Health, Wealth and Happiness: Week three
Doug Edmonds, managing director of 2CV reports a dip in the mood of the nation as flooding and festive flu take their toll.
The 2CV Well-Being Index registers at 37 this week, falling 5 points from last week and reflecting the deflated mood of the nation.
When looking at individual aspects, people’s happiness levels have taken the hardest hit this week, sliding 8 points from 50% to just 42% of consumers reporting that they are happy. Wealth (44%) and health (23%) dropped slightly, indicating that the country is recovering from recent events such as the horrendous flooding in the north of England, feeling the squeeze of less money in their pockets in the run up to Christmas and of course, the terrible weather that has descended upon us recently, which no-one is immune to.
Figures show that less than half the people questioned are satisfied with their health, wealth and happiness. Women have suffered the most. Happiness is the most changed aspect this week across all consumers, but a significant drop of 10 points was seen amongst women (down to 44%). After the peak of nearly a third of women being happy with their financial situation (week 2), only 26% of women reported satisfaction with their financial lot. Women did report a three point increase in satisfaction with their health (48%), whereas men’s health dropped 6 points to 40%. Men reported a significant drop in both wealth and happiness also.
The middle-aged group has reported the most significant positive change this week with a 5 point shift in their health satisfaction. Young people in week 3’s Well-Being Index show the biggest change to date, with a dramatic fall of 14 points in health satisfaction (from 61% in week 2 down to only 47%). As the group most susceptible to illness within their working and social environments (offices, restaurants, bars) and also feeling worn down as the end of the year approaches, this could indicate why this steep decline has been recorded. Here are the results by each age category:
Young People
The 14 point slide in reported health levels is of course something that should be considered when targeting this age group. Whether it is festive flu (too much drinking) or that burnt out end of year feeling that is setting in, we will be looking out to see if this fluctuates over the next few weeks. Similar to other groups, young people were the second worst affected by a decline in happiness levels, dropping from 51% to just 43%, yet they still remain the happiest group. Health levels decreased by just two points to 23%.
Middle-aged band
Apart from the 5 point increase in health satisfaction, this age group shows the least satisfaction across wealth and happiness. Week 3 has seen a steep fall in happiness levels with under a third (32%) of consumers reporting they are happy. Wealth has not improved on last week’s score moving up only 1 point to 18%, meaning less than a fifth of 35-54 year olds are happy with their financial situation. This is the lowest score on the Index to date. Marketers need to be aware of these low levels to both entice and engage with 35-54 year olds as they are key decision makers in the purchasing chain.
Grey Market
The increase in health satisfaction means that now well over a third of this group (41%) are content with their health this week. Other aspects show significant slumps in both happiness and wealth satisfaction levels, with financial stability levels dropping by 12 points to 27% and happiness levels down to 51%. We hope to see an increase over the next few weeks in well-being for the Grey Market as Christmas is often a time for family involvement, which should report a peak in overall well-being levels.
