Tap into Sentimentality for the Holidays

4A’s Research partnered with Kantar, a leading evidence-based insights and consulting company, to survey 250 consumers on their plans for Halloween, holiday meals, and New Year’s Eve plans, using Express Surveys on Kantar Marketplace.

Halloween

The CDC recently released guidelines for lower-risk Halloween activities, which included home decorating, virtual costume parties, and pumpkin carving. Higher-risk activities include traditional trick-or-treating and attending crowded costume parties held indoors. The respondents are taking heed of these suggestions; the most popular ways they will celebrate are purchasing Halloween candy (42.4%), decorating (28.4%) and staying at home to dress up with other members of their household (24%). Under 10% planned to participate in in-person gatherings of any sort, but nearly 1 in 5 plan to trick-or-treat if the option is available to them.

Holiday meals

Perhaps in an attempt to maintain a sense of normalcy, nearly 50% of those surveyed plan to cook a traditional holiday meal for the upcoming holidays. This is more good news for supermarkets and CPG brands that have already seen a surge due to the increase in cooking at home. The survey also found that 12.4% will go to the home of a family member/friend who will handle the food. Check out our recent survey on winter holiday travel plans to see when, how, and where people plan to spend the winter holiday season.

10% plan to get a take out meal from a restaurant, while 8.4% plan to purchase a ready-to-eat holiday meal from a grocery store. Restaurant brands have found success in providing meal and virtual party planning solutions for recent holidays, such as Passover and Easter.

New Year’s Eve

Staying home with household members (77%) is ranked as the number one New Year’s activity people feel the most comfortable with.

About 10% are ready to throw a party with people outside their household, with 12.8% feeling comfortable to gather with about two to five people not in their household.

With the move of traditional celebrations going virtual, including New York’s Time Square celebration, brands can provide digital solutions and creative experiences for families and friends to celebrate together. Drive-ins are having a renaissance during COVID and professional sports teams are bringing new tailgating experiences to life. There’s ample opportunity for brands to think outside the box and provide safe experiences for consumers during this holiday season.

Tapping into the desire for holiday sentimentality and a sense of normalcy may be the key to incentivizing consumers to make more of an effort to make the holidays special.