Explore every episode of the podcast Public Relations Stories and Strategies
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| In Public Relations, Different is Better than Better | 27 Oct 2026 | 00:17:40 | |
Take Sally’s FREE Fascinate Test Recorded at PRSA ICON 2026 in Orlando, bestselling author Sally Hogshead explains why being different is more valuable than being better, why playing it safe may be the riskiest strategy of all, and why authenticity alone won't make you memorable. Sally shares what she shared in her keynote address at ICON. Surprising examples of brands that turned weaknesses into competitive advantages, along with practical advice for getting bold ideas past cautious decisionmakers. The question isn't whether you're good at what you do. It's whether anyone can tell you apart from everyone else. Listen For 04:55 Can AI Really Make Your Brand Fascinating, or Is Something Human Missing? 05:48 Why Is Being Different More Valuable Than Being Better? 08:06 How Can PR Professionals Sell Bold Ideas to Risk-Averse Decision-Makers? 10:16 Why Isn't Being Authentic Enough to Make Your Brand Stand Out? 11:43 Can Introverts Be Just as Fascinating as Extroverts? Guest: Sally Hogshead Personal web site | How to Fascinate | About Sally | Email | LinkedIn | YouTube Doug Downs
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| REPLAY Accreditation vs Certification for Communications Pros | 24 Oct 2026 | 00:22:27 | |
This replay comes from a conversation I had last week at PRSA ICON 26 in Orlando. Which is better accreditation? Or certification? This episode originally aired in October 2024. Sia Papageorgiou challenges the traditional idea of accreditation and argues that certification is the real game-changer for PR professionals. She shares insights on why the Global Communication Certification Council (GCCC) stands out with its internationally recognized standards, and why it’s crucial for communication professionals to continually update their skills to stay relevant in a rapidly changing field. Listen For Guest: Sia Papageorgiou, FRSA, FCSCE, SCMP Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads Request a transcript of this episode Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| The Knowing-Doing Gap: AI Ethics in Public Relations | 20 Oct 2026 | 00:16:59 | |
There's a gap between knowing AI ethics and practicing them, and it's where reputations go to die. Research for PRSA's Board of Ethics and Professional Standards mapped it across 10 essential AI ethics competencies, from critical thinking and ethical judgment to privacy, accountability, and governance. The finding that stings most: critical thinking is both the most essential competency and one of the profession's biggest gaps. Communicators know the principles. They still fail to apply them when it counts. Doug caught up with researcher Marlene Neill in Orlando at PRSA ICON 2026 to dig into what that gap looks like inside real organizations, the perfect storm of pressure for speed without the training or guardrails to match. They get into why communicators are weakest at judgment when judgment is the job, what value the practitioner still provides when AI can draft the release in seconds, and the one thing a solo practitioner or small team can do Monday morning to start closing it. If AI touches your comms work, this is the episode about the part no tool can do for you.
Listen For :13 The Surgical Safety Checklist: What Atul Gawande Teaches PR Pros About the Knowing-Doing Gap 2:57 AI Ethics in Public Relations: Why Human Judgment Still Matters 4:13 AI Hallucinations in PR: Why You Must Verify Every Output 6:19 How AI Is Changing PR Agency Billing and Value-Based Pricing 12:01 How to Speak Up on Ethics at Work: Giving Voice to Values Guest: Marlene Neill, Professor and Graduate Program Director at Baylor University (Journalism, Public Relations and New Media). Ph.D., APR, Fellow PRSA Doug Subscribe to the Stories and Strategies PR podcast newsletter Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| The Hidden Rules of Workplace Emojis: What Gen Z Wants You to Know | 13 Oct 2026 | 00:20:48 | |
Three out of four office workers now feel like they need to use emojis at work, according to Statista's research on workplace communication. But almost nobody stops to ask what that emoji is actually doing once it lands in an inbox, a Slack thread, or a client email. That's the gap Stacy Jo Dixon from Statista has been studying, and it's the gap this episode sits inside: not whether emojis belong in business, but what they're quietly signalling about generation, culture, gender, and judgment every time someone hits send. In this episode we work through what the data actually shows, and where it gets complicated. Why older professionals default to the thumbs up, while younger ones have developed what Stacy calls emoji literacy. And why the same emoji that reads as friendly in one country can land as an insult in another culture, and what any of this means for a brand's voice once it starts showing up in pixels instead of words. It's a more surprising conversation than the stat sheet suggests.
Listen For 03:49 Which emojis should you never use in the workplace? 05:49 What is emoji literacy and why does it matter at work? 08:10 Can the thumbs-up emoji be offensive across cultures? 12:40 When should you use emojis with executives, bosses, or clients? 14:13 Should companies create workplace emoji policies? Guest: Stacy Jo Dixon, Statista LinkedIn |IG | Website | Emoji usage – statistics & facts |Off the Charts Podcast (hosted by Stacy): YouTube | Off the Charts Podcast (hosted by Stacy): Spotify Doug Downs Subscribe to the Stories and Strategies PR podcast newsletter
Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| A “Jolly” Rebranding Case Study | 06 Oct 2026 | 00:20:01 | |
What do you do when the name that built your reputation suddenly makes you look stuck in the past? Jolly SEO was a company founded on solid SEO strategies and infrastructure. But “S E O?” Ugh that’s soooo 2021. So cofounder Greg Heilers had a dilemma. Suddenly he had a name that kinda conveyed old thinking. In this episode he explains the surprisingly complicated journey from Jolly SEO to a brand built for an AI-driven search world. Greg also explains why “SEO” began sending the wrong signal, how the company preserved the valuable “Jolly” identity while embracing a broader definition of search, and why finding the perfect domain helped settle months of debate.
