Marketing in a Recession
Economic trauma shaped two generations differently. Understanding how is key to marketing in 2025.
Dear Millennials,
Let’s be honest, you’ve seen this before: The headlines, the market dips, and the vague talk of “uncertain times.”
The 2008 crash was meant to be a once-in-a-generation crisis. Yet, almost two decades later, that same familiar feeling of instability is creeping back in.
Recessions no longer feel rare but for many, they’ve become a generational rite of passage.
Often called the “unluckiest generation,” those born between 1981 and 1996 have now lived through multiple economic downturns at nearly every major life stage.
From the dot-com crash in early 2000s to the Great Recession in our early careers, and the Covid-19 chaos just as we were settling into mid-career and family-building years.
The impact of all this? A generation that doesn’t flinch at market drops or financial headlines anymore. For a lot of them, the economy isn’t shocking, it’s just the background noise they’ve gotten used to tuning out.
Instead, they’re sarcastic, self-aware, and preparing in the only way we know how, not with panic, but with memes.
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“We don’t panic during recessions, we prepare for them,” content creator and marketer Itzett Romero said on TikTok. “Listen to your millennial friends.”
She even advised her 70,000 followers to “make alliances” by sharing the cost of subscriptions and buying groceries in bulk with friends or neighbours.
Her content, like that of many others, might seem funny or over the top, but it could also be a coping mechanism because millennials have been through it.
They didn’t have a “before times”. They grew up or came of age during constant economic instability. Because of that, they don’t react to things like national debt or economic forecasts with the same emotional urgency that older generations (like Boomers) do.
For Boomers, rising debt brings back real memories of inflation, job losses, and high interest rates. For Millennials, it’s just background noise, they’ve always lived with economic stress, so it doesn’t feel like a sudden shift. It’s familiar.
This was all explained by Stuart Butler back in 2019 and it’s interesting reading it back years later.
So why is GenZ panicking? I’ll get onto this more later but it’s important to remember Gen Z lives online, where economic anxiety trends in real time. From #layofftok to financial memes, they’re constantly exposed to others’ stress, and that actually exacerbates their own.
Let’s look at the historical timeline:
As I mentioned in my last newsletter on the rise of conservatism and its cultural impact, the “trad wife” trend has become one of the most visible expressions of that shift.
According to the Hemline Index, skirt lengths rise in periods of economic confidence and fall during downturns (So, it’s no wonder why trad wife has become so popular)
Put simply: minis in ‘boom times’, maxis when things get difficult.
It’s probably something you haven’t noticed so let me break it down:
1920s – The Boom
Economic Context: Post-WWI prosperity, roaring stock market.
Fashion Shift: Hemlines rose dramatically (aka shorter skirts), introducing the iconic flapper look.
1930s – The Great Depression
Economic Context: Market crash, widespread unemployment.
Fashion Shift: Hemlines dropped again, becoming longer and more conservative, a move toward modesty and practicality during hardship.
Mid-1930s to 1940s – Recovery and War
Economic Context: Slow recovery, followed by WWII.
Fashion Shift: Hemlines rose slightly, holding at knee-length during the war. They were basically balancing practicality with cautious optimism.
1947 – Dior’s “New Look”
Economic Context: Just before the 1949 recession.
Fashion Shift: Dior reintroduced long, voluminous skirts with cinched waists.
This was considered a nostalgic turn back to femininity and tradition, coinciding with economic anxiety.
1960s to 1980s – Boom Years
Economic Context: Post-war growth, followed by the ‘80s millionaire era.
Fashion Shift: Hemlines climbed to miniskirt territory, symbolising freedom and affluence. Everyone was trying to be bold and confident reflecting prosperity.
1987 – Stock Market Crash
Economic Context: Sudden market drop (Black Monday).
Fashion Shift: Midi lengths made a comeback, hemlines dropped once again. This could be considered a return to more restrained, conservative styles during uncertainty.
