For the first time, we introduced a comprehensive methodology that started with a formal submission process and included peer recognition, client surveys, employee surveys and media surveys. Survey participation was optional. Some firms felt uncomfortable asking clients for help or didn't want to burden staff. We respect that. Survey data was additive, not punitive-used when evaluating firms with comparable impact. We noted when response rates were particularly high or low, recognizing that high scores with robust participation are especially impressive.
If you want PR that actually moves the business, you need a selection process that rewards execution, and here's how you can do just that. If you are hiring PR because you want "more visibility," stop. Visibility is not the goal. The goal is trust at scale. The right PR partner earns you credibility you cannot buy with ads, and the wrong one turns your story into noise. Your job is to choose an agency that builds equity, not one that chases attention.
The tension in the boardroom is familiar. A founder scans their search results before an investor call and realizes the problem isn't visibility, it's credibility. Despite months of marketing spend, the company's public narrative feels fragmented, shallow, or worse, indistinguishable from competitors making similar claims. Down the hall, another company faces a different reality. Its leadership team enters meetings with third-party media coverage that clearly explains what they do, why it matters, and how they stand apart in a crowded market.
With community opposition growing, data center backers are going on a full-scale public relations blitz. Around Christmas in Virginia, which boasts the highest concentration of data centers in the country, one advertisement seemed to air nonstop. "Virginia's data centers are ... investing billions in clean energy," a voiceover intoned over sweeping shots of shiny solar panels. "Creating good-paying jobs" - cue men in yellow safety vests and hard hats - "and building a better energy future."
It could be seen as protesting too much, but San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie and his office have produced a slick but kind of awkward video in which various city departments confirm how "ready" they are to host the Super Bowl. The video below, which was posted Monday, follows Mayor Daniel Lurie's playbook of using social media to promote what a good job he's doing and what fine, rebounding shape the city of San Francisco is in.
Selling a business doesn't make you rich, according to Rory Godson - even though he sold Powerscourt for over €50m At the end of every week, public-relations powerbroker Rory Godson sits down with a list of clients, and works out how much service his company, Powerscourt, has given them. "Typically, our clients will pay us a retainer - X pounds or euro a month," he says. "And our culture has always been that we owe them.
Start-up founders often underestimate the power of public relations, but doing so comes at a cost: at best, missed opportunities; at worst, a crisis that spirals out of control without a lifeline. PR is not a glossy "top coat" applied to a finished product or milestone. Entrepreneurs would do better to see it as a foundational tool that creates organizational wins, not just announces them.
What will be their tune this Wednesday? You've got to hand it to Sport Ireland - they say what they like, and they like what they say. Take the press release three days before Christmas, 'Sport Ireland welcomes 2025 as most successful year ever for Irish high-performance sport', when they rolled out their big hitters for a collective pat on the back.
According to an investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ), Portland outsourced Wikipedia edits relating to some of its high-profile clients, including the state of Qatar. TBIJ said it had evidence of alleged Wikipedia edits made on behalf of Portland between 2016 and 2024. Between 2016 and 2021, many were made by Web3 Consulting, which is run by a consultant allegedly used by Portland to make edits.
I hope you haven't been worrying too much about Kimberly Guilfoyle, whose ex-fiancé, Donald Trump Jr., recently announced that he is engaged again, to a woman he appears to have started dating before most people, possibly including Guilfoyle herself, knew his previous relationship had ended. Despite the breakup and her subsequent combination promotion-banishment, Guilfoyle is thriving in her new role as the United States ambassador to Greece.
It was a distinctly clever, if somewhat surprising, choice from Altman who has mostly kept his personal life out of the media spotlight. But Altman is a salesman, and a good salesman understands the optics of good television. So he talked about being a dad and being worried that his son-who wasn't crawling at six months-was developing slower than other children (spoiler: he's not). "I cannot imagine having gone through, figuring out how to raise a newborn without ChatGPT," Altman told Fallon. "People did it for a long time, no problem. So clearly it was possible, but I have relied on it so much."
With student-led campus protests on the rise and polarization intensifying on both sides of the political spectrum, the need to have students media ready is mounting. For example, in recent weeks students rallied across the U.S. because of the Trump administration's assault on higher education; protests broke out at the University of California, Berkeley, during an event held by Turning Point USA; and students at the University of Florida protested the university's deal with ICE.
In the days leading up to Black Friday, brands like Tower 28, JVN Hair and Material Kitchen have taken to social media to ask followers for forgiveness and to say "sorry." The catch: They're apologizing for their products being too good. "To everyone who started using Meltdown and suddenly stopped cancelling plans because of a breakout - we owe you an apology," Blume Skincare wrote on Instagram earlier this month.
But of course, the wife of Prince Harry was probably wearing enough makeup to look glamorously au naturel so that her fans will praise her for being so brave. Meanwhile, that claim of authenticity gets challenged by the way Meghan and her P.R. team seem to have arranged a hagiographic profile that brushes by her many controversies, including the multiple staff-bullying allegations or that a Spotify executive famously called her and Harry (expletive) grifters.