Listen For 03:12 Why did Jolly SEO need to change its name in the age of AI search? 05:41 How did Jolly SEO finally land on the name Jolly Search? 09:54 Does your company name affect whether AI and LLMs recommend your brand? 12:06 How do you know whether a rebrand has actually worked? 16:56 What should businesses know before rebranding an established company? Guest: Greg Heilers, Co-Captain | Jolly Search Doug Downs
Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| What it Takes to Sell Your Brand Across the Atlantic | 29 Sep 2026 | 00:22:30 | |
Every brand that crosses the Atlantic faces the same unspoken question, and almost nobody asks it out loud before they've already spent the budget: should we act like ourselves, or should we act like we belong here? Volkswagen bet on staying unmistakably German and won over American drivers. Other brands have made the opposite bet and won too. There's no universal answer, and that's exactly what makes it a hard call to get right. Daisy Pack, managing director of HUNTER's London office, has spent more than two decades sitting inside that decision for American and British brands trying to win over each other's audiences. In this episode, she walks through how she actually makes the call, using a real campaign for Premier Protein that skipped the obvious American fitness playbook entirely, and explains why the right answer for a brand crossing the Atlantic in 2026 might be the opposite of what worked ten years ago. Listen For 4:09 Should American brands emphasize or downplay their identity when entering the UK? 8:13 How did Premier Protein make an American brand culturally relevant in Britain? 14:05 Why do American and British audiences respond differently to brand storytelling? 15:49 When can leaning into Americana actually help a brand connect with British consumers? 19:28 What should an American brand do before launching or expanding in the UK? Guest: Daisy Pack, Managing Director, Hunter PR London IG | Website | Company LinkedIn | LinkedIn | Hunter UK LinkedIn | Email Doug Downs
Subscribe to the Stories and Strategies PR podcast newsletter Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| World PR Forum Wants Your Say on Public Relations Rules | 22 Sep 2026 | 00:21:27 | |
Take the Global Alliance Survey before October 2, 2026 Who actually makes up the rules for public relations? Who decided what counts as good measurement, how you're supposed to structure a comms team, what you tell an executive when they ask "why does this function even exist"? Your local or national association has a voice in that, but the actual standards, the ones you're governed by and quoted to and inspired by, came out of delegate rooms in Madrid, Melbourne, and Stockholm. The US sends delegates to those rooms. You don't get a personal say in what they bring back. Well, NOW you do. You… personally!! The Global Alliance has opened 15 questions to the entire profession, not just the delegates, asking what society actually has the right to expect from a communication professional. This episode looks at what's being asked, why regions like Africa and Asia are answering in force while North America stays quiet, and what happens to the next set of rules if you skip your turn to answer. Listen For 5:02 Why Should Communication Professionals Care About the Abuja Declaration? 7:30 Should Public Relations Professionals Be Licensed or Regulated? 9:44 What Should Society Expect From a Professional Communicator? 14:29 How Will the Abuja Research Prevent Regional Bias From Shaping the Results? 17:20 What Happens After the Abuja Declaration Is Created? Guest: Adrian Cropley, Centre for Strategic Communications Excellence, Website | LinkedIn | Adrian’s Podcast A View from the Top | CSCE Website Doug Downs Subscribe to the Stories and Strategies PR podcast newsletter Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| Cognitive Surrender and What it Means to Public Relations | 15 Sep 2026 | 00:20:46 | |
For decades, PR professionals have tried to influence what people think or how they think it. AI may be changing something even more fundamental: whether people do much of that thinking themselves. Researchers call it “Cognitive Surrender.” The tendency to accept an AI-generated answer without really scrutinizing it. And if AI increasingly sits between your message and your audience, or starts doing the thinking for communicators themselves, the implications for trust, persuasion and professional judgment could be enormous.
Listen For 4:30 What Is Cognitive Surrender and How Did Researchers Test It? Guest: Dr Steven Shaw, PhD, King’s College London and Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania Website | LinkedIn | Google Scholar page Doug
Subscribe to the Stories and Strategies PR podcast newsletter Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| Turn Small Talk Over Drinks into Your Best Public Relations Tool | 08 Sep 2026 | 00:22:49 | |
Every PR person knows the moment: you're holding a coffee or a glass of wine at a networking event, the small talk has dried up, and the person standing next to you outranks you by a lot. Shawn Spitaleri has spent years collecting the kind of beverage trivia that fixes exactly that problem, real, verifiable stories about why your coffee tastes the way it does, why tea sparked a geopolitical crisis, and why every champagne bottle opens with the same number of twists no matter who made it. This episode is a toolkit, not a lecture. Shawn walks through coffee, tea, champagne, wine, and beer, pulling out the one fact from each that's actually worth repeating out loud, the kind that gets a genuine reaction instead of a polite nod. If you've ever needed something better than "so, how about this weather" to say to a stranger holding the same drink as you, this one's for you.
Listen For 4:17 Why Did Governments Try to Ban Coffee? 6:08 How Did Britain’s Love of Tea Fuel the Opium Trade and Corporate Espionage? 9:41 Did Dom Pérignon Really Invent Champagne? 12:16 What Does the World’s Oldest Beer Recipe Reveal About Ancient Drinking Culture? 17:29 How Did Franklin Roosevelt Help Popularize the Dirty Martini?
Guest: Shawn Spitaleri, The Architect, Obscura Meridian Co Distillate Podcast | Website Doug
Subscribe to the Stories and Strategies PR podcast newsletter Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| Public Relations in Egypt | 01 Sep 2026 | 00:21:41 | |
Most people don’t experience a country… they experience its reputation. Long before a flight is booked or a business deal is considered, a story has already landed in your mind. A headline. A search result. A clip that went viral. A warning someone repeated with total confidence. And once that story sticks, it starts to feel like the place itself. So, let’s test it. When you picture Egypt, what shows up first? Pyramids. Pharaohs. Ancient tombs. Maybe a biblical story, or maybe a recent news headline? Egypt is one of the most famous places on earth, but that fame can flatten it into a single image, a single idea, a single shadow. In this episode, nation branding and strategic communications leader Lamia Kamel unpacks how reputations are formed and how they can be changed, especially now that discovery runs through search, social, and AI. If you’ve ever realized you “knew” a place before you actually understood it, this conversation might rewire the way you think about perception. Listen For: 04:28 What Misconceptions Do Travelers Have About Egypt? 05:37 What Is the Real Egypt Beyond Pyramids and Stereotypes? 08:10 How Should Egypt Use Digital Marketing to Attract Travelers? 11:43 Which Social Media Platforms Are Most Popular in Egypt? 17:49 How Is PR in Egypt Different From Western PR?
Guest: Lamia Kamel, Managing Director of CC Plus Doug
Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Request a transcript of this episode Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| The Mentorship Myths Holding PR Professionals Back | 25 Aug 2026 | 00:21:07 | |
Most of us are waiting for mentorship to look a certain way. A senior person who takes us under their wing. A scheduled coffee every two weeks. A defined relationship with a clear beginning and a clear end. And while we are waiting for that version of mentorship to show up, the real thing is happening all around us and we’re missing it entirely. But the way mentorship actually works in the public relations profession is different to almost everything you would naturally believe.
