Comfort in a crisis: How brands can help us feel better
In an age of lockdown and uncertainty, consumers have got a taste for nostalgia as they look for brands to offer a much-needed dose of comfort.
With liberty curtailed and the fear of pandemic competing with the tedium of isolation, we can surely be forgiven for seeking comfort. But what is a comfort brand – and what should they be doing to help their customers feel better?
“Comfort brands to me are, to some extent, the things that remind you of safer times,” says veteran brand designer Richard Williams, founding partner of Williams Murray Hamm.
“We’re all feeling very unsafe, particularly my age group, who are hardly allowed out of the house.”
Comfort is not about high cost. At a time when ‘we’re all in it together’ messaging is to the fore, conspicuous consumption is not comforting, says Williams: “The notion of splashing out on expensive stuff seems to me to be completely counter-intuitive. I think we’re all knuckling down and feeling a sense of being careful.”
