How do you solve a problem like marketing aspiration at a time when many consumers simply aspire to make ends meet?

With the new UK Prime Minister pointing to black holes in public finance many are bracing themselves for increased outgoings. According to research from the Office for National Statistics around 6 in 10 adults (62%) in Great Britain said they were spending less on non-essentials because of increases in the cost of living.

For marketers, the challenge lies not only in persuading stretched shoppers that their brand is an essential investment but in striking the right tone. While many in the industry have welcomed the rise of humour in marketing, brands must guard against appearing flippant or out of touch. With this in mind, we asked experts if brands should be doing more to provide consumers escapism in the midst of the cost of living crisis.

As consumers face economic pressures, escapism can provide a temporary respite, but it’s essential to consider whether this aligns with a brand’s overall strategy and values. It pays to run a nuanced evaluation of several key factors, including….

Brand Identity: Does escapism naturally align with their purpose and identity, and help reinforce their narrative, or would offering consumers a break from reality, compromise the authenticity of the brand

Competitive Context: Is escapism a dominant strategy among competitors, can the brand carve out a unique niche within that space or will it be a challenge to stand out? Or do competitors choose to focus on more functional or value based benefits, thus  presenting an opportunity to differentiate by offering a refreshing escape.

Human Insight: Will escapist narratives offer a unique and compelling brand story that helps improve our consumers lives. What are they struggling with? Where can we create joy? How can we brighten their lives? When we have answered these questions, we can decide if escapism can be a useful tactic to employ.

Moral & Ethical Responsibility: Will escapism genuinely benefit consumers or risk promoting unrealistic expectations about life? Marketers have an ethical responsibility to ensure their narratives help their consumers rather than harm them, particularly in challenging economic times. Escapism can be powerful, but it must uplift and support rather than mislead or distract.

The decision to embrace escapism should be a strategic one, carefully balancing brand identity, competitive positioning, and consumer needs. By considering these factors, brands can determine whether escapism is the right approach to authentically engage with consumers during difficult times.

In tough times like this ongoing cost of living crisis, people are looking for ways to escape, even if just for a moment. This isn't new - previous crises have seen people turn to humour, entertainment and small joys (lipstick!) to get through the day. Brands now have an opportunity to offer something similar, whether through creative experiences, entertainment, or uplifting content, to help people find a little relief.

But here's the thing: it has to be done right. People are quick to notice when a brand seems out of touch with their reality. So, while offering a bit of escapism can be a good move, it needs to be handled with care. Brands should make sure their efforts don't come across as dismissing the very real struggles people are facing.

One way to get this balance right is by mixing in hope and positivity with practical support. Offering low-cost or free experiences that bring joy, or highlighting affordable treats or deals, can help without adding financial stress. By doing this, brands can genuinely boost people while showing they understand the challenges their audience is going through.

In the end, brands should strive to be a source of positivity and support, helping people find a bit of happiness in a way that feels real and thoughtful during these difficult times.

There's plenty of evidence that people want to protect their lifestyles when times are tough. ‘The lipstick effect’ describes the increased sales of small, visible indulgences that cash-strapped consumers use to signal that they are still able to enjoy life. This drive to protect a rosy normality also seems to be extending to the tone of adland's creative product in recent years too: Cannes Lions introducing a Humour category, and a raft of surreal, entertaining sports from brands as diverse as Tate & Lyle, Andrex and KFC, all point to a trend towards brands turning their ads from simple sales tools into bite-sized pieces of entertainment that serve up a little a little unexpected joy during the monotony of the permacrisis. Creating entertainment for your target audience is likely to build brand love and feelings of bonding, and so it’s a win-win for advertisers and viewers. 

You could argue that - troubled times or otherwise - a kind of escapism is what brands should always offer us.

Brands are, after all, to some extent stories that we can participate in, helping us to feel transported towards living the kind of life we want. As such, we want the stories that brands enable for us to provide an escape from the day-to-day realities that we all deal with.

However, escape implies an avoidance of the real world, and an unsustainability – the sense that at some point you will have to come crashing back down to earth. You could therefore argue that the definition of a great brand is that it offers attainable escapism.

This may help to some extent to mitigate against concerns that spending our way out of a cost-of-living crisis is an inherently bad thing, meaning that sustainability must be part of the story. Brands now are built not just through messages but through behaviours, so they should go beyond just selling us a fantasy, towards actually helping us live it… What can brands actively offer us, give us, enable us to do that give us escapism not just in a daydreamy kind of way, but in a real and participatory sense?

In this regard, an instinct toward bringing a bit more fun, and pleasure back to the world through brands surely can’t be a bad thing. I’m old enough to remember when every single agency presentation – against the backdrop of the 2008 financial crisis - had Barack Obama’s iconic ‘Hope’ poster in it. With some circularity, today we have Kamala Harris and Tim Walz talking of ‘bringing back the joy’. Brands always need to offer an aspirational world to escape into – to be part of – and today, in a world under-indexing on fun, making that world a brighter place to be sounds like something we’d all want a little bit of.

The escapism trend isn’t surprising with the pressures ordinary people are under. As part of this trend, brands are re-embracing comedy, which is a very effective way for brands to connect more deeply with audiences. Brand trust is declining. So, finding new ways to win over consumers is more important than ever. 

Humour helps build loyalty and trust; through comedy, brands can reveal their human side and endear people to them.

But advertisers are in the position to provide something more than escapism. People are still feeling the impact of the cost-of-living crisis, and the poorest families have been hit the hardest. Yes, people want entertainment and distraction. But on a practical level, they need brands to provide value for money and to reward consumer loyalty.