Listen For 3:35 What Are the Five Biggest Myths About Mentorship? 5:35 Why Should Mentorship Work Both Ways? 7:36 Can ChatGPT or AI Replace a Human Mentor? 13:42 What Mentorship Advice Can Stay With You for Life? 16:36 How Do You Find the Right Mentor in Public Relations? Guests: Amy Thurlow Colleen Killingsworth Book Rethinking the Table on Amazon
Doug
Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| Can this AI Tool Spot Your Next PR Crisis Before You Do? | 18 Aug 2026 | 00:23:16 | |
As a communications professional you’ve used ChatGPT, Claude, or Copilot in the last 30 days. Probably in the last week. Probably earlier today. And at some point you’ve had the same experience: you put in a prompt, you get back something that’s technically competent and completely generic. You spend the next 20 minutes re-prompting, editing, wrestling it into something that actually sounds like your organization, your voice, your situation. A Workday study found that 40% of the time saved by using generative AI tools is immediately lost reworking the outputs. You traded one kind of work for another. The reason is simple and almost nobody is saying it out loud. Those tools were built for everyone. Which in communications terms means they were built for no one in particular. They don't think like a communicator. They don't have access to what a communicator needs. They don't know what’s being said about your organization right now across 4,000 TikTok videos, each with modest view counts, each repeating the same damaging narrative, each flying completely below the radar of your existing monitoring tools. Stratum is the tool that needed to be built three years ago. Watch the YouTube Video of this episode to see Stratum demonstration
Listen For 3:29 Why do communications teams need AI built around use cases instead of tools? 6:30 What is Stratum and how is it different from ChatGPT or Copilot? 12:18 What is the difference between an AI agent and an agentic workflow? 17:29 Can AI detect a reputation crisis before it goes viral? 19:45 How can AI identify the right influencers for a campaign?
Guest: Matt Collette, Sequencr.AI Website | LinkedIn | Stratum Platform
Doug
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| Two Thirds of the Room but Almost NONE of the Corner Offices | 11 Aug 2026 | 00:20:24 | |
In Canada, women make up roughly two thirds of the public relations profession. They are the majority in the classrooms, the majority in the entry level roles, and the majority climbing through the middle ranks. And then somewhere around the senior level, the numbers flip. The leadership tables in PR firms and communications departments across the country look nothing like the profession they are supposed to represent. This is not a new observation. The data has been there for years. Here’s what’s new. Two researchers decided to stop describing the problem and start asking a harder question. Not how do we get more women to the table? But why does the table keep failing the women who get there. Because what the data also shows, and what too many PR women know personally, is that the exit is often quiet and deliberate. Not a firing. Not a failure. A decision. A moment where a woman who is absolutely capable of leading looks at what it costs and says this is not worth it. This episode is about what is driving that decision, and what it is going to take to change it. Listen For 4:15 Why Do Women Hold Fewer Than 30% of Senior PR Leadership Roles? 7:11 What Does It Mean to Rethink the Leadership Table? 9:15 How Can PR Organizations Create Sustainable Leadership Careers? 15:06 What Can Women and Men Do to Change PR Leadership? 17:03 Why Won’t Teaching Women to Play Golf Solve Workplace Exclusion?
Guests: Amy Thurlow Colleen Killingsworth
Book Rethinking the Table on Amazon
Doug
Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| Good Girls Are Quiet | 04 Aug 2026 | 00:19:51 | |
Most women don't lose their voice all at once. It happens slowly, quietly, and with the best of intentions. They soften their tone here. They hold back an opinion there. They make themselves a little smaller, a little easier, a little less. Until one day they can't quite remember what they actually sound like. This episode is about that. Where the muting comes from, what it costs, and what it takes to find your voice at midlife. Listen For 3:30 What Does It Really Mean to Find Your Voice at Midlife? 5:03 Why Do So Many Women Feel Ready to Explode in Midlife? 7:13 Why Are Assertive Women Judged Differently From Assertive Men? 12:19 How Can Women Process the Unspoken Grief of Not Having Children? 16:19 When Should You Speak Up, and When Should You Protect Your Peace? Guest: Priya Sudarsanam, Speech Pathologist LinkedIn | Website | Instagram | Podcast | Facebook | YouTube Doug Downs Subscribe to the Stories and Strategies PR podcast newsletter Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| The Paradox of Polarization… Division Makes PR More Valuable | 28 Jul 2026 | 00:15:07 | |
There’s a booming business in divisiveness. And PR is caught right in the thick of it. Recorded at the June 2026 IABC conference in Toronto, Doug Downs speaks with Fred Cook about A Quiet Shift, a report exploring how polarization is reshaping public relations. Cook explains why division is damaging society, mental health, and business while making thoughtful communications counsel more valuable. They examine echo chambers, outrage as a political and media strategy, the possibility that AI reinforces existing beliefs, and the disappearance of productive dialogue. Cook also outlines how PR education must evolve, emphasizing crisis management, finance, government relations, public affairs, ethics, and responsible technology use. Ultimately, the conversation challenges communicators to adapt without contributing to the very divisions that create demand for their expertise. Listen For 2:33 How Is Polarization Changing Public Relations? 5:38 Why Can Polarization Make PR More Valuable—and More Vulnerable? 6:25 Is AI Reinforcing Bias and Deepening Polarization? 9:01 Which Skills Will Future PR Professionals Need Most? 12:00 Why Does Calling the Other Side “Stupid” Destroy Dialogue? Guest: Fred Cook, Director USC USC Annenberg Center for Public Relations Doug Downs
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| Sticky Stories Start with the Itch Your Audience is Already Scratching | 21 Jul 2026 | 00:20:50 | |
Generic messaging fails for a simple reason. It speaks to everyone, which means it actually speaks to no one. The messages that stick, the ones people repeat, forward, and act on, are never written for "employees" or "stakeholders" or "our valued customers." They are written for one person, with one specific frustration, in one specific moment. That’s not a nice idea about storytelling. It’s a framework, and once you see it, you can’t unsee it in every all-staff email that gets ignored and every campaign that gets remembered. In this episode we get the five tip framework behind stories that actually stick, from a communicator who has spent her career studying why some messages disappear the moment they’re sent while others get repeated for years. Listen for: 3:17 The Five-Step Framework for Sticky Stories 7:12 Finding the Frustration: Real Communication Examples 10:34 Break the Fourth Wall to Make Messages Memorable 13:54 The Recipe for Stories People Remember Guest: Eduvie Martin, FCIPR, Past President of IABC UK and Ireland Doug Downs
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| Reputation Management vs Reputation Architecture | 14 Jul 2026 | 00:23:31 | |
Reputation isn’t your shadow anymore. It’s your operating system. It’s no longer something you manage. It has already been decided, by AI, based on patterns inside your organization you may not even know exist. Most leaders still think about reputation the old way: crisis plans, issue management, damage control after the fact. But AI now reads every signal a company puts out and connects them across every location and every stakeholder, drawing its own conclusion about who you really are. A bad manager in one city used to stay local. Now it can become your global reputation by tomorrow morning. There is a scale that runs from head in the sand to full reputation architect, and most organizations are stuck somewhere in the middle, reacting instead of designing. This episode gets into why reputation now functions like a credit score, why one recent report put a seven trillion dollar number on it globally, and why the real work ahead is not protecting your brand but architecting the patterns underneath it, before AI does that job for you.
