Audrey Chee-Read

With the benefit of some hindsight, learn three counterintuitive reasons why Bud Light was particularly vulnerable to cancellation in this blog post previewing a full case study on the issue.

The US election cycle in 2024 will it be the priciest media buy to date. Get three tips on how to prepare your advertising spend for the upcoming cycle.

Recent survey findings shed light on who is most likely to pay and which features they're more likely to pay for.

Adult creators are turning tweens and teens onto grow-up products. What does it mean for brands?

Impulse spending behavior is growing — and companies are finding opportunities both online and offline to entice consumers to add to their basket. Forrester’s February 2023 Consumer Pulse Survey found that roughly one in two of US and UK Gen Z adults report making impulsive decisions when shopping. Offline, brands and retailers for years have […]

A focus on fundamentals such as empathy, dependability, and accountability will equip companies to weather a tumultuous year ahead.

In 2024, consumers will embrace better habits with their wallets and minds, but moments of acute social tension could cause chaos for brands. Discover our consumer predictions for 2024.

It’s been almost a year since ChatGPT made its big splash in late 2022 and consumers are both cautious and optimistic. This new blog series will track the latest consumer outlook for generative AI.

As Forrester’s consumer behavior analyst, I’m going to say something controversial: The consumer does not need to be a part of every business decision. There’s no shortage of supply or demand for consumer insights. In fact, the pandemic supercharged market research capabilities to create more efficient and cost-effective platforms and tools to gather those insights. […]

While the conversation and action around diversity, inclusivity, and belonging spiked in 2020, CMOs still struggle with inclusive advertising practices. Three core challenges are involved: 1) receiving backlash if the advertising “gets it wrong”; 2) seeing inclusivity in advertising as a “check the box” task; and 3) using inclusivity for PR instead of authentic representation. […]

Forrester’s extensive research into global consumers’ trust has been tracked annually since the beginning of the pandemic. Our data shows that a consumer’s level of trust in a company drives revenue-generating behaviors such as the likelihood to purchase again, preference for a company over competitors, trial of unrelated products, and propensity to share personal data. […]

In early April, Anheuser-Busch’s Bud Light brand saw itself caught in a culture war fiasco. For its NCAA March Madness activation, the beer brand partnered with popular TikTok trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney for a one-time giveaway. This led to an uproar on social media — initially from conservative voices including musicians Kid Rock and Travis […]

On Friday, May 5, 2023, the World Health Organization declared an end to the COVID-19 emergency. While it will keep its status as a pandemic, this new declaration is a long-awaited milestone. The COVID-19 pandemic is the first of its scale to have affected and influenced consumer behavior across the globe at a time when […]

Brands are now putting more of a focus on determining priorities than before, due to a confluence of factors: the continual threat of a recession; post-pandemic volatility with businesses; and what Meta is calling the “Year of Efficiency” across not just how companies are organized but also in how they think of their overall business, […]

Revenge spending, financial avoidance, and impulse buying are just a few financial behaviors of Gen Z consumers that may seem beneficial to companies in the short term but have disadvantageous consequences in the long run. In Q4 of 2022, credit card balances reached $986 billion, surpassing the pre-pandemic record of $927 billion. When digging into […]

All signs point to the COVID-19 pandemic being fully behind us: The Biden administration’s COVID-19 national public health emergency protocols are set to end on May 11; consumers’ comfort in pre-pandemic activities, such as going to a concert or a museum, is increasing over time; and while travel is starting to recover, the lack of […]