Yesterday, we brought clients, partners and PHDers together for our annual thought leadership event, PHD Connect, where we explored one of the most powerful forces shaping culture, behaviour, and brands today: ‘anticipation’.
The Insight and Strategy team opened the event with the launch of their new, proprietary cultural research into the subject ‘Do good things come to those who wait?’ - a deep dive into how anticipation influences decision-making and value creation. Later exploring what the research’s findings mean for brands.
The remainder of the day featured a brilliant line-up of guest speakers:
➡️ Martin Beverley (
@aceofheartscreative ), Lewis Corner (
@timeoutlondon ), Leighton Wall (
@virginatlantic ) and Charlotte Emery (Entain) shared their experiences of creating and harnessing Anticipation in a panel discussion hosted by PHD's Sarah Nugent
➡️ Richard Shotton, Behavioural Scientist and best-selling author, unpacked the behavioural science behind Anticipation
➡️ Phil Rowley, Head of Futures at
@omnicommedia , explored how to anticipate the next decade in tech
➡️and the day concluded with talkSPORT‘s Jim White and Gabriel Agbonlahor chatting to PHD’s Sophie Sherwood about the most anticipated event of 2026 - the FIFA World Cup.
It was a day full of inspiration, provocation, and practical insight and we’re looking forward to how the research will fuel client campaigns through 2026 and beyond.
Huge thank you to all our speakers and to the hundreds of people who attended - with special thanks to our research partners
@voxpopsint , David Wilcox and Liam Fisher at
@talksport , and our venue hosts at the IET London: Savoy Place for a great experience. Looking forward to PHD Connect 2027 already!
#PHDConnect #PHDIntelligenceConnected #CulturalInsights