Listen For 3:35 Why should organizations stop managing reputation and start architecting it? 5:13 How does reputation become operational currency across an organization? 7:48 Why is brand more than a logo or a “cowboy hat”? 10:45 How is AI becoming a stakeholder in your reputation? 16:35 How can leaders tell if they are reacting, managing, or architecting reputation? Guest: Bonnie Caver, Reputation Lighthouse LinkedIn | Website | Company LinkedIn Doug Downs
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Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| Why the Future of IABC May Be Less Stage and More Circle | 07 Jul 2026 | 00:22:09 | |
What happens when a conference has no keynote, no formal agenda, and no single expert at the front of the room? The new IABC International Chair calls this an “unconference” model. And it’s one glimpse of how professional associations can evolve: by creating space for communicators to learn directly from one another. Also in this episode – why community, credibility, and connection matter more than ever in a profession being reshaped by AI, shrinking budgets, and rising expectation, the changing role of communicators in the age of AI, and why earned media, credible third-party sources, FAQs, and even the press release may be gaining new relevance in AI search.
Listen For 4:13 Why was the ABC Designation Considered Tougher than the SCMP? 5:34 How is AI Making Earned Media and Press Releases Valuable Again? 8:09 Why Should Communicators Bring FAQ Pages Back for AI Search? 9:56 Why are Chief Communications Officers Gaining a Stronger Seat at the C-Suite Table? 17:11 How Is IABC Rethinking Chapters With Community Models and Unconferences? Guest: Richard Kies, Incoming IABC International Chair Doug Downs
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| Communications Needs a New Compass | 30 Jun 2026 | 00:22:39 | |
As a communications professional you’re operating in the most complex information environment in history. Misinformation. Disinformation. AI generated deepfakes of executives saying things they never said. Audiences who have stopped trusting what organizations tell them. Employees who can't tell what's real. And somewhere in the middle of all of that noise you’re still expected to move people. To make them understand something, feel something, and do something. With the same frameworks you have always used. Dianne Chase has written a book that argues the profession needs a North Star more than it needs another tactical playbook. She’s the past International Chair of IABC, past Chair of the IABC Southern Region, and current president of IABC Charlotte. Her book is called The Seven C's of the New Communications Compass. And the argument she makes is both simple and urgent: in an era of collapsing trust, the communicators who will matter most are not the ones with the best tools. They’re the ones who remembered to be human. This episode was recorded on location in Toronto in June 2026 at IABC World Conference
Listen For 3:16 What Are the Seven Cs of the New Communications Compass? 6:16 Why Should Organizations Build Relationships Instead of Transactions? 8:19 How Does Compassion Become Empathy in Action? 13:09 Why Does Community Matter to Purpose-Driven Brands? 17:10 How Should Communicators Measure What Really Matters? Guest: Dianne Chase, President IABC Charlotte, past International Chair IABC, past Chair IABC Southern Region Doug Downs
Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| The “Transmission” Problem in Public Relations | 23 Jun 2026 | 00:20:53 | |
Communications has always been built around a sender mentality. We decide what people need to know, we package it, we push it out. That model came from journalism and broadcasting, three networks, eleven o'clock news, one message for everyone. It made sense then. The infrastructure has changed completely since. Audiences have become producers. People choose what they consume, when they consume it, and they unsubscribe from what no longer serves them. That transformation happened entirely in the outside world. Inside organizations, almost nothing changed. And the question this episode keeps coming back to is a simple and uncomfortable one: why are we still broadcasting when everything outside us has already moved on? This episode was recorded ON LOCATION at IABC World Conference in Toronto in June 2026. Listen For 4:34 How did audiences become producers of their own news and information? 6:16 Why does internal communication need to become recipient-driven? 9:33 How can communicators create identity moments that cut through white noise? 11:28 How did opening in Spanish create a powerful diversity and inclusion moment? 16:51 How is AI changing the communicator’s role from creator to prompt strategist?
Guest: Brad Whitworth The IABC Handbook of Organizational Communication The IABC Guide for Practical Business Communication: A Global Standard Primer Doug
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| Choice Architecture: The Framework You're Already Using | 16 Jun 2026 | 00:17:10 | |
Every communications campaign you have ever built had a choice architecture inside it. The order you sequenced your calls to action. The option you listed first in a petition. The default you set in an employee survey. The way you structured a crisis response. You made all of those decisions. Some of them deliberately. Most of them by instinct, habit, or convention. And the difference between those two things, between deliberate design and accidental design, is the difference between a campaign that moves people and one that wonders why nobody moved. This episode was recorded live on stage at the IABC World Conference in Toronto on June 14th, 2026, in front of an audience of communications professionals from around the world. Listen For 4:20 What Choice Architecture Means 5:52 The Default Effect 6:50 Printer Defaults Example 8:15 Removing Friction from Sign-Ups 9:31 The EAST Framework
Guest: Ann-Marie Blake Website | True Website | LinkedIn Doug
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| Stories and Strategies Trailer | 13 Jun 2026 | 00:00:52 | |
Recognized as the most listened-to PR podcast in the World by Podchaser, Goodpods, and data from Rephonic. Also recognized as one of best Independent Interview podcasts by the Ear Worthy Newsletter https://storiesandstrategies.ca/podcast/ Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| The Case for Good Journalism in Today’s World | 09 Jun 2026 | 00:21:46 | |
“Journalism is dead.” You've heard it. You've probably said it. And honestly, the evidence seems pretty hard to argue with. Newsrooms gutted, trust in tatters, cable news turned into a gladiator sport. But what if that story, the one we keep telling about journalism, is itself bad journalism? Neil Brown thinks so. He’s a 40-year editor and president of the Poynter Institute, and he is, by his own admission, an optimist about the media. When he tells you why, it might genuinely change how you think about where good information comes from.