Traditional crisis management functions on probability rather than certainty. Clients pay substantial retainers for months of work that may or may not yield results. This model creates what behavioral economists call "outcome uncertainty anxiety," where businesses facing crises cannot predict when or if their reputation will recover. The psychological toll often compounds the original situation, creating a secondary disaster that can prove more damaging than the initial incident.
When Bospar asked ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or Copilot for information about RealSense, each one provided a version of the same answer: RealSense was no longer in business. In reality, the company was on the verge of announcing a spin-out from its parent, Intel, and a $50 million funding round. How could RealSense get top-tier press coverage if the leading AI tools had already written its obituary?
When Pepsi released its 2017 ad featuring Kendall Jenner handing a can of soda to a police officer during a protest, the backlash was immediate and brutal. The ad was meant to convey unity and peace, but it came off as tone-deaf since it seemed to trivialize serious social justice movements like Black Lives Matter, according to .The fact that Kendall Jenner, one of the Kardashians, starred in the ad simply added fuel to the fire.
We are in an era of strategic silence-no longer in the age of the activist CEO. Instead, business leaders are being told to lie low and stay in their lane to avoid unwanted attention, including from the White House. In the wake of Jimmy Kimmel's removal from ABC, CEOs are reportedly turning down press and speaking opportunities. Today, leaders are faced with the question of when to speak up . . . and when to stay strategically silent in order to protect their constituents.
Sharing his thoughts on the social media platform X on Saturday, the investor outlined Tesla's need for better marketing. "TSLA has the best product, but the product won't just sell itself," Black said in the post. He also highlighted that "influencers" sharing videos of Teslas on social media wasn't an example of "great marketing since it reaches audiences who already own Teslas."
Swift's twelfth album, The Life of a Showgirl, released 10 days ago, is unquestionably a commercial success. It broke streaming records on Spotify with more than 5 million pre-saves, as just one example. But that doesn't mean that everyone loves it. The reaction from music critics has been lukewarm and the reaction from fans is decidedly mixed, with some saying they adore the album and others saying they can't stand it.
Because they land in an inbox already flooded with hundreds of other requests and are immediately deleted. This is usually because they are written as announcements, not as compelling stories. They scream "look at us" instead of offering genuine value to the journalist and their readers. The brutal reality is that you only have seconds to prove you're different, and you can do that by being strategic.
As the communications landscape continues to evolve at a breakneck pace, the PR community has once again risen to the challenge, bringing fresh thinking, strategic agility and creative tenacity to campaigns big and small. Today, PR Daily is proud to reveal the finalists for the 2025 PR Daily Awards, recognizing the exceptional work of agencies, brands, teams and practitioners who have elevated the art and impact of public relations over the past year.
When people in power suddenly resign, it's rarely as clean as the press releases I used to write about make it seem. I've been around long enough, both in politics and public relations, to know that "new opportunities" can sometimes be code for "get out while you still can." Now, I'm going to couch that with not always, but in instances where the person in question harbors intentions of moving up the ladder, a quick exit usually leaves people scratching their heads, and wondering "Why so fast?"
The merchandise tent is always a decent place to start when assessing the commercial vulgarity associated with modern-day Ryder Cups. At Bethpage, they are flogging 24-carat gold coins 100 were available on Tuesday morning, presumably still are now with Keegan Bradley's signature attached. The price? $7,500 (5,500). There must be an assumption Ryder Cup fans leave their senses at the gates.
In a statement that probably went through more lawyers and PR people than I can count, Disney said it pulled Kimmel off the air "to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country." Kimmel's comments were "ill-timed" and "insensitive," the House of Mouse added However, after some "thoughtful conversations with Jimmy," Disney is bringing the show back.
Law firms are excited, delighted, proud and thrilled to announce their latest news in a press release. And that is part of the problem, according to an analysis of 479 business-of-law press releases by 238 U.S. and U.K. law firms by global communications firm Infinite. Eighty-three percent of the press releases had at least one of these overused words, the study found:
The industry is crowded, competitive, and still shackled by advertising restrictions. To get noticed, brands are often told they need to hire a "specialized cannabis PR agency." But here's the reality: too many of these agencies overcharge while underdelivering. Campaigns vanish after a press release cycle, leaving brands with little more than a hefty invoice. What if there was a smarter, more direct path?
Will Critchlow is joined by Ross Hudgens, founder and CEO at Siege Media. Ross brings a complementary skillset and background to Will's, with a deep focus on content and PR, and together they lay out a blueprint for the future of e-commerce SEO. This episode is produced by Mark Cotton and hosted by Will Critchlow - you can follow Will on Twitter: @willcritchlow.
This year, many agencies are increasing spending in areas that help them align immediate client needs with longer-term growth. For some, that means investing more heavily in data and analytics to sharpen decision-making. For others, it's doubling down on talent development or technology to stay competitive. Here, 14 members of Forbes Agency Council share the line items their agencies are devoting more of their budgets to this year and the strategy behind these decisions.
Executives are learning that what happens in the crowd doesn't stay in the crowd when cameras are everywhere. Whether it's a Jumbotron at a concert or a television broadcast at Flushing Meadows, internet sleuths are quick to discover the identities of business leaders behaving badly. Overnight, relatively private people can be vaulted from obscurity to viral infamy.
