Study. How the ideal Christmas looks like for Romanians

Christmas became one of the most profitable holidays for brands, but also one of the most stressful one for the consumers found in the rush for shopping and finding the perfect gift. And this pressure is less appreciated by Millennials that have a different approach to Christmas.

In a new study launched under the umbrella Bold by Lowe Group, the agency MullenLowe looked at the way in which the shift of generations reconfigures the winter holidays experience and what new approaches are expected from the brands’ perspective.

„We’ve started from three main hypothesis: the Christmas experience has changed, the people that are awaiting for it have changed as well, they have different expectations and are reporting differently to it and the technology influences more and more this celebration. Then, in order to discover the tensions that we can use in the campaigns, we’ve asked 1,007 Romanians about their ideal Christmas and how they truly feel in this period of time. The conclusions we’ve reached are very different, for example: the way the people are relating to Christmas is very diverse, the feelings regarding these celebrations evolve and become more complex, there are a lot of feelings regarding and behaviors that get repressed or the Internet (social media) can contribute to amplifying certain feelings and emotions,” said Adrian Chiuhan, head of strategy, MullenLowe.

The study is composed of a quantitative research realized in partnership with iSense Solutions, that shows a lot of contradictions between the Romanians’ realities and expectations during the Christmas Eve. Therefore, for most of the Romanians in urban areas, Christmas is a means of enjoying the traditions (decorating the Christmas tree, singing carols – 81 percent), of spending more time with the family (80 percent), of offering gifts (73 percent), but also of receiving gifts (47 percent), getting rest (43 percent), going shopping (41 percent), getting closer to God (38 percent) and of making charity acts (32 percent), of having fun with the friends (32 percent), meeting old friends (31 percent), of having more time with them (23 percent) or of buying a present they wouldn’t with other occasion (23 percent).

At the same time, many Romanians feel the pressure of these days. For example, 45 percent of the Romanians in urban areas feel that the others want them to act in a certain way (happy, joyful, etc), 44 percent feel more tired after the celebrations are over, 43 percent feel like everybody has expectations from them, 42 percent avoid to speak about their problems in order not to affect the others’ state of mind and 32 percent feel alone even they are alongside family or friends.

The percentages are even higher in the age segment of 18-29 years old: 51 percent feel that the others are expecting them to act in a certain manner, 51 percent are more tired after the holidays, 37 percent feel alone even when they are with family or friends and 35 percent see on the social networks that their friends have a more beautiful Christmas.

„The holidays depression is not at all a myth and the results of this study confirm that not all people are joyful and full of enthusiasm in this period. The most vulnerable target, from this point of view, is the Millennials generation, that seems to be more stressed and tired than the generations before it during the holidays. Therefore, we believe that on a long term the brands that will know to respect and answer the need of every consumer of experiencing the Christmas in an unique and personal manner will be the ones to win,” added Andrei Canda, managing partner, iSense Solutions.

Most Romanians associate the winter holidays period with feelings of gratitude (92 percent), happiness (91 percent), trust (86 percent), enthusiasm (86 percent) and appreciation (83 percent).

Romanita Oprea