Listen For: 04:09 What Makes Someone a Journalist Instead of Just a Publisher? 06:22 Why Does Democracy Need Real Journalism? 12:24 Can Local Journalism Rebuild Public Trust? 13:03 How Did the Baltimore Banner Turn Bus Data Into Accountability? 17:30 What Responsibility Does the Audience Have in Fighting Misinformation? Guest: Neil Brown, Chairman of the Board and President at Poynter Institute for Media Studies Website | LinkedIn | Facebook | TikTok | BlueSky | Threads | YouTube Doug Downs
Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| Why Public Relations May Be the Secret Weapon in AI Search | 02 Jun 2026 | 00:19:27 | |
Every PR professional has sat in a meeting where leaders ask you to “show up in AI” Here’s the problem. The AEO/GEO industry has built an entire measurement apparatus around citations… the moment an AI visibly names your brand. But the research shows that moment is essentially an echo of a decision that was already made, upstream, in conversations that left no trace. Brands have been optimizing for the receipt, when the purchase decision happened days ago. The deeper irony is that the work which does move the needle in those invisible conversations looks exactly like what PR teams have always done. Original research. Expert voice. Earned credibility. Third-party validation. The toolkit that has historically been the hardest to attribute is, it turns out, the one doing the most work in the AI era. The people who were always right about what good looks like just never had the data to prove it… until now. Listen For 3:35 Why Does AI Influence Start Before the Conversion Stage? 7:41 Is AEO Really Just Earned Media Strategy in Disguise? 10:09 What Are the Three Levers That Shape AI’s View of a Brand? 13:13 Are “Hey AI” Pages and Schema Tricks Ethical or Effective? 15:49 How Can PR Teams Prove Earned Media Builds AI Influence?
Guest: Tom Rudnai, Founder and CEO Demand-Genius Doug
Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| The Human Blind Spot in Crisis Communications | 26 May 2026 | 00:20:24 | |
There is a prayer that crisis communicators have been quoting for decades. “Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” It sounds right. It feels grounding. But maybe it’s been pointing us in the wrong direction the whole time. The problem is the concept of CONTROL. Because control, in a crisis, is a myth. And every strategy built on the assumption that you can control the outcome of a crisis is a strategy built on sand. Let’s replace that idea with INFLUENCE. Doing that replaces an entire philosophy. Alongside that shift comes something more uncomfortable… the suggestion that when a crisis hits, the quality of your advice has almost nothing to do with your frameworks, your playbook, or your years of experience. It has to do with who you are as a human being. As a parent. As a citizen. As a person who is also living through the same world your client is trying to navigate. The professional and the person are not separate. And pretending they are, may be the most dangerous crisis communication strategy of all.
Listen For 3:41 Why Are Global Risks Becoming More Connected and Harder to Manage? 6:09 Is Employee Mental Health a Bigger Business Risk Than AI? 9:32 Why Do Companies Know the Risks but Still Fail to Prepare? 11:20 What Is “Agency” in Crisis Communications and Why Does It Matter? 14:29 How Can Leaders Use Empathy and Understanding to Respond to a Crisis? Guest: Rod Cartwright, Principal, Rod Cartwright Consulting 2026 Reputation, Risk, and Resilience Report Doug
Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Stories and Strategies is the Official Podcast Sponsor of IABC World Conference in Toronto June 14-16, 2026 Click here to check it out https://wc.iabc.com Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| The History of Color | 25 May 2026 | 00:22:41 | |
This episode first published in April, 2021 We haven't always seen color the same way. Pink used to be for men. Blue for women. People HATED colorful outfits when they first emerged. One aristocrat complained of "loud, swearing colors," because the new bright fabrics distracted him from his reading. In this episode Carolyn Purnell takes us on a magical journey through the history of color. Guest Carolyn Purnell, Ph.D. Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| Networking: Effective Communication at Those Big Events | 24 May 2026 | 00:27:20 | |
This episode first published in July 2024. Those big networking events. Many of us enjoy those but the repetitive small talk can be exhausting and challenging especially when conversations are frequently interrupted. In this episode we look at strategies for engaging storytelling in brief interactions, making meaningful connections, and ensuring your conversations stand out. Listen For Guest: Robert Kennedy III Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads Request a transcript of this episode Stories and Strategies is the Official Podcast Sponsor of IABC World Conference in Toronto June 14-16, 2026 Click here to check it out https://wc.iabc.com Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| Why Communication is a Navy Seal's Greatest Asset | 23 May 2026 | 00:19:24 | |
This episode first published in January 2025. Communication is the most important weapon a Navy SEAL can carry. More vital than physical strength, endurance, or even firepower. Request a transcript of this episode Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| Nudge Theory | Rory Sutherland | 22 May 2026 | 00:28:26 | |
This episode was first published in May 2021. Nudge Theory burst onto the scene in 2008 when Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler published their book “Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness.” The simplest models of economics take preferences as given, but nudge ideas suggest we can be moved, steered, and in some cases manipulated. Nudge has influenced politicians around the World. There are “Nudge Units” in government in the UK, US, Germany, Japan, and even Canada. The World Bank, United Nations, and European Commission have “Nudge” teams. Guest Rory Sutherland, Vice chairman Ogilvy UK To book Rory for your event email Canadian Nudge Team = BeSci Team UK Nudge Team = Behavioural Insights Team Australian Nudge Team = Behavioural Economics Team of Australia American Nudge Team = Social and Behavioural Sciences Team Stories and Strategies is the Official Podcast Sponsor of IABC World Conference in Toronto June 14-16, 2026 Click here to check it out https://wc.iabc.com Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| The Confidence Gap Is a Room Problem, Not a YOU Problem | 19 May 2026 | 00:22:45 | |
You’ve been in that room. Maybe you are in it right now. The table is full, the voices are loud, and somewhere between the agenda and the first agenda item, you go quiet. Not because you don't know what to say. Because something in the room tells you it isn't your turn. You leave and you call it imposter syndrome. You make it about yourself. You wonder what's wrong with you. Nothing is wrong with you. The room did that. Confidence is not something you’re both with. It’s not the absence of nerves. And it’s not volume. It’s not the ability to dominate. It’s trust. Trust in yourself that no matter what gets put in front of you, you will handle it. And the confidence gap that so many communicators feel is not a personal failing. It is an environmental one. Listen For: 3:26 Is imposter syndrome really a personal problem, or is the room the problem? 6:40 What kinds of rooms make professionals feel safe or excluded? 9:14 How can you speak up when someone dominates the conversation? 11:17 How did Advita Patel build confidence after years of self-doubt? 15:09 What is an energy audit, and how can it protect your wellbeing? Guest: Advita Patel, Founder Comms Rebel, former President CIPR Website | Confidence Coaching site | LinkedIn
Doug Farzana
Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| How Behavioral Science Can help PR Pros Understand Motivation and Decision-Making | 12 May 2026 | 00:19:46 | |
Your client is wrong. You know it. They know it, somewhere underneath the certainty. And you have two choices. You can tell them they're wrong, which will end the conversation and cost you the relationship. Or you can find the thing they want more than being right and take them there instead. This is something most communications professionals learn the hard way and never quite put into words. Every difficult client, every resistant leader, every person digging into a position that will hurt them, they are not just wrong. They are running two competing motivations at the same time. The need to be right. And the need to succeed. And those two things are almost never the same thing. The PR professional who understands that distinction doesn't argue. They redirect. And the client ends up exactly where you needed them to go, convinced it was their idea all along. Listen For 4:40 Can communicators actually motivate people to act? 7:17 Is PR returning to behavioral science, or losing its way? 8:55 What are system one, system two, and system three thinking? 11:17 How do you challenge a client without losing trust? 14:08 Will AI replace PR professionals or reveal who thinks strategically?
