This fresh insight sheds new light on the lives and behaviours of women who, after enduring seismic changes in political and economic spheres of late, are empowered into action to drive their own definition of happiness.

The Game Changers 2.0 illuminates the evolving lives of 25-44 year old ABC1 women who, four years after the original insight project, are channelling change as life around them has become more extreme. The insight provides a lens into their world on their aspirations, outlook on life, and desires across home and fashion:

• Happiness is the new aspiration: the climate and pressures of modern times has produced a surge in action to put happiness first and reject living in the fast lane with 76% choosing personal happiness over career aspirations in their life goals;
• Walking the walk: despite the uncertainty that lays ahead, they are galvanised into action on the issues that matter most: “I’ve been on marches recently, it is important to stand up and be counted,” said one 32-year-old as 87% feel strongly about the gender pay gap;
• Workplace is the new battleground: This group are returning to more established businesses and institutions as a better place to build their careers but are frustrated by the rigid structures, with 77% feeling strongly about the lack of flexible working options;
• Branded days for modern life: these women are ripping up the rule book and making the week work for them, with longer work days more typical at the beginning of the week and room for guilt-free relaxation at the end. As one 30 year-old shared: “Monday is my healthy reboot day, Tuesday and Wednesday are hard graft, Thursday and Friday are fun days, Saturday is veg day, and Sunday is recharge day.”
• Less likes, more love: these women value depth of friendship over breadth nowadays with their average number of close friends dropping since 2015 and over half taking steps to make their socials private;
• Healthy habits for the best me: Happiness is priceless and this group are willing to invest in the best version of themselves with around half taking part in yoga or meditation, enjoying the sense of community that comes from taking part in wellness activities collectively;
• Mid-tier living: Home ownership tops their list of goals, but the new reality means it is unobtainable for most urban, single women. As a result, these change-makers are defining mid-tier living: a state between home owning and rental hopping leading to a surge in home accessory spending;
• Retail highs: the surge of excitement that comes from shopping is undeniable for this group who top-up constantly in their pursuit of smart and conscious fashion. As one 32-year-old revealed: “Retail therapy is sensational – you feel good, you look good and there’s no hangover!” This pursuit means they require trusted fashion advice of the moment with over 69% saying they find fashion inspiration from magazines.

Hattie Brett Editor of Grazia said: “The Game Changers 2.0 are remoulding what it means to be happy in an increasingly complicated climate and want a brand to inspire, inform and empower them. Grazia continues to evolve with our audience: from campaigning to protect mental health in the workplace to focussing on smart, sustainable shopping – helping our audience buy items they’ll love for a lifetime. We will be using this insight to continue to create trusted, relevant content across all our platforms that will engage our brilliant and unique audience of women.”

Abby Carvosso Group MD, Bauer Advertising added: “The Game Changers 2.0 study gives us unparalleled insight into our audience of confident upscale women. It is this level of insight together with the instinct of our award-winning editorial talent that fuels our creative commercial work with clients. Insight like The Game Changers 2.0 enables us to work closely with clients to deliver against their business objectives as we can produce the most impactful marketing with contextual relevancy in a trusted environment for the upscale women we know better than anyone else.”

The Game Changers 2.0 insight has inspired a suite of refreshed content in Grazia:

1. Launching Healthyish – a weekly wellness column by Get The Gloss co-founder Susannah Taylor – and an increased focus going forward on health and wellbeing; both in terms of content and events;

2. Stacey Dooley joining the team as Contributing Editor (Investigations) and leading four investigations across 2019 – part of a continued commitment for outstanding journalism in Grazia;

3. New fashion regulars that help our readers shop smarter. New digital franchises will respond to data to give our audience the best picks of the trends we know they’re searching for.

4. Regular politics content with women inside Westminster giving our audience insight into how legislation will actually impact their lives;

5. A new focus on how to do up and decorate your home across print and digital, in response to our audience’s new mid-tier living.

6. Continuing to use our platform to deliver tangible change: with our Where’s Your Head At? campaign, Grazia continues campaign for mental health to be given parity of treatment to physical health in the workplace.