Standing with consumers: Building brand resilience and trust in a cost-of-living crisis

As economic pressures reshape consumer priorities; brands must move from transactions to trust. The most resilient brands act as allies—embodying five key roles identified by C Space that build empathy, credibility and long-term loyalty through transparency and relevance.

Change is when you find out your train will be 15 minutes late. Uncertainty is when the board simply reads “delayed,” with no clue how long you’ll be waiting. Then comes the helplessness—standing on the platform, checking your watch, refreshing your phone—realizing there’s nothing to do but hope things start moving again. That feeling is all too familiar. It’s an annoying frustration—but it offers a glimpse into something bigger: the suspended sense of control that increasingly defines modern life.

Living through the cost-of-living crisis feels much the same. At C Space, we explored how people were coping with crisis in 2023 and the new role of insights teams—and set out to understand what’s changed since in 2025. When prices rise, you tighten the budget, make trade-offs and find small ways to adapt. But when they keep rising—without an end in sight—it becomes harder to plan, harder to hope. Fatigue starts to creep in. As the end of the month looms, cupboards empty faster, bills stack higher and the margin for error disappears. Everyday choices—what to buy, what to skip, what to sacrifice—feel narrower and more fraught. And this isn’t confined to one country or one currency. From Birmingham to Boston, Munich to Melbourne, Tokyo to Delhi, what once felt like a temporary adjustment has become an ongoing test of endurance.

It’s here—between economic constraint and human resilience—that people begin to quietly redefine what value really means. Not just in terms of price, but in terms of meaning, effort and what’s truly worth holding onto.

The world in squeeze mode: How economic pressure shapes consumer behavior

“The pay cheque doesn’t stretch far these days. Everyone’s feeling the squeeze, from consumers to small businesses,” says Eddie O’Brien, Consumer Insights Leader from a FinTech company. “With the aftermath of the pandemic, geopolitical tensions and AI investment now a priority, there’s simply less money to go around.”

The pressure on real lives is mounting. Grocery prices shift weekly. Housing feels unreachable for many. Disposable income dwindles, even in households that have traditionally felt secure.

As Christopher Barnes, President at Escalent Group, notes,

“Combine inflation, tariffs and a slowing job market, and it’s harder for people to find work or get ahead. That’s the real squeeze. The middle class is basically eroding, and this is kind of like breaking with a social contract—that your kids will not have it better than you even if you and they did everything right. This is affecting the whole world, not just the US.”

O’Brien adds another perspective: “There’s a ‘squeezed middle’—families supporting university-aged children and aging parents while carrying a significant share of the tax burden. This isn’t just a lower-income issue. Everyone feels the pinch.”

Amid this strain, Diana Kamil Salmon, Associate Director at Fair4All Finance, observes a shift in behavior: “People are focusing on the here and now, getting through the month, not planning years ahead. They’re cutting pensions, skipping insurance and searching for safe, affordable credit that simply doesn’t exist at the scale it’s needed.”

What does the cost-of-living crisis reveal about the relationship between brands and consumers?

Every crisis exposes character. The cost of-living crisis reveals the gap between what brands say and what people now need. At C Space, we call this Value Relationships Under Duress—the moment a brand’s promise collides with real-world pressure. Our newly updated Value Relationships Under Duress report draws fresh data and cross-market insights showcasing how affordability, transparency and empathy become inseparable from credibility. As wallets tighten, emotions heighten. People seek consistency, clarity and care—not just lower prices.

Expert insights from Barnes underscores this disconnect between brands and consumers:

“Some consumer prices have come down, but the symbolic ones are still escalating, and the tariffs have created chaos.” When economic signals conflict with emotional realities, reassurance becomes the most valuable brand currency.

A shifting psychology of Value: How consumers are changing their spending habits in 2025?

C Space and our friends at Hall & Partners’ 2025 multi-market study across the US, UK, Japan, Australia and Germany with nearly 5,000 participants shows:

• 47% have reduced food intake
• 45% have cut essentials
• 45% have scaled back on things that bring joy

Across these markets, value is no longer just rational—it’s relational. Consumers evaluate not only product worth but brand trustworthiness and solidarity. Does the brand stand with me, by me?

Functional loyalty weakens; emotional loyalty grows. Consumers forgive mistakes if the intent feels human. Loyalty now stems less from price and more from feeling seen. “It’s no longer a crisis—it’s the new normal. The idea of widespread disposable income? That’s not the reality most live in,” says O’Brien.

Kamil Salmon contextualizes this consumer mindset: “We’ve moved beyond crisis language. People aren’t planning for the future because they can’t—not because they won’t. Resilience has become survival. That truth should shape how brands design support today.” Brands adapting fastest treat consumers as partners in resilience—not market segments.

How brands can act and respond to people meaningfully

As life shifts from aspiration to adaptation, people seek brands that relate—not just operate.

Barnes highlights

“Fear creates distrust, so as a brand you must be who you say you are. To offer aspiration, show it step by step. Otherwise, it’s not credible.”

