2025 review of good and bad PR

It feels like it was only a couple of months ago that we last wrote this review, looking back on a year of our favourite and not so favourite attempts at good and bad PR by other businesses. So here goes…

The good

Astronomer
This is an odd one because in some respects you could argue this could go in the bad bucket but being that we are looking at it as if we were working in their comms team, we are going to place this in the good bucket.

So it was hard not to hear about when Chris Martin from Coldplay did his usual concert audience cam, and it zoomed in on a couple who suddenly became very shy and ducked quickly away from the audience and camera. It transpired that the couple were not supposed to be seen together and the story went viral, and the personal and company ramifications went into freefall. But here’s the interesting thing.

When faced with this scandal, the company the couple were both employed with, Astronomer, did an extraordinary thing. They ditched the usual corporate statement playbook and went straight to creating a video that went viral. Featuring Gwyneth Paltrow and ex-wife of Chris Martin, they took back control of the narrative by making it about what the business actually does rather than it being about employee gossip. This made it memorable, digestible and crucially shareable. We have no idea how much it cost to bring in someone like Gwyneth to front this, but the key thing to remember is you don’t have to have big budgets to do something similar.

Peppa Pig
So how do you reinvent a children’s programme that has been on air for 21 years and keep it front of mind for children and parents alike? You do something that no cartoon has ever done before and announce that Mummy Pig is expecting her third piglet.

An inspired, creative campaign, it elevated Peppa Pig by treating Mummy Pig like a global celebrity, leveraging TV and social media to generate massive coverage and engagement, and sparking meaningful conversations about parenting. A genius stroke was securing a primetime and exclusive ‘live’ TV interview on ITV1 Good Morning Britain, where Mummy Pig dialled in to announce her third pregnancy. Airing before the school run, it was entirely earned PR and not a penny was paid for the 3-minute placement or subsequent follow-up segment.

And the team didn’t stop there and released spoof celebrity-style pregnancy announcement photos, family portraits, and a sonogram to drive conversation across social and earned channels. The team also recognised the potential for teachable moments too, persuading journalists to write articles on how Mummy Pig’s news could help expectant parents talk to kids about new arrivals to the family.

Trending on Google, X, and TikTok, the campaign generated over 800 pieces of coverage, 127million TikTok views, 1.26million engagements and even won PR and marketing awards. Well done to all.

Specsavers

Specsavers created a campaign called The Auntie Army, inspired by the self-appointed ‘aunties’ within African-Caribbean communities, to talk their friends, family and other loved ones into an eye test to help identify glaucoma before it causes avoidable vision loss. 

Fronted by TV personality Brenda Edwards and supported with advice from Glaucoma UK, the aim was to prevent sight loss in people from African-Caribbean communities, who have up to four times increased risk of developing the condition and may develop it earlier in life.

The campaign was supported by new research commissioned by Specsavers which revealed that adults from African-Caribbean backgrounds were a third (32%) more likely to have avoided or delayed a health appointment often due to feeling nervous or anxious. Furthermore, one in five (19%), it’s been two years or longer since their last eye check and one in twenty (6%) had never had one.

Launched during National Eye Health Week, it created plenty of digital and social media assets and secured lots of media coverage.

The bad

The Budget

Regardless of what political views you support, from a comms point of view we don’t believe the way the Autumn Budget was delivered was the right way and this is why we are putting them in the bad bucket.

Firstly, the government decided to announce the Budget much later than usual. Last year’s was on 30 October, and this year it was held on 26 November, a whole month later. This extra wait created a lot of unhelpful noise, rumour and speculation, which the media really took advantage of, writing more articles than they usually would, and the HM Treasury and No. 10 Downing Street press office had a tough time controlling this. Next time, we recommend sticking to October.

Secondly, the Treasury took the unusual step of holding a press conference a month before the budget, which I assume was to try and take a bit of control of all the rumours and unhelpful narrative. Usually, the purpose of a press conference is to reveal some new news. The Chancellor of the Exchequer was unable to reveal anything but seemed to hint at tax rises, so all it did was create more uncertainty, panic and damage to the credibility of the Labour Party, which the other political parties took advantage of. In future, we don’t think a press conference should be repeated if you are not actually going to say anything.

And thirdly, the OBR publishing the Budget in its entirety a couple of hours before it was ever supposed to, brought embarrassment to HM Treasury and No. 10 Downing Street press office. This was a bit of bad luck for the Chancellor but the fallout on how it was subsequently dealt with and then the mudslinging that went on about whether the British public were misled due to the OBR’s previous reports and forecasts, has meant public trust in the government has taken a battering. Lots to learn for the future.

South East Water

South East Water experienced a public relations disaster following a prolonged water supply crisis in November and December 2025 that affected up to 24,000 properties in Kent and East Sussex. 

The crisis led to widespread anger, calls for the CEO’s resignation, and high-level political criticism due to a “litany of mistakes” and “appalling” communication. So what went wrong, and how can others learn from it?

Residents, businesses and politicians heavily criticised South East Water’s communication, describing it as inaccurate and lacking in detail. Clear information on who was affected, where to get help, addressing public health concerns and when the issue would be resolved seemed to be consistently missing. First rule in a crisis: act quickly, update your stakeholders frequently and give as much information as you can.

The company also seemed to repeatedly miss its own public deadlines for restoring services, leading to significant customer frustration and a lack of trust.

It also transpired that previous issues had occurred before, highlighting a lack of resilience and continuity planning, including advanced communication preparation. The UK water industry was already in a state before this happened, with its reputation in very murky waters, and this incident has definitely not helped. Let’s hope they get their compensation scheme right.