Guest: Roger Hurni, Founder & Chief Brand Strategist, Off Madison Ave Website | Agency | LinkedIn Outthink. Outperform. Transform Your Organization Through Behavioral Marketing
Doug Farzana
Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| AI vs Social Media. Which do we Trust More? | 05 May 2026 | 00:21:40 | |
50 percent. That's how much of the global population now trusts generative AI when searching for information about companies and brands. More than Instagram. More than Facebook. More than social media in general. And that number climbed 7 points in a single year. The data comes from the Page Society's annual Harris Poll study. 14 countries, more than 15,000 people surveyed in December 2025. Consumers aren't just using AI more. They're believing it more. And most of them aren't clicking through to the source. They're reading the AI answer and moving on. For communicators, this changes the job. It's no longer enough to optimize for search engines, you now need to optimize for the AI that sits on top of them. What does generative AI say when someone types in your brand name? Is it accurate? Is it current? Or is it surfacing something you said or did 20 years ago that no longer represents who you are? Listen For 3:26 How is declining consumer trust reshaping the role of communication leaders? Guest: Rochelle Ford, Ph.D., APR, CEO The Page Society LinkedIn | Website Page-Harris Poll: Confidence in Business Index 2026 Doug Farzana
Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| Why Misalignment from Senior Leadership Rolls Downhill | 28 Apr 2026 | 00:21:44 | |
Your Organisation says it's aligned. It probably isn't. And the problem starts at the top. Zora Artis and Wayne Aspland have spent 7 years studying the gap between what leadership teams say they're doing and what's actually happening inside organizations. And their findings are uncomfortable. In their latest global study, drawing on interviews with 55 CEOs and senior executives across five continents, they found that leaders routinely leave strategy meetings carrying completely different understandings of the direction they just agreed on. Nobody admits it. And communications professionals get handed the impossible job of aligning everyone else around a strategy the leadership team hasn't genuinely aligned on themselves. In this episode, we break down why the gap has barely moved in seven years, what's actually driving it, and what communications professionals are uniquely positioned to do about it.
The full findings are being presented IABC World Conference 2026 in Toronto this June.
Download the full Report and Infographic Summary here.
Listen For 4:11 What does true organizational alignment actually mean beyond agreement? Guests: Zora Artis Website Artis Advisory | Website Clear Leaders | Email | LinkedIn Wayne Aspland Website Clear Leaders | Email | LinkedIn Doug
Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| Crisis Communication Gaps: What CEOs Aren't Saying | 21 Apr 2026 | 00:22:18 | |
Every comms professional knows the playbook. A crisis hits, you move fast. Holding statement, talking points, media plan, stakeholder map. You do it well because you've trained for it. You bring the plan to the CEO expecting alignment and instead you get a polite nod and silence. Not pushback. Not disagreement. Just silence. And that silence is worse than any argument because it means the CEO has already stopped listening. Not because your plan was bad, but because it was solving a problem they weren't thinking about. This is the gap that quietly erodes the comms function's credibility in organizations everywhere. Communicators are passionate people. That passion is their greatest asset, until it becomes a bias that pulls them toward issues that feel urgent but aren't connected to the core business. And when that happens enough times, the CEO doesn't fire you. They just stop inviting you into the room. Listen For 3:09 How Do CEOs vs. Comms Leaders Actually Respond to Global Crises? Guest: Johna Burke, CEO and Global Managing Director, AMEC (International Association for the Measurement and Evaluation of Communication) Email | Website | LinkedIn
Doug Farzana
Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| Why Selling Time Is Killing Your Public Relations Agency | 14 Apr 2026 | 00:22:01 | |
Every PR firm knows the drill. Client says here's my budget. Firm divides by twelve. Monthly retainer, same amount, January through December, whether the work demands it or not. Need a press release? Flat rate. Need ten? Multiply. Need an editor or a videographer? That's by the hour, and one minute is one hour. The pricing isn't creative. It isn't strategic. It's arithmetic dressed up as a business model. And it worked fine, until AI started doing the arithmetic faster. Suddenly teams are twice as productive in half the time, and if you're still selling hours, you're punishing yourself for getting better. Meanwhile, the client's procurement department is happy to keep paying by the hour, because now those hours cost less. So, who's really winning? The firms who don't rethink how they price will be replaced. Not by AI, but by hungrier competitors who already have. Listen For 3:42 Why Are PR Firms the Least Creative in Pricing? Guest: Blair Enns, Win Without Pitching Website | LinkedIn | Podcast 2Bobs David’s books including Pricing Creativity
Doug Farzana
Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| People Don’t Resist Change, They Resist Being Changed | 07 Apr 2026 | 00:18:43 | |
Most communicators assume that if people reject a message, they must not understand it. Lord David Evans argues the opposite. Backlash often isn’t confusion. It’s threat. When people feel insecure, unheard, or looked down on, they don’t lean in. They shut down. And in that moment, facts don’t persuade, values don’t inspire, and “better messaging” can make things worse. In this episode Lord David Evans breaks down what political campaigning can teach PR professionals about trust, psychological safety, and why populist narratives spread so quickly. This isn’t about copying tactics. It’s about understanding what your audience needs before they will even give you permission to listen. Listen For 2:22 Who is Lord David Evans and why does his perspective matter right now? Guest: Lord David Evans
Doug Farzana
Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Request a transcript of this episode Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| The New Role of Public Relations | Ipsos | 31 Mar 2026 | 00:23:02 | |
Public relations used to be seen as the function that shaped the message after the decisions were made. That is not enough anymore. In a world shaped by geopolitical shocks, cultural division, AI disruption, and rising reputational risk, communications leaders are being pulled closer to the centre of power. They are no longer just storytellers or spokespersons. They are becoming strategic sensemakers: the people expected to read the moment, interpret the pressure, and help leadership decide what to say, what to do, and sometimes whether to say anything at all. Our job is evolving to help brands survive the storm. If you work in PR, corporate affairs, or communications leadership, this episode will feel familiar fast, because it names the job as it is now, not as it used to be. And if you have not yet felt that shift in your own role, you will soon. Listen For 3:00 How Has the PR Professional Evolved into a Strategic Sense-Making Role? Guest: Tom Fife-Schaw, Uk Managing Director of Corporate Reputation, Ipsos Email | LinkedIn | Navigating Through Turbulence Report Doug Farzana
Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Request a transcript of this episode Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| Why Public Relations Still Has a Leadership Problem | 24 Mar 2026 | 00:21:55 | |
Communications is often described as a female-led profession, but that label can hide a harder truth. Women may make up much of the industry, yet the balance often shifts when it comes to senior leadership, influence, and decision-making. So, what’s still standing in the way, and why has progress been slower than it should be? Natasha Plowman argues gender equity cannot remain a women-only conversation, yet many men still hold back because they are afraid of saying the wrong thing, unsure how to contribute, or feel the issue is not theirs to address. In this episode, why silence protects the status quo. And change usually starts when more than the excluded group speaks up. Listen For 2:33 Why Does a Female-Powered Industry Still Struggle to Put Women in Leadership? Guest: Natasha Plowman Spinning Red Website | Antiquoted Website | Email Break the Silence | Natasha LinkedIn Doug Farzana
Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Request a transcript of this episode Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| Visual Drift: Why Brands Stop Looking Like Themselves | 17 Mar 2026 | 00:22:34 | |
You know that feeling when you look at your own brand and it somehow doesn’t feel like you anymore? The logo is the same, the words are mostly right, and the message is still “on brand”… but the visuals have started to wander. A new template here. A new font there. Someone’s “quick” Canva edit. A LinkedIn graphic that looks like it came from a different company. None of it is a big mistake. It’s just… a hundred small ones. And in PR, you can’t afford that moment when a stakeholder sees your work and thinks, Wait—who are we today? Because we’re living in a scrolling, skimming world where people decide in seconds. They don’t stop to decode your intent; they feel something fast, or they move on. So how do you keep creativity alive without letting your brand drift into a different personality every week? And what actually makes a visual work now? What makes someone feel something immediately? Listen For :15 Why did Boaty McBoatface become the perfect lesson in brand control? 3:17 What is visual drift and how does it quietly damage brand credibility? 4:53 Why should brands resist changing logos and colors too often? 6:14 How are Canva and easy design tools changing the role of visual experts? 8:55 How do brands win attention in the first 0.3 seconds of scrolling? Guest: Stewart Cohen Website | Email | Instagram | YouTube | LinkedIn
Doug Farzana
Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Request a transcript of this episode Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| Synthetic Populations & Their Impacts on Public Relations | 10 Mar 2026 | 00:16:18 | |
What if the best market research started by IGNORING what people say? What if, instead, you started modeling them based on proven behaviour? Right down to the regional level? And what if political polling was done this way too A new term is showing up in research and strategy circles with major implications for communicators: synthetic populations. This is not a cheap AI focus group. It is a data-built population model that reflects how people are distributed and behave at scale using high-quality inputs like official statistics, mobility patterns, and registration data, rather than relying only on interviews and surveys. That matters because self-reported data is often aspirational, incomplete, or socially filtered. Synthetic populations offer another path: estimating market potential, testing where campaigns should start, understanding regional differences, and pressure-testing assumptions before rollout. The real question is not just what synthetic populations are, but what happens when strategy shifts from asking people to modeling populations.
Listen For 3:07 What’s the difference between a synthetic panel and a synthetic population?
Guest: Eike Hartmann, Vice President Custom Research & Insights Business at Statista+ White Paper on Synthetic Populations
Doug Farzana
Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Request a transcript of this episode Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| The 7 Reputation Drivers Every Leader Should Know | 03 Mar 2026 | 00:22:30 | |
In today’s world, PR leaders need to build and protect their brand’s reputation in an AI-shaped, polarized world, where owned media matters more than ever. Reputation is no longer a soft metric but an economic multiplier and an insurance policy. From the difference between brand and reputation to the growing tension between character and competence, this episode explains what actually moves corporate standing up or down in today’s environment. We also share why owned media now plays a disproportionate role in shaping not just earned coverage, but AI-generated search results and stakeholder perception. Listen For 3:45 What Is the Real Difference Between Brand and Reputation? Guest: Stephen Hahn-Griffiths, RepTrak
Doug Farzana
Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Request a transcript of this episode Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| Public Relations in the Age of Insularity | 24 Feb 2026 | 00:21:53 | |
Trust used to flow upward. To experts, institutions, and authority. Then it shifted to “people like me.” Now even that circle is tightening. The 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer reveals a growing insularity: smaller tribes, hardened perspectives, and a widening mass-class divide driven by whether people believe the system works for them. Persuasion is shifting to trust brokerage, and what communicators, leaders, and businesses can do when trust itself has become the battleground. Listen For 3:10 Skip the opening story and go right to the interview with Tim Weber 3:47 What does it mean that we’ve moved from echo chambers to “turtle shells” 7:21 Is polarization economic, cultural, technological—or all three? 12:35 How can companies blunt fear and become true trust brokers? 20:13 Will AI reinforce our biases and deepen our personal echo chambers? Guest: Tim Weber, Managing Director & EMEA Head of Editorial, Edelman LinkedIn | Instagram | Bio | Website
Doug Farzana Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Request a transcript of this episode Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| Why Brands are Too Serious… and Paying the Price | 17 Feb 2026 | 00:21:16 | |
Can a joke really sell a brand? Or save it from sameness? Most campaigns sound the same because they’re afraid to sound wrong. Safe language, serious faces, purpose-heavy messages that all blur together. And yet one of the most successful creative agencies in North America has built its reputation by doing the opposite. Zulu Alpha Kilo lives by a simple motto… Fight Sameness… and they do it with humor, sarcasm, and a willingness to say the quiet part out loud. Why does that work? Why does making people laugh end up being the fastest way to earn trust? Why does honesty often land better as a joke than a lecture. Listen For 3:01 Fast-forward to the start of the interview 5:19 Check out an example of a funny (sarcastic) ad by Zulu Alpha Kilo 5:36 Why does ad satire feel so personal to marketers? 9:11 What tiny detail annoyed people in that absurd ad?
