Trends Briefing: The Mood of the Nation
Thursday 26th September 2024
0900-1000
It’s been a year, and it’s only September.
In our next trends briefing we’ll be exploring recent trends in consumer sentiment – which in the last few months have been down, then up, then back down – and asking what the mood of the nation means for the next few months and the golden quarter.
The UK public have had a fair bit to think about in 2024. When the year started, we were crawling out of a recession having endured the biggest rise in inflation for decades. Interest rates had surged and prices of essential items, housing costs and energy bills had hit unsustainable levels for millions.
In the spring, inflation started to fall, substantially, reaching the 2% ‘target level’ and finally allowing the Bank of England to think about reducing interest rates. Economic growth picked up and wages kept on rising too.
Technically, we’d reached the end of the cost of living crisis – although millions didn’t feel much better. Then, a general election which resulted in a decisive rejection of the incumbent and a change of government. Has the country – and the public mood – turned a corner?
Through this period we’ve been measuring consumer sentiment in great detail. In July, our headline Optimism Index monitor recorded its first positive score – indicating that the UK, was on the whole, feeling optimistic about the future – since January 2022. The trends below the headline are changing too: spending expectations are up and many cutting-back behaviours are declining from their cost-of-living-crisis peak. Even trust rose in the summer.
But… that positivity is fragile and in August we saw optimism evaporate again, amid rioting and gloomy projections about the nation’s finances.
So, what is the current mood of the nation? What does optimism and pessimism mean for spending in the golden quarter? And how should marketers, strategists, fundraisers and policymakers navigate the months ahead?
Register here to attend
Every month we host webinar looking in detail at a core trend, topic or issue. The sessions are free to attend, but only our Now & Next members get access to the presentation slides and recording – along with the whole archive of Trajectory trends data and analysis – afterwards. For more information, click here.