Where’s My Blankie?

In a Jolty world – who doesn’t want their Blankie? Rituals and routines create comfort and structure. Babies and children are possessed by the need for ritual because they confront a world they often can’t grasp or control. They are victims of circumstance and lack agency or autonomy. Sound familiar? The virus has reduced us to emotional children with adult minds. “Where’s my Blankie” is a global psychological cry. Having lost the familiar rituals of home, office and school – the simple pleasure of the coffee shop or an after-work drink – we rush to establish new ones: we’re cooking, we’re gardening, we’re setting up virtual dinners, we’re downloading meditation apps. We’re establishing new practices for family time. We’re even taking this literally and buying weighted blankets for the comfort they bring. There are new rituals for mourning in a time of social distancing. And of course, children are struggling as their daily routines have vanished. In this podcast, hosts Faith Popcorn and Adam Hanft along with guests Dr. Harold Koplewicz and Doug Conant, will explore the business, social and cultural impact of the loss of our established rituals and the creation of new ones. As the world slowly normalizes, which of our new blankie-behaviors will stick, which prior practices will we return to, what even newer rituals will be created? And how will the unconscious consumers’ cry for their blankies create new marketing opportunities and challenges for legacy brands that inspire comfort and for new brands that need to inspire it?