Guest: Michael Siegers, Zulu Alpha Kilo Doug Farzana
Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Request a transcript of this episode Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| When Your Message is Consistent, But Your Audience Isn’t | 10 Feb 2026 | 00:20:20 | |
You can be the same person across every channel. Your social media accounts. Your YouTube. Your newsletter. Your blog. The same principles. The same voice. Often even the same message. And many of the people following you on LinkedIn are the same people who see you on Instagram, hear you on a podcast, or read your newsletter. Yet those same people can understand you, trust you, and remember you very differently simply because they encounter you in a different place. Not because you changed. Because they did. They arrive with different expectations. Different attention. Different patience. The channel shapes what they notice, what they believe, and what stays with them, even when the words don’t change at all. In this episode, we explore how platforms shape perception, why fractured identities are now the norm, and what that means for communicators who already know better but are running out of time and headspace. Listen For 4:30 How do you tailor one piece of content for different platforms?
Guest: Molly Demellier, Sounds Profitable Email | Website | Sounds Profitable LinkedIn Doug Farzana
Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Request a transcript of this episode Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| The New LinkedIn: How Reach Actually Works now | 03 Feb 2026 | 00:23:59 | |
You’re using LinkedIn wrong Not because you’re not smart… you are. It’s because you’re using yesterday’s LinkedIn. The platform is changing fast. The feed has changed, and the rules for reach have changed with it. This episode shows you what’s different now, and how to adapt without turning into a “content person.”
Listen For 3:29 What happens when you hit publish on LinkedIn? Guest: Alicia Teltz, The Hype Department
Doug Farzana
Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Request a transcript of this episode Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| Is Silence Still Strategic When the World’s on Fire? | 30 Jan 2026 | 00:14:28 | |
When the streets erupt, the headlines explode, and public pressure hits boiling point… can business leaders still afford to say nothing? In this episode tackle the growing tension between corporate responsibility and political risk. From a CEO letter in Minnesota addressing immigration-fueled violence to Keir Starmer’s high-stakes diplomacy in China, we ask: when the world demands clarity, is strategic ambiguity still a safe PR move? Listen For 2:08 What is safety in numbers for corporate protest The Week Unspun is a weekly livestream every Friday at 10am ET/3pm BT. Check it out on our YouTube Channel or via this LinkedIn channel Curzon Public Relations Website Stories and Strategies Website Request a transcript of this livestream
Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| How Personal Branding is Changing… and What You Need to Do Now | 27 Jan 2026 | 00:17:21 | |
Personal branding is changing in real time. The first impression is no longer a handshake or a conversation. It is a clip you did not choose, a post someone else shared, a comment you left, or a quote that gets passed around without context. What actually builds trust across today’s platforms? It’s the different channels and how they shape different versions of you. Consistency matters more than polish. Algorithms and AI search now “interpret” your reputation. Today you need to build a personal brand that holds up when you’re not in the room.
Listen For :22 What if people meet your story before they meet you? Guest: Liz Brooks, Interview Valet
Doug Farzana
Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Request a transcript of this episode Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| The Mark Carney Mic Drop in Davos | 23 Jan 2026 | 00:25:56 | |
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney stood up in Davos and didn’t waste words. He gave a speech that cut through the noise. The room stood. The world noticed. He said, “If you're not at the table, you're on the menu.” People replayed that line like it was a lifeline. This episode of The Week Unspun comes straight from the snowy peaks of Davos, but the questions are sharp and wide-reaching. Can speeches still move people to action? Can we trust the Edelman Trust Barometer, or has its credibility fractured like the world it measures? And as the World Economic Forum eyes cities like Detroit and Dublin, what happens when the name “Davos” no longer fits the map? Listen For :51 What made Mark Carney’s Davos speech go viral? The Week Unspun is a weekly livestream every Friday at 10am ET/3pm BT. Check it out on our YouTube Channel or via this LinkedIn channel Curzon Public Relations Website Stories and Strategies Website Request a transcript of this livestream Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||
| How to Compete for Attention in a Distracted World | 20 Jan 2026 | 00:22:39 | |
PR teams are being asked to win attention in a world that barely gives it. The problem is not reach. The problem is what happens after the click, after the view, after the impression. If your audience does not stay, nothing sticks. Not the message, not the trust, not the reputation you are trying to build. In this episode, we unpack why depth beats scale and why time spent is one of the most overlooked drivers of influence. You will hear a fresh way to think about loyalty, attention, and what it means to create content that people actually choose to come back to, even when the feed is endless. Listen For 3:42 How do you separate scale from depth in brand storytelling? 20:03 Answer to Last Episode’s Question from Guest Jenny Manchester Guest: Roger Nairn, Jar Podcast Solutions Website | Jar LinkedIn | Roger LinkedIn | YouTube
Doug Downs Farzana Baduel
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| Is Davos Still a Forum? Or Just a Stage? | 16 Jan 2026 | 00:17:52 | |
In this week’s The Week UnSpun, the panel takes on three high-stakes stories where influence, identity, and global perception collide. First, the team unpacks the latest flashpoint over Greenland, where the U.S. talks security, Denmark talks sovereignty, and Greenland quietly navigates the space in between. But is this really about narrative control, or something deeper, as David suggests, like the importance of alliances over authorship? Then, the conversation turns to Minnesota, where deadly ICE encounters have sparked a communications crisis over trust, legitimacy, and who gets to define the truth. Finally, the group turns to Davos, joined by 18-year World Economic Forum veteran Joanna Gordon, who lifts the curtain on how the global summit has evolved, and whether it still lives up to its founding ideals. Listen For 2:03 Can Greenland Strengthen Partnerships Without Losing Autonomy? Guest: Joanna Gordon The Week Unspun is a weekly livestream every Friday at 10am ET/3pm BT. Check it out on our YouTube Channel or via this LinkedIn channel Curzon Public Relations Website Stories and Strategies Website Request a transcript of this livestream Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode | |||