BrandMapp reveals authentic resilience of SA’s middle class

It seems that at every turn we’re hearing about “resilience” and how important it is for countries and companies, communities and individuals. Everything and everybody seem to be striving “to be more resilient”. Well into the second year of a pandemic, it’s probably not surprising that the world is talking about ways to bear up in the face of rolling adversities. But it’s one thing to get back up on shaky legs after a hard knock down, and it’s quite another to be able to steady yourself so competently that you go on to decisively win the fight.

The latter is what Gabi Lowe and Pippa Shaper, co-founders of The Resilience Factory, call “authentic resilience”. Their pioneering work into the personal development of authentic resilience has informed the latest BrandMapp survey, which has uniquely captured the Covid-era opinions of South Africans living in households with a R10,000-plus monthly income. Ten resilience survey statements, five positive and five negative, were presented to more than 33,000 middle-class South Africans, giving companies, brand and media owners an exceptional insight into the resilience of the 30% segment of the population that represents 100% of the country’s taxpaying base and 80% of all consumer spend.

The “2021 BrandMapp Authentic Resilience Report” in collaboration with The Resilience Factory is due to be released, and there’s a webinar on Thursday November 11 2021, from 11am to noon, where the storytellers and experts will unpack ground-breaking findings.

Lowe says: “Many don’t realise that authentic resilience is a critical life skill. It is the powerful ability to survive, thrive and grow in the face of stress, change, adversity and trauma. Everyone has the capacity to develop greater levels of authentic resilience. Understanding what it is, who has it and where it needs to be developed has impacts across all sectors of SA, from industry and corporates to educational institutions and communities.”

The webinar will present five common but misguided perceptions about resilience, as well as the 10 true characteristics that were converted by the BrandMapp survey into metrics and an index to define three “supergroups” of resilience – low, average and high.

Brandon de Kock, BrandMapp director of storytelling, says: “We’ll be presenting some of the results and insights at the webinar, and there will be some surprises, not least for those who think that resilience is just about bouncing back from hard knocks. We’re able to see the drivers of low resilience, and the drivers of high resilience. We’ve got the data to answer intriguing questions – for instance, are SA women more resilient than the men? Is it true that youth makes you more resilient? Does your money make you more resilient?

“We’ve all got plenty of assumptions and opinions, but what does the data say? Why is this relevant to businesses and brands? Whether they are your employees or your customers, people with higher resilience are going to be more successful and more wide-ranging in life. It stands to reason that they are going to do more, buy more and spend more.”

People with higher resilience (30% of respondents) have greater comfort levels with reaching inwards to face and reflect on their fears, worries and vulnerabilities. They also find it easier to reach out to get support or professional advice when things get tough. By contrast, those in the low resilience group (30% of respondents) struggle to share their feelings and thoughts, don’t like change and find it hard to recover from setbacks.

As an extensive and versatile dataset, BrandMapp offers endless options when it comes to using filters and drawing insights. Applying different demographic filters to the resilience statements creates detailed profiles of the resilience “supergroups”.

“It gets really interesting when you look at the other variables across the vast scope of the BrandMapp survey. Are the self-employed more resilient than the corporate workers? Does being married foster resilience? How does education level impact on resilience?” De Kock says.

“We’re living through the crisis of a pandemic and its ongoing economic impacts; we’re facing the climate crisis; and SA’s political and social challenges are unrelenting. It makes sense that resilience is a hot topic.”

Let BrandMapp take you into the hearts and minds of your employees and consumers! Join our free webinar:

Topic:             Authentic Resilience: What it is and why we need it!

Date:              Thursday November 11

Time:              11am to noon

Moderator:  Siya Sangweni

Speakers:      Dr John Wentzel – CEO, Adcorp Group: Africa and Australia

                        Brandon de Kock – director of storytelling,      BrandMapp

                        Gabi Lowe – director, The Resilience Factory

                        Pippa Shaper – director, The Resilience Factory

Click here to register.

To find out more about BrandMapp 2021, visit whyfive.co.za/brandmapp/

About BrandMapp

BrandMapp is a unique SA dataset that uses a mega-sample of more than 30,000 respondents to profile the 12-million adults in mid-to top-income households earning in excess of R10,000 per month. Now in its eighth year, the BrandMapp survey is a bespoke, independent survey created by WhyFive in partnership with leading digital platform marketing and research group SilverstoneCIS.