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| 10 Mar 2026 | |
| Written by Huw Richards | |
| OB News |
Describe the past 12 months in no more than four words.
Chaotic, unpredictable, rewarding.
What are your biggest ambitions for 2026 – professional and personal?
Prove the value and role of PR in GEO. If PR isn’t working hard to build reputation in credible, earned online environments at scale, across multiple trusted sources, then search won’t pick up your brand, or worst, will surface other ‘truths’. You can’t buy your way to AI-driven recommendations
In general, are you more optimistic or pessimistic about the comms industry in 2026?
Optimistic!
The chaos of mergers in 2025 creates opportunity for independentswith clear values and differentiation. Independence for us means speed andagility, investment in specialisms, a client (not shareholder)-first mentality, arelentless focus on innovation and the autonomy to say no.
What has been your favourite proactive PR campaign of the past 12 months?
The Jet2holiday meme. A masterclass in leveraging a trend that originated with user-generated content on TikTok. Jet2 embraced and amplified through smart participation, interacted with videos, encouraged humour, created global visibility and record passenger growth and even featured in the London NYE firework display. Iconic.
Which organisation or individual has managed reputation most poorly in the past 12 months?
Tesla. Tesla’s reputation and sales plummet has been completely self-inflicted by Musk and his extracurricular political ambitions.
Which organisation or individual has managed reputation most adeptly and proactively in the past 12 months?
While other beauty brands chase influencers, Lush Cosmetics decided to double down on taking a stand. In 2025 it has been unapologetically outspoken, principled and in an increasingly polarised world, brave in its approach to using the brand’s platform to talk about the causes it supports.
What do you think is the most significant way in which AI will affect your professional life in 2026?
AI will be less of a focus as a creative solution as audiences reject polished soulless AI creator outputs, but instead dominate discussions around reputation, awareness, advocacy and conversion, as brands better understand the need for earned to win in discovery (see ambition above).
Which person in public life inspires you most in these dark times?
When life gets dark, I turn to comedy. Joanne McNally is brilliantly funny.
