How Can Understanding Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Let Brands Better Message to Their Audiences?
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After a draining 18 months of a pandemic that has changed everything about how everyone has been working, living, and playing, Suzy wanted to dive deeper into how Americans are feeling about all aspects of their lives.
We wanted to do this through the lens of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which states there are five categories of human needs that dictate behavior: physiological, safety, love, esteem, and self-actualization. These needs build on each other — for example, one cannot feel love until their safety needs are met, nor can they feel safe until their physiological needs are met.
Our survey of 1,000 Americans in early August — a nationally representative sample of US consumers working from home — provides a pulse on how they’re thinking about themselves through those five categories of needs.
Suzy’s CEO and Founder Matt Britton presented results from the survey last Thursday during our State of the Consumer virtual summit, and our survey found, for example, that:
Sixty-five percent of respondents said they feel like they have the freedom to make the decisions they want, which ties into current trends like The Great Resignation and record savings levels in the U.S.
Unsurprisingly, 66% of people are actively thinking about their personal safety as a result of the uncertainty throughout the last year and a half.
So while a good chunk of Americans feel in control of some aspects of their lives, not everything is rosy. For example:
Forty-three percent of women said the pandemic negatively impacted how attractive they feel, with 26% of men saying the same.
One in two people feel that their emotional states have been impacted by the Delta variant.
These findings present opportunities for companies to better tailor their messaging for consumers and to build a more consumer-centric narrative around their brand stories.
“The pandemic has really impacted each and every layer of the Maslow pyramid, and businesses have found ways to plug in and meet the needs of consumers. Now more than ever, we’ve officially crossed over the chasm from an advertising-based society to a content-based society,” Matt said. “Brands need to flip the briefing process from thinking, ‘How do we push our unique selling proposition through an advertising-based environment?’ to ‘How do we add value to consumers’ lives? What does consumer care about when they wake up at six o’clock in the morning?’”
Make sure to watch the recording of Matt's full keynote speech to learn about the rest of the survey results and how brands can use their understanding of Americans’ five categories of needs to create compelling storytelling.
Thanks for joining us and we look forward to connecting again in the future!
For more on how Suzy can help your research team succeed in this ever-changing environment, watch the entire webinar at Suzy.com.
