Stories and Strategies with Curzon Public Relations

In every corner of the world the public mood is shifting, sometimes quietly and sometimes all at once. Climate anxiety, pandemic fears, economic pressure, geopolitical tension and a surge in concern about data security have all reshaped what people expect from companies. 

For organizations trying to build trust across borders the rules keep changing. What mattered in 2019 did not matter in 2021. What mattered last year may not matte...

Most agencies can tell you how their clients are doing but ask how they are doing and the room gets quiet. The truth is that even the best run firms skip their own checkups. Margins thin out, teams burn out, and culture drifts while the spotlight stays fixed on the next pitch. 

But what if agencies treated their operations the way a doctor treats a patient, tracking vital signs, diagnosing problems early, and prescribing real soluti...

This week, we look into the murky ethics of media leaks and their growing role in shaping political, corporate, and cultural narratives. From leaked peace plans that spark international diplomacy to budget details released minutes before parliamentary debate, we dissect whether leaks are ethical whistleblowing or manipulative PR tactics. 

Farzana argues that leaks often reveal broken internal cultures, while Doug, from a journalisti...

Trust isn’t built in boardrooms or over Zoom. It’s built in the quiet moments. A conversation that lingers, a promise kept, a drink shared between people who still believe words matter. 

In this episode, we explore how the foundations of influence have shifted from handshakes to hyperlinks, and what that means for anyone trying to shape opinion or policy in a world that’s forgotten how to connect.

You’ll hear stories from inside the ...

What happens when PR meets scandal, tech chaos, and gender bias? 

This episode of The Week UnSpun is a whirlwind of explosive headlines. The trio of David Gallagher, Doug Downs, and guest host Miranda Mitchell look into the renewed Epstein files controversy and its potential to dominate headlines well into 2025. 

They unravel Cloudflare’s swift crisis response and debate the alleged gender bias in LinkedIn’s algorithm. 

Add a healthy ...

AI can imitate your voice, your words, even your face, but it can’t steal your story. 

What happens when companies hand their storytelling to machines that don’t understand who they are? 

As businesses race to automate, they risk losing the very thing that makes them distinct: the human truth that built their brand.

Listen For

3:15 How are story, narrative, and voice different?
7:00 What is brand drift and how does AI cause it?

Is the BBC losing its grip on journalistic credibility? Or is it being pushed?  

This episode of The Week Unspun unpacks a chaotic week in media and politics with sharp insight from PR veterans Farzana Baduel, David Gallagher, Doug Downs, and special guest Adrian Monck. The BBC’s controversial editing of a Donald Trump speech for Panorama sparks a fierce debate on ethics, institutional accountability, and media governance. From inte...

In public relations, success often depends on one quiet skill: knowing how to adapt. The best communicators read the room, sense the temperature, and adjust their tone without losing their message. 

In this episode, we explore what it really means to be a PR chameleon – someone who can blend into the cultural landscape enough to connect, yet still stand out enough to be remembered. 

Jessica Hope, founder of Wimbart, has built one of ...

In this audience-driven “mailroom” episode of The Week Spun, the conversation opens with a provocative idea from the PRovoke Summit: AI is now being discussed in full-time equivalent (FTE) terms, signaling a shift in how agencies and organizations think about synthetic labor. Guest host Kim Sample, President of the PR Council, joins Doug Downs and David Gallagher to explore what this means for the future of work in PR.

From there, t...

Afraid of posting on LinkedIn? You’re not alone, and it’s not about time or talent, it’s about confidence.

In this episode we look at why communicators, especially women, struggle to show up confidently on LinkedIn. 

Fear, not time or skill, is the biggest barrier to visibility. PR professionals who are used to writing for others often stumble when the byline is their own. 

From how to post authentically without oversharing, to naviga...

What do a billionaire climate pivot, AI-fueled layoffs, and a scandalous Italian election have in common? They all got the PR treatment in this episode.  

Farzana Baduel, David Gallagher, and Doug Downs peel back the media layers behind some of the week’s most buzzworthy stories, from Bill Gates’ controversial “climate realism” memo and its impact on corporate sustainability narratives, to Amazon’s AI-framed mass layoffs and what th...

We live in a moment where artificial intelligence can write our emails, plan our meetings, even give us life advice. But here’s the problem: these systems are often too agreeable for our own good. They’re less like truth tellers and more like digital echo chambers. They nod along, validate our choices, and tell us exactly what we want to hear. 

To use an outdated term… GenAI is too often like a Yes Man.

In this episode we’re looking ...

Can a cyclist-turned (accused) communist New York mayoral candidate teach the PR world a thing or two about emotional storytelling?  

This week we unpack the “Mamdani effect” how Zohran Mamdani is rewriting the rules of political communications with cultural fluency, TikTok charm, and unforgettable soundbites.  

Other topics, what are the comms implications of the Omnicom-IPG mega-merger, and what is the likely impact on agency ident...

Is attention the new currency? Politicians, brands, influencers, even your neighbor’s viral TikTok are all competing for the same scarce resource: your focus. 

But attention is slippery. It can make you a household name overnight and it can vanish just as quickly. 

In an age where algorithms decide what we see and artificial intelligence rewrites how we discover information, the fight for attention has never been more intense.

What ha...

The call for better measurement in public relations is not new. For decades, leaders in the field have warned that counting impressions, likes, and advertising value equivalents is not enough. Yet here we are, still leaning on the same empty numbers while the C-suite is asking for proof of outcomes that matter.  

The urgency has been with us for years, but too often the industry has not listened to its own advice.  

We aren’t listeni...

Search is changing faster than most PR professionals realize. For years, SEO was about keywords and backlinks. Now, with AI-driven tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity shaping how people find information, the game is shifting to AEO (Answer Engine Optimization).

Instead of tricking algorithms, brands need to prove expertise, authority, and trustworthiness at every turn. To stay discoverable, we need to craft smarter prompts, p...

Getting Hispanic communications wrong is not just a slip. It can cost brands credibility, trust, and millions in wasted campaigns. Too often, companies think a simple translation is enough, only to find their carefully crafted message falls flat or even offends the very audience they are trying to reach. With more than 65 million Hispanics in the United States, representing one of the fastest growing and most influential communitie...

What happens when your newsfeed becomes a battlefield?

In the US and UK, political leaders trade accusations, social media thrives on outrage, and communities are left simmering in distrust. What used to be disagreements over policy now look more like open hostility, with violence creeping closer to the center of public life. 

Attacks on lawmakers, threats to schools, and the killing of high-profile figures are no longer shocking out...

Google Search still holds about 90% of global search volume as of mid‑2025, but change is underway as more users begin turning to AI. 

AI search is rewriting the rules of discovery, and PR needs to adapt. With ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity each scraping different corners of the web, the old focus on big-name publications is no longer enough. The most influential sources may now be niche review sites, specialized forums, or content...