• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, March 26, 2020

A new consumer survey and report from branding firm Dream House Labs finds that a majority of consumers (55%) supports decisions to cancel or postpone major cultural and sporting events like SXSW, professional league sports and the Tokyo Olympics.

When considering just sporting events, 57% favored cancellation while a surprising 43% favored seeing the events played as normal (14%) or without an audience (29%). It’s possible the latter two groups are comprised mainly of core fans or enthusiasts but Dream House stressed that the poll did not break out those groups versus general market.

The poll found that the top three consumer concerns about the crisis are its economic impact (66%), infection of others (58%) and getting infected (54%).

“Brands who create responses to cancellations that financially support their hourly vendors and don’t require lay-offs as a result create an opportunity to be viewed favorably in the eyes of their consumers,” the report surmised.

About half of the 650 U.S. respondents surveyed said they were unlikely to attend an event for the next three months given current conditions.

Once events return, the anxiety around attendance will likely remain, per the survey. Thirty percent said they would not feel safe returning to major events until a COVID-19 vaccine is developed.

A majority of those surveyed said they agreed that in the future there should be mandatory hand sanitizing and temperature checks of event attendees prior to entry as part of an effort to prevent a crisis like the current pandemic from reoccurring.

The report concludes that “consumers see this global health crisis on the scale of other recent events such as 9/11 and the 2008 housing crisis. After these moments, consumers looked to support politicians, businesses, and thought-leaders who had clear strategies to prevent these kinds of things for the future.”

More from the report can be accessed here.