What Changed in One Year of a Pandemic and What the Portuguese are not Willing to Admit: Consumer Neuroscience and Predictive Analytic Contributes to Communication Strategy

ABSTRACT

The world is headed towards a new normal, while pandemic is continuing with new waves hitting nations. However, this storm will pass, but the choices we make now could change our lives for years to come. It is crucial to use new research perspectives bringing scientists and practitioners together to support decisions that would shape our future. This paper gives an example of consumer neuroscience and predictive analytics helping to go beyond rational verbatims to investigate real deep nonconscious convictions that people may not even be fully aware of and which cannot be covered by traditional opinion surveys. For example, public confidence in the healthcare system is related to pro-social behaviour and compliance with non-pharmaceutical interventions during a crisis. The success in controlling pandemics depends on behaviour, and health officials need to persuade the population to make behaviour changes to ensure success. By providing comparative results from Portugal, this study highlights what changed in one year and what the population is not willing to admit by using the “COVID-19 Fever” project data collected and analysed with the iCode Smart Test in 2020 and 2021 and offers valuable data to support an effective communication strategy. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.