As the stresses and strains of the new normal escalate, people are exercising their License to Play as a necessary survival strategy and coping mechanism. Even before COVID-19, people turned to fun and play to relieve stress. In fact, 81% of US adults agree that the best way to blow off steam is to act like a kid once in a while.*

Playful #challenges already thrive on social media, especially on TikTok. With ever-increasing stay-at-home orders, challenges have now exploded across Instagram. From rendering fruits, to in-house-sports, to peer-pressured posting of embarrassing photos, people are engaging in activities that make time indoors more playfully bearable.

Elsewhere, the Getty Museum joined the fun by tasking people to recreate favorite works of art with stuff around their home, garnering thousands of silly submissions on Twitter. Employees at the Minneapolis Institute of Art took them up on the challenge to highlight the museum’s own collection. 

Navigating working from home is a stressful adjustment. To keep virtual conferencing interesting, Delish created playful backgrounds celebrating the Easter holiday, brightening the new reality of virtual meetings with dancing rabbits and puns.

Adhering to social distancing is difficult, leaving many longing for the comfort of loved ones. Brands are responding with camaraderie through playing with their logos. Cases in Point: McDonald Brazil’s splitting of the iconic golden arches, Volkswagen distancing the V and W, and publishing brand Time Out nixing “out” and becoming “Time In.” Poking a little fun reminds people that while forced separation is definitely hard, it’s temporary.

Brands can help families play while isolated too. An auto brand can create a videoconferencing background that immerses users in a fun Mario Kart style driving game featuring their models zooming through imaginative scenery from mountains to under the sea. Escaping to virtual landscapes helps keep the worries at bay.

Source: *Horizon Media, Finger on the Pulse. Survey fielded 11/13/19 – 11/30/19, n=685