What are the five brand roles or archetypes that help build consumer trust and resilience in uncertain times?

Through our work, C Space identifies five role models for brands to lean into—brands acting as allies, not sellers. Together, these archetypes present a spectrum of consumer trust and resilience sustaining those stretched thin.

1. The Constant: Constant brands bring calm through stability. They stay the course while the world wavers, signaling predictability as a form of respect. Aldi and Lidl continue to champion affordable quality without condescension. IKEA, despite cost pressures, holds firm to its mission of better living for many, not luxury for few. Tesco’s Price Lock and Amazon’s subscription models similarly remind people that consistency is empathy. In each case, the message is steady: we will not surprise you when everything else already does. Constancy becomes emotional safety.
2. The Confidante: Confidante brands reflect people’s emotions back to them, turning empathy into everyday design. Spotify curates soundtracks to match moods, acting as a gentle mirror for a weary world. Cadbury’s “There’s a Glass and a Half in Everyone” campaign captures the comfort of small generosity—kindness as quiet resistance. Confidantes earn their place not through grandeur but through grace and empathy. They make people feel heard before they’re sold to.
3. The Coach: Coach brands teach, guide and reassure that action remains possible even in constraint. Octopus Energy leads with transparent tools for bill management and greener choices. Headspace and Calm equip people to manage stress with small, achievable steps. Google’s Digital Garage democratizes digital upskilling, helping communities remain employable as industries shift. Coaches turn information into agency—making consumers’ progress feel tangible when progress itself feels unstable.
4. The Boost: These brands are carriers of hope. Sometimes consumer resilience looks like joy. Boost brands help people reclaim lightness in tough times. LEGO celebrates imagination as endurance helping families reconnect through play. Coca Cola’s “Share the Magic” reframes optimism as shared energy rather than escape. Netflix binds cultures together through communal storytelling reminding people they’re not alone in their fatigue or their laughter. These moments matter. They are proof that, amid constraint, joy still counts.
5. The Activist: The Conscience in Motion. In deep uncertainty, Activist brands become moral ballast. They model conviction when institutions waver. Patagonia’s shift to nonprofit ownership turned commerce into stewardship. Ben and Jerry’s continue to speak for climate justice and social equity. In India, Tata Group embed fairness into pricing and sustainability programs; in Germany, Bosch advances affordability through repairability and energy efficiency. Activists lead by insisting care scale, not shrink, under pressure.

What key behaviors help brands build trust, relevance and resilience in uncertain times?

Leading brands embed three behaviors that help to build better brand resilience:

• Radical Transparency: Explain why, not just what. Pricing clarity builds consumer confidence in brands faster than discounting.
• Empathetic Innovation: Design for constraint. Create smaller, adaptable or shareable formats that serve modern realities.
• Collaborative Resilience: Build mutual benefit into brand ecosystems. Loyalty can also mean shared savings, collective wins or circular design.

Resilience, reimagined: How uncertain times spark reinvention

Resilience isn’t just endurance alone; it’s reinvention. Side hustles grow, digital micro-enterprises thrive and families combine resources differently.

O’Brien sees opportunity: “Tough times spark bold change. Side hustles and social entrepreneurs rise. New wealth is created. That resilience and grit—that’s the SMB story.”

This shift offers a roadmap for brands that collaborate, innovate and show humility—sustaining trust in brands beyond quieted crises.

Hope, still waiting in uncertain times

Return to that metaphorical platform. The timetable’s blank, announcements are delayed, the crowd thins as evening falls. Yet beyond the fog, the faint hum of wheels can still be heard. That sound—part memory, part faith—is what hope feels like. Brands can echo that hum through constancy, empathy, empowerment, optimism and integrity—steadying the rhythm when daily life falters.

Maybe the train doesn’t arrive on time. But if the station stays warm—with honest signs, shelter and company—people endure the wait differently. They feel less alone in not knowing. And when the train finally arrives, whatever “normal” looks like, people will recall not who promised speed, but who waited with them in the cold, sharing the pause—and reminding them stability and connection do return.

Ultimately, in this complex mix of inflation, anxiety and adaptation, how brands show up matters more than what they sell. The next era belongs to those who remember trust is built not in abundance, but adversity.

How can C Space help brands respond to shifting consumer needs?

If your aim is to make your brand truly responsive to the shifting needs of your audience in times like these, C Space can help. We work with organizations to turn intentions into actionable consumer insight—using qualitative and quantitative research, creative testing and cultural advisory to uncover what real connection and belonging mean right now.

Let’s connect and ensure your brand stays a steady partner—meeting people where they are, through change and uncertainty, today and tomorrow.

Meet our authors

Neha Mittal, Director, C Space
Christina Detsch, Senior Consultant, C Space
Ben Leo, Strategist, Hall & Partners
Joe Fullylove, Strategist, Hall & Partners
Lucy Chapman, Group Strategy Director, Hall & Partners