And we’re seeing a similar pattern today with brands like Revolve and Anthropologie leaning into vintage-inspired collections. The milkmaid dress, once a niche look, is now a seasonal staple. ASOS, Zara, and eBay all reported major spikes in sales and searches throughout 2024.
Is this foreshadowing something deeper? Why are we going back to longer hems?
Put simply, traditionally wealthy countries are struggling, tariffs are rising, millionaires are quietly leaving the UK and its just a tough time for a lot of people right now.
Yet somehow, millennials seem... unfazed. It’s Gen Z who are sounding the alarm.
Glassdoor’s latest Employee Confidence Index shows that less than half of workers are feeling good about the future. And the numbers are even lower for entry-level employees, only 43.4% say they’re optimistic about their company’s outlook over the next six months. That’s actually the lowest it’s been since Glassdoor started tracking this in 2016.
It makes sense when you consider what this generation has been through.
A lot of entry-level employees started their careers during or right after Covid, which meant they missed out on the usual early career experiences, grabbing coffee with a mentor, learning by osmosis in the office, or just having someone nearby to ask quick questions. All those small, informal moments that quietly build confidence and help you grow? They never really got them.
“Entry level workers have less job security. And so as they see these economic headwinds on the horizon, there’s an understandable concern that they might be the first ones to lose their jobs in a recession, or they’ll be left out in the cold when trying to find a new job,” Daniel Zhao, Glassdoor’s lead economist, told Fortune.
Why does this matter to marketers?
If the past tells us anything, it’s this: recessions change how people spend, but they also change how they feel. And that emotional shift shows up in everything from TikToks to wardrobe choices, and yes, even in brand loyalty.
Millennials may be laughing through the chaos, but Gen Z, especially those just starting out, is feeling the weight of it all. Their confidence in the future isn’t great. Their trust in institutions is low. And that could make them careful, selective, and emotionally tuned-in consumers.
It’s not just about income level anymore, it’s about mindset. According to past research, people tend to fall into one of four psychological segments during a downturn:
Slam-on-the-brakes: Highly anxious and cutting back on everything.
Pained-but-patient: Cautious but hopeful, still spending, just more carefully. (This is the largest group.)
Comfortably well-off: Still spending, just a bit more discreetly.
Live-for-today: Mostly younger consumers who keep buying as usual, especially on experiences and tech.
Knowing which segment your customers fall into can help you adjust messaging, pricing, and even product mix.
This is the time to adjust, not disappear:
The brands that come out stronger are the ones that:
Refocus their messaging to meet consumers where they are emotionally.
Invest strategically in the channels that still matter.
Double down on brand trust, because in uncertain times, familiar names feel safer.
But it’s not just about spending, it’s about knowing where to show up, and how.
Take Pepsi in 2010. They recognised the cultural shift happening during the 2008 recession. Consumers, especially Millennials, were skeptical of corporate motives, fatigued by traditional advertising, and looking for brands that stood for something.
So Pepsi leaned into that sentiment and tried to meet the moment.
Instead of airing their usual Super Bowl ad, Pepsi made a bold move. They redirected $20 million into the Pepsi Refresh Project, a massive social media-driven campaign that invited people to submit ideas for community projects and vote on which ones should receive funding.
The message: We’re investing in people, not just products.
The channels: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube.
The impact: 80 million votes. At its peak, 37% of Americans were aware of the project.
On paper, it had all the right ingredients: purpose, digital engagement, user participation but it flopped.
In short, there was no connection back to the product.
The initiative had scale, but it was too scattered.
Vetting thousands of project proposals led to allegations of fraud.
And without a clear link to Pepsi itself, brand lift didn’t translate to sales.
Marketing experts still consider it as one of the most ambitious social media campaigns ever, but goodwill alone isn’t enough.
If you’re not tying it back to the brand story, you risk fading into the background, even with 80 million clicks. In a recession, budgets are tight, attention is fragmented, and consumers are rethinking their spending.
So while mission-driven marketing can resonate emotionally, it still has to drive relevance and recall.
Are you adjusting your strategy for ‘uncertain times?