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Opinions

  • Beyond the Basket: The cultural forces that are shaping how Gen Z shop

    March 19, 2025

    For Gen Z, the journey to purchase is not linear. It involves a complicated web of touchpoints cultural influences. The notion of brand love is changing as “hype” trend cycles speed up, new brands emerge, stale brands die, dead brands are resurrected and iconic brands trailblaze by staying culturally tuned into the behaviors and attitudes of their communities. In order to stay ahead of the curve, brands need to balance being omnipresent in the hearts...

  • Achieving Outsized Impact by Building Stronger Country Reputation

    February 18, 2025

    By Michael Hartt, Senior Partner & Head of International Affairs  View full report here. In a world of fragmented geopolitics, economic volatility and societal upheaval, countries around the globe are navigating greater complexity than ever before. They will be defined by how they navigate this pressure-filled landscape.   If they can do so successfully, the results are significant: economic opportunity, greater peace and security, progress on climate action, humanitarian crises and other challenges, and progress on...

  • Corporate Affairs Trends for 2025

    December 17, 2024

    We're pleased to share our latest 2025 Corporate Affairs Trends Report. Using data and research, our team has forecast key trends for 2025 that corporate affairs leaders and anyone doing communications with an element of corporate, reputation, crisis, or risk mitigation ought to be preparing for. Every trend includes background information, a specific articulation of what’s going to be happening, and, crucially, recommendations for practical actions. Trends forecasting is necessarily an exercise in opinion. There...

  • To drive business performance, we must master cultural alchemy

    July 11, 2024

      To drive business performance, we must master cultural alchemy Today’s business leaders are facing chronic disruption — inflation and cost pressures, AI and the digital revolution, geopolitical instability and societal issues. It’s taking a toll on business performance and heightening the pressure to transform, now and for the future, in an environment where the expectation is to somehow deliver more with less. Data shows that the most pressing challenge for global executive leaders is...

  • Democracy in 2024: Influence in an election year

    May 2, 2024

    We hosted the first event of our FHFuture Series - Democracy in 2024: Influence in an Election year; Implications and Watchouts for Business.  Among the speakers were journalists, influencers, youth and industry regulatory experts who each contributed unique and insightful perspectives from their industries and beyond. With the help of FH’s Head of News, Pete Meikle, Head of Public Affairs, Liam McCloy and the Consumer Team’s Nina Bautista, they delivered a fascinating discussion on topics...

  • Changing Communications Tack at Mobile World Congress

    February 21, 2024

    The last time I attended Mobile World Congress, it was before the iPhone had been launched in Europe. The world of telecoms – and PR – was very different. Pretty much every publication in the region sent a host of tech reporters, and the job of the PR was hosting 30+ briefings on stands where booth babes were still a standard accessory.  Fast forward to 2024, and comms at MWC is a very different story...

  • What we learned from our panel discussion on sustainability regulation and communications in 2024

    January 30, 2024

    It’s difficult to do justice in just one blog, to a one-hour conversation with four experts that covered the highs and lows of sustainability communications, but in the following words we certainly try! On Thursday 25th we hosted, Justine Grimley from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), Louisa Humm from Chivas Brothers, Alex Lawson from The Guardian and our very own Holly Rouse, to talk about the future of sustainability regulation and communication in 2024. The...

  • Big pharma gets a big brand boost

    November 20, 2023

    Many pharmaceutical companies are choosing this moment to rebrand, and the results signal a welcome new creative direction for the industry. Until a year ago, pharma was the one of the last bastions of safe, characterless branding. The only thing distinguishing most companies was the name. And why not? Pharmaceutical companies barely needed to promote or differentiate themselves from their competitors. Most industries live and die by how they respond to changing times, but people...

  • Rishi’s Reshuffle: Suella’s Sacking and Cameron’s Comeback

    November 15, 2023

    After an underwhelming Party Conference season and a tense few days over former Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s unauthorised column in The Times, Monday’s reshuffle was a chance for the Conservative Party to turn around its fortunes ahead of the General Election next year. And to some extent, it has delivered. Many in the Party welcomed the return of former Prime Minister David Cameron to the Cabinet and the removal of Braverman, and by some accounts...

  • Will gen AI change the game? Understanding the hopes, fears and ambitions of communications and marketing decision-makers

    October 23, 2023

    It’s almost a year since generative AI exploded into our newsfeeds and onto the agendas of organisations from all sectors. Since then, we’ve been told that these tools could affect up to 300 million jobs, and even that AI technology could one day pose an existential threat to humanity.  The news cycle is moving so quickly and keeps throwing up compelling new developments – earlier this month, for example, the BBC said it was looking...

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