When 2020 was coming to an end , the world could not wait to bid it goodbye , filled with hope for a better year , 2021 . From a recently completed Ipsos global poll , 77 % of respondents said they were optimistic about this New Year . 54 % thought the world will be economically better this year but an equal proportion of 52 % still felt that it is unlikely that the world will return to the normal that we are used to . Further , according to the same survey , Covid-19 still ranks as top worry for the world followed by unemployment and later , by poverty and social inequality .

There is no doubt that 2020 came with the most challenging global crisis of our lifetime - of course the world has seen pandemics of worse scales hundreds of years before some of us were born . The worst in history remains the 1918-1920 Spanish flu that infected over 500 million people globally and killed an estimated 50 million . As devastating as it was ( worse than World War 2 ), it left lessons that transformed the world within the context back then . The most unique feature of the pandemic was how it wiped out the bulk of the productive age of 18-40 year olds , leaving behind a severe state of labour shortage that opened the opportunity for the rise of labour unions and strikes that campaigned and pushed for better working conditions and healthcare plans .

One hundred years later , we are right in the middle of another major global health pandemic that perhaps will not end up being as devastating in terms of lives lost but is certainly changing and turning the world into what many have referred to as ‘ new normal ’ - in terms of how we live , how we love and also , how we learn .

To help us clearly review how Covid-19 has impacted these three areas of our lives and what businesses can do , I chose to use our human motivations framework , Censydiam . The Ipsos proprietary framework considers that as humans , we have eight ( 8 ) basic motivations that sit in two broad dimensions related to our social & personal lives .

With job losses , financial distress became more common and in reaction , consumers have changed the way they behave in order to survive - most prominently , there is more cautious consideration and buying of categories and brands mainly guided by price . This partially means that loyalty to brands got questioned as consumers started trying out offers outside their usual list .

On the personal dimension , there are two motivations - Control ( The strive for control , to be rational and suppress our feelings ) and Enjoyment ( The desire to let go , to be impulsive and be high spirited ). On the other hand , the social dimension has six motivations - Vitality ( The need to be adventurous & to push your comfort zone ), Power ( The desire to assert oneself , to stand out and dominate ), Recognition ( The need to be unique & to stand out from the crowd ), Security ( The need to feel safe , to relax , and to retreat & recharge ), Belonging ( The desire for companionship , to bond and fit in with others ) and Conviviality ( The need to be harmoniously connected with other people ).

There are interesting observations on impact of Covid-19 - we may be aware of these - especially when we consider the political / government , economic , social and technological perspectives . From government perspective , we see interesting dynamics , all connected to our human need for security and control . There is good awareness of government ’ s CV-19 measures & restrictions and individuals and different business sectors are striving to adhere to them .

We see a lot of corporate and noncorporate leaders like religious leaders having input into drawing of guidelines for their sectors and encouraging adherence . This is likely to continue in the short to medium term as the country will still rely a lot on government for information on the pandemic even as discussion starts to shift towards vaccine availability and access .

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Covid-19 : Transformation Of Love , Life And Learning