This year, the World Economic Forum together with Marsh McLennan, SK Group and Zurich Insurance Group issued The Global Risks Report 2021. This study generally shows the various risks that will be faced if the pandemic does not end.
One of the big risks that will be faced when the pandemic is not over yet for the youth is missing out on various opportunities for growth. This could be due to a prolonged financial crisis, a non-renewable education system, and extreme climate change.
There is a prediction that the youth are unable to regulate anything, including their emotions and feelings. Prolonged stress is one of the things that will be faced by them. From the study of The Global Risks 2021, it is stated that there are three different timescales related to landscape risks that will be faced if the pandemic is not over yet.
The three timescales that involve the risks are:
- Short term (0 – 2 years): Declining mental health, livelihood crises, and infectious diseases.
- Medium term (3 – 5 years): Damage to IT infrastructure, geopoloticized resources, and price volatility.
- Long term (5 – 10 years): The emergence of weapons of mass destruction, the collapse of multilateralism, and the destruction of the state.
The pandemic in Indonesia has been almost 2 years and until now has not shown a bright spot. Various forms of restriction have been implemented which aim to reduce the number of transmissions. But, this action has drawn a protest, such as making the situation worse.
From such a situation, it is not surprising that the risk of mental health is getting higher and can happen to anyone, especially the youth in Indonesia. The unfinished pandemic makes them stressed for a long time.
So, What Can the Youth Do?
Reporting from kompas.com, one way to ‘make peace’ with stress is meditation. However, meditation is not easy to do for some people. Generally, the difficulty of meditation is how to be focus and sync all the mind.
There are some basic steps to starting meditation:
Find a Comfortable Sitting Position
If you choose to sit on the floor, make sure to sit cross-legged comfortably. If needed, please use a pillow as an aid. The make sure the sitting position continues to be upright. Then, place both wrists on the knees and palms facing up.
Close Your Eyes
In this step, a person will begin to practice to focus on his mind. Closing your eyes is meant not to be distracted by the surrounding scenery.
Start Breathing Regularly
After closing your eyes, in order to quickly focus on yourself, please start to breathing regularly. This step can help you to stabilize the focus while meditating.
Insight, Insight, Insight
- Mental health is fundamental for everyone, especially the youth. Either way, they want to have a healthy mentality.
- Pandemic can lead to the other variety risks than mental health issue related to the timescale.
Now, What Can Brands Do?
Referring to the various insights previously mentioned, there are many things brands can do to tap in in a situation like this. Looking at the common thread, brands can take on the role of calming, entertaining, and encouraging the youth during pandemic.
Brands that come from the banking and insurance sectors can make mental health issues a vehicle that brings good marketing communication. Instead of selling products and services, the brand first knows what role it will take.
If the brand already knows what role it will take, then brand can convert it to the right communication formula. Communication can be in any form, including digital communication. Various content with various forms can be a bridge for brands to be closer to their target audience, especially the youth.
After all, those efforts need sincerity. This thing will emotionally bring the youth closer to the brand, regardless of the marketing communication strategies that are carried out. Sincerity is a sexy thing that have not been widely applied in the marketing industry like this.
