October 16, 2025
In this week's jumbo edition (#161): AI's role in journalism, 2026 PR outlook, Antifragile comms strategies, the future of PR leadership, AI & the CCO, the era of compounding crisis, and much more...
Generative AI and news report 2025: How people think about AI’s role in journalism and society - “Information-seeking is now the lead use-case across countries. Weekly use of AI for getting information more than doubled (from 11% to 24%), overtaking creating media (up 7 percentage points to 21%).” (Reuters Institute)
PR, Comms, & Marketing: The 2026 Outlook - “The bottom line: Impact measurement and revenue linkage will dominate 2026. Budgets will stay constrained, media relations will remain strained (whatever that means?), and AI will shift from experimental to operational. The convergence around brand building creates opportunity if teams can agree how to measure it.” (Onclusive)
Q3 2025 Reputation Risk Index - “At a time of unprecedented political polarization, the latest Index reveals a clear consensus that the greatest threat to corporate reputation concerns the whims of one man: U.S. President Donald Trump. While disinformation topped the Q2 report, it was notably absent from this quarter’s report. Issues relating to the proliferation of technology and artificial intelligence (AI) remain top-of-mind, with data privacy, IP infringement, and antitrust all charting in the top 10 for Q3.” (Global Situation Room)
The Future of Strategy 2025: The great strategy rebrand - “Strategy must be rebranded as a service: clear, accountable, and indispensable. Strategists must reclaim their role as the ones focusing on measurable business outcomes, acting as orchestrators, and applying human judgment to unlock growth.” There’s lots here that I agree with. (WARC)
Antifragile communication strategy - “Strong communication strategies get stronger under pressure.” Great article and even better name. (Speaking Moylanguage).
Is ‘Going Viral’ Dead? “Spontaneous original content, shared by people all over the world, made the internet a fun place to be. It’s more complicated now.” (New York Times - $)
The Future of PR Leadership – Erudition, Grit, and Diplomacy - “Great communicators are not only storytellers but also synthesisers of information, able to distil complexity into insights that inform business decisions… Our outside-in perspective uniquely positions us to bring this breadth of understanding into the boardroom.” (Charlotte West)
The State of Creator Marketing Report 2025-2026 - “Creator marketing has entered a new chapter. Amid economic uncertainty and rapid AI adoption, budgets aren’t shrinking—they’re accelerating.” (Creatoriq)
American Eagle’s CMO on Why Doing ‘Nothing’ Was the Boldest Move - “Craig Brommers explains why he threw out the crisis comms playbook in response to Sydney Sweeney campaign backlash.” (Adweek)
Leading in the era of the compounding crisis - In a survey of 150 leaders at large UK businesses, four traits were identified “that provide a useful guide for navigating today’s crisis communications landscape: 1. Leaders are feeling unprecedented pressure and exposed by a lack of preparedness, 2. The ‘compounding crisis’ is the new normal, 3. Modern issues – of which there are many – are a direct threat to profit, 4. There is trouble from within. Keep your friends close and your employees closer.” Nice piece of work. (FleishmanHillard)
New Report Reveals a CX Confidence Disconnect: Business Leaders Believe They’re Trusted. Consumers Say Otherwise - “The findings, drawn from dual surveys of more than 2,600 business leaders and consumers, reveal a potential disconnect between how business leaders perceive their customer experience (CX) and how consumers live it. The gap can threaten trust, performance, and readiness for AI.” (Sprinklr)
AI and the CCO: The Next Great Strategic Shift - “Today’s best communicators are becoming systems thinkers - leaders who use AI to synthesize data from across the enterprise and the marketplace to uncover the why behind trends and the what next that drives business outcomes.” (David Chamberlin)
Sora Marks OpenAI’s Leap Into Social Media—and Into a Reality Crisis - “Critics say Sora signals the “slop-ification” of social media, with Vox calling it an “unholy abomination.” Others have praised its technical prowess, and many have compared it to TikTok for its familiar vertical feed and swipe-to-scroll navigation.” (Observer)
Handle the Corporate Heat Like an Actual Firefighter - “Many leaders think they’re great at battling corporate fires. The truth? There’s much to learn about planning, roles, tools, and communication from real firefighters.” Solid crisis management guidance. (MITSloan)
Cuomo Deepfaked Himself. You Can Too - “Public figures used to be off-limits in AI-generated video. A new Tow Center analysis shows how platforms are normalizing the practice.” (CJR)
From Evan Shapiro, The First-Ever Comprehensive Map of the Creator Economy (or so he thinks)
And finally, the most popular article from last week was A Smarter Way to Disagree by Harvard Business Review.