comfort will seep into the realm of fashion and beauty industry as consumers will be less guided by external validation and focus more on what they really like. Party wear will get replaced by more comfortable house party ranges. Fashion may see a rise of the new work from home wear, clothes that are multi-functional, activewear and people might focus on affordability. There will be a resurgence of themes like national pride and sustainability because the pandemic has led to a collective realization of working in harmony with each other. DIY (Do it yourself) beauty products will see more adoption as will ‘do-good’ products rather than ‘look-good’ products.

• For malls and cinemas, restrictions will be the new freedom that people will seek. Restricted seating, restricted tickets/passes and focus on more pre-packaged food at theatres will be asked for. The movie-going occasions will be creatively created as most of the movie releases have been delayed or pushed to next year. Japanese, Korean and international film festivals will be driving the theatre queues as will the replaying of marquee 3D and IMAX based films to bring back the lure of the theatres.

• The need for entertainment is going to redefine the home space. The interest in Smart TVs, Firestick, Chromecast, Xbox and Bluetooth speaker is going to intensify.  When it comes to durable category, kitchen appliances will get a facelift with consumers spending more time in the kitchen and experimenting with food. Hence, oven, microwave and water purifier might get traction, as will durable categories that drive convenience like vacuum cleaners and dish washers.

“We are living in interesting times. The future of Indian businesses is going to be defined and shaped by what we are going through. So we thought, instead of discovering it when it happens, why we don’t start imagining how it will look like. We wanted to create a playbook that brands across different categories can use,” said Nishi Kant, President, mcgarrybowen India.

Adding to this, Pragati Rana, General Manager, mcgarrybowen India, said, “We had a lot of fun while coming up with this report. Not only did we consider the present, we wanted to emphasise on the future and create something that brands and businesses could put to use.”

Report can be found here