Why communities hold the key to trust, influence and growth for brands.
We’re excited to launch this year’s Belonging in Britain: Understanding Modern Communities research, created by us in partnership with Global.
Last year, Belonging in Britain challenged the industry’s reliance on reductive demographic profiling, showing that modern identity is reflected by the communities people are part of, the passions they follow, the places they feel connected to and the people who matter most to them.
Crucially, communities – the groups we actively choose to connect with around shared interests, beliefs, characteristics, experiences, and places – are where our sense of self is shaped, trust is built and belonging is found. And our research showed that understanding people’s identities is a huge differentiator for brands, especially at a time when real connection is both harder to earn than ever and more valuable when it lands.
So, following a year where media narratives around polarisation and culture wars have dominated, we went back to see what had changed.
We looked at how identity is shifting, not just what it is made of. We explored the mindsets of people inside communities and how they might be different from those outside them. And we asked what role media plays in all of this.
In modern Britain today, we found that identity is becoming more layered, it responds fluidly to culture, and is more consciously expressed. People are defining themselves through a richer mix of traits, communities are playing a growing role in belonging and influence, and media itself is becoming part of how people find connection, how they express their identity and how they participate in culture.
Against an industry backdrop of increased expectation on Marketing, alongside decreasing trust from audiences, the job of connection between brands and audiences has never felt more important, or more precarious.
Sophia Durrani, our Head of Strategic Planning, frames the shift:
“For a decade we have become sharper than ever at reaching the right people, and that precision is not going anywhere. But knowing how to find someone is not the same as understanding who they are, the right way to speak to them and the best context to reach them in. Our research shows the communities we belong to are spaces that reflect the aspects of our identities that matter to us, and where trust still lives – despite the narratives that dominate the headlines. Brands that show up there as participants, rather than advertisers, will build relationships that precision on its own has never been able to buy.”
WHAT THE RESEARCH SHOWS
IDENTITY IS BECOMING MORE LAYERED
The average person’s identity is now shaped by 8 traits, up from 7 last year, showing that people are describing themselves in richer, more considered ways.
IDENTITY IS ALSO DYNAMIC
Those traits are not fixed. Our research found that parts of people’s identities shift in response to what is happening culturally and contextually. For example, nationality has risen from 35% to 40% year-on-year as a driver of identity.
BELONGING IN COMMUNITIES IS ON THE RISE
Despite headlines about social division, 35% of people now describe an emotional sense of belonging to their communities, up from 30%, while nearly 70% say their communities are important to their identity.
COMMUNITIES CONTAIN SOME OF THE MOST COMMERCIALLY USEFUL MINDSETS
Communities are powerful spaces of influence. 86% of people in communities have been influenced by things they’ve seen or heard in their groups, shaping opinions, behaviours and discovery.
MEDIA BRINGS PEOPLE TOGETHER
81% of people feel a sense of community through at least one media channel, and 79% feel a sense of belonging through at least on channel.
MEDIA AND BRANDS HAVE A ROLE IN IDENTITY
Nearly 1 in 5 people say the brands they buy, and 74% say the media they consume and the events they attend are part of what makes them who they are. Increasingly, these choices are how people curate and communicate their identities.
WHY THIS MATTERS
When identities are complex, expressive and shaped by culture and community, precision alone is not enough to create connection. Establishing where belonging and trust are formed becomes as important as identifying who to reach.
This is where communities come in.
This research shows that communities are not niche spaces or soft cultural context. They are commercially valuable environments where identity is formed, trust is built, attention is genuine and influence travels fast.
When we combine precise targeting with a deeper understanding of identity, culture and community, we can move from simply reaching people to building meaningful connection with them.
In the words of Flora Williams, our Head of Planning at MG OMD:
“What planners often miss is that identity moves. The anchors stay put – family, friends, the things people love, where they grew up – but which of those rises to the surface depends on what is happening in the culture around them. This year, it was the Lionesses and the Oasis reunion, and you can see it land in the data: national pride climbed the rankings and sport became the country’s number one community. That is the planning opportunity. Read the cultural weather, plan around the communities people have chosen for themselves, and you give precision the one thing it has never had on its own, a real read on who people are.”
This research gives us a stronger way to unlock rich audience insight, and forge more resonant media planning and community-led strategies.
WHAT THIS MEANS
The opportunity is not to treat community as a niche tactic or a nice cultural overlay. It is to use community understanding as a core planning lens: one that helps brands show up with more relevance, more credibility and more authenticity for the people they are trying to reach.
“Media has always been a route to reach people, but this research shows it can also be a route into belonging. People are building their own media portfolios around the channels, voices and formats that fit their lives, whether that is local media for proximity, podcasts for intimacy, social platforms for participation, or broadcast moments that bring people together at scale. The opportunity for brands is to reconsider thinking channel by channel and plan with the role of each channel in mind – for example, what relationship is each environment helping to build, and how do they work together over time?” Ailsa Mackenzie, Commercial Strategy Director, Global
We are already seeing strong opportunities to apply these insights with clients. To explore how Belonging in Britain 2026 can inform your planning and strategy, please do reach out.
To explore the Key Insights and get your copy of the research, click here.