In the space of just three weeks ‘permacrisis’, the newly minted Word of the Year for 2022 has been superseded by a less jazzy, but equally ominous piece of vocabulary: inflation.

This week the UK’s inflation rate hit 11.1%, a 41-year high that’s driven some pretty confronting price hikes. It was one thing to see the price of petrol break through the psychologically significant sum of £2 per litre this summer, but nothing set tongues wagging quite like the price of butter.

The rising cost of living is now synonymous with the rising cost of Lurpak, thanks to a whopping 33% increase in price. In some stores tubs of Lurpak now wear security tags – a meme-able image that has spread as effortlessly as the product itself, making it a shorthand for the day-to-day sticker-shock of living in inflationary times.

PUTTING PEOPLE FIRST /

You can’t blame people for grabbing a laugh where they can, but while prices – for food, for fuel, for heating – continue to track relentlessly up, consumer confidence is heading in the other direction.

And while brands are braced for tough times ahead, it’s the ones who focus on what they can do for their customers that are most likely to emerge on the front foot when conditions eventually improve.

There’s no silver bullet when it comes to how that response should look. In fact, in choosing which ideas to feature at or Most Contagious event next week, what’s been most striking is how varied they are. We’ve looked at examples past and present, and these are three campaigns that each take a very different approach to helping hard-pressed customers:

In times like this it’s worth knowing your precedents, and the Sainsbury’s Feed Your Family for a Fiver is a useful primer in empathic – and effective – communication. Inspiring shoppers with dinner ideas on a budget may not read like a huge creative leap, but this was more than just an alliterative tagline and some recipes. From the reassuring features of TV chef Jamie Oliver fronting the campaign to the recipe cards strategically placed around their stores, every element was a low-key masterclass in recessionary reassurance. It helped existing shoppers keep calm and carry on shopping, confident that they weren’t paying over the odds. It brought in new customers attracted by the idea that hard times need not mean boring meals on repeat. It was a battle won on good research and good judgement.

Pasta brand Barilla has taken a rather different approach, bringing a technological twist to a traditional culinary staple by launching a campaign about passive cooking – a low-energy way to get your penne from packet to al dente. The principle is simple: bring your pasta to the boil, then let it bubble for another two minutes before turning off the stove and letting residual heat finish the process. To guide the user through this unfamiliar technique, Barilla has created a special passive Cooker device that connects to their phone and sends alerts at key moments to ensure their pasta comes out perfect. It’s a deliciously intentional way to court column inches while steering toward saving their money on energy bills rather than inferior pasta.

For frozen food chain Iceland, prioritising its most vulnerable customers has meant thinking even more laterally: it’s now offering small interest-free loans to help those who are reliant on foodbanks and struggling to feed their families. The Iceland Food Club allows members to apply for microloans of £25-£100 with the funds made available via a pre-loaded card that can be used in any Iceland or The Food Warehouse store (part of Iceland Foods). Anyone can apply for a card, and the loans are available in six annual windows that coincide with school holidays when family finances are usually most stretched. It’s a striking measure, and one the brand does not take lightly. The program was developed in partnership with Fair For You, an ethical, charity-owned lender that is backed by social investors. It’s also been extensively – and successfully – trialled and proven its worth to families with limited means.

PLAYING OUR PART /

If we learned one thing from Covid, it’s that everyone has a part to play when it comes to getting people through challenging times – including brands. We all saw the impact that could be created when the people and resources that storied companies have at their disposal are encouraged to stop, look outwards and think about how they can help.

Craig Mawdsley, founder of brand strategy consultancy Craig + Bridget, and part of the team that created the Fiver campaign for Sainsbury’s told us ‘These are the moments when we get to work out what kind of marketing people we are. Are we the kind who only prospers in the good times and puts their profits before their customers? Or are we the kind of marketers who can thrive in tough times and genuinely put our customers first, using the resources of our businesses to help make their lives better?’

Katrina Stirton Dodd is Editor at Large at Contagious. All these campaigns will be featured at Most Contagious: a day-long conference that champions the exceptional work, essential trends and most inspirational brands currently defining the industry. For tickets, head to the event website.