The rhythm of the week has changed. How should marketers react? With The Guardian’s Imogen Fox

2025-12-08

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This episode was produced in partnership with The Guardian.Each year, The Guardian’s advertising team delivers a research project cheekily called Shift Happens.Blending survey data with first-party data, the study aims to unpack longer-term cultural trends in Britain that may well be of interest to savvy marketers.Imogen Fox is The Guardian's chief advertising officer. She returns to the podcast to unpack the report's key takeaways and its implications for marketers.These include five major changes consumers have made in how they spend t...

This episode was produced in partnership with The Guardian.

Each year, The Guardian’s advertising team delivers a research project cheekily called Shift Happens.

Blending survey data with first-party data, the study aims to unpack longer-term cultural trends in Britain that may well be of interest to savvy marketers.

Imogen Fox is The Guardian's chief advertising officer. She returns to the podcast to unpack the report's key takeaways and its implications for marketers.

These include five major changes consumers have made in how they spend their time throughout the week. Among them, people are waking up earlier, maximising weekends, heading to the pub early on Fridays, and taking reexamining their work-life balance priorities.

Highlights:

1:05: Shift Happens toplines

5:00: How useful are trends reports?

8:15: Lifestyle changes: joy slicing, return-to-office, weekend maximising, chatbot friends

14:52: Advice for marketers

20:40: The Guardian's plans for 2026

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Isn’t it time the ad industry embraces a 4-day week?

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Thanks to our production partners Trisonic for editing this episode.