The 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer "Trust Amid Insularity" is out and it should matter to financial services leaders. We are surrounding ourselves with curated podcast lists, algorithm led social media feeds, seeing only our own opinion reflected back at us. People are...

When someone senior leaves your SMT and exits the organisation, it’s easy to retrofit reasons for their voluntary departure.  We have seen this recently when the Tory party issued an extraordinary and rather insensitive statement linking the defection of Suella...

The World Economic Forum and its flagship annual shindig in Davos have long served as a barometer for global elite sentiment, drawing world leaders, CEOs, and influencers to discuss pressing economic and social issues. Its reputation in the British media has proved...

Ofcom’s online nation results are out for 2025. Let's break down what it means for your business in the mortgage and finance sectors: More clicks to financial topics came from ChatGPT than from Google. People are expecting answers immediately, in a way that works for...

AI is sliding into our everyday world. It's making us so distrustful that we have to prove that, behind this digital screen, we're human or we risk being slop. Em dashes have become a telltale sign of AI generated content so humans are fearing using them - our blog on...

If you’re the founder of an ambitious b2b start-up or scale-up, how soon should you be thinking about a PR strategy?  From a PR perspective, most young businesses fall into one of three camps:   The businesses that don’t think they are ready for PR yet.   The guys who...

Few figures in American history have benefited from better PR than Billy the Kid. In reality, he was a young, penniless drifter caught up in a bloody and brutal conflict on the New Mexico frontier. In legend, he became a sharp-shooting, charismatic outlaw – equal...

Set the scene Snow falls gently, a large red lorry drives up a winding, pine tree-lined road. Baby polar bears, bunnies (and sloths?) wake up, their eyes widen in awe as they scurry to see the convoy of lorries pass, sparkling like a Christmas tree itself.  The words...

Christmas 2025 was supposed to be the merriest yet. But the unthinkable happened: Santa’s naughty-or-nice database was hacked. Worse, it wasn’t a garden-variety cyber breach. The hackers—presumably elves disgruntled over unpaid overtime—released a revised list,...

It’s the 31st of October and after a long day you’re making your way home along your local high street. For a Friday, it’s eerily quiet and you shiver as a chill wind catches your scarf. It’s dark already and the streetlights flicker. Somewhere in the distance a dog...

Some people are learning about the em dash for the first time—they’re learning it’s a red flag. The em dash is becoming the tell-tale sign of ChatGPT-written text. Writers and content creators are now actively avoiding (or deleting) it at all costs for the sake of...

Trick or treat. This isn't me. Well it’s my image, but that’s it. If you know me well, you might recognise you’ve just entered uncanny valley. My movements aren’t quite right. That’s not my voice. But if you didn’t know me, would you trust it? [video width="1280"...

It was the most irritating slogan in the history of transport. Now the infamous “See it. Say it. Sorted” security campaign is getting an overhaul – a decade after being introduced. “‘See it. Say it. Sorted” has become part of the national consciousness since it was...

Navigating reputation management in the Gen Z era In today’s hyperconnected world, reputation is no longer a neatly packaged corporate asset. It lives and breathes in the hands of individuals – employees, executives, influencers and everyday consumers. Nowhere is this...

Businesses, individuals and reportedly even the stock exchange, are still reeling from the aftermath of Jaguar Land Rover's cyberattack, with production halted for weeks. Last year Microsoft systems’ had a global outage; somewhat ironically, human error at...

Falling leaves, cosy knit jumpers and Pumpkin Spice Lattes (PSL) on the menu: it must be autumn. Starbucks’ pumpkin spice lattes have been around for 22 years and they’re not just a drink but a cultural phenomenon. You can’t turn a corner or scroll social media...

Written by James Staunton, director of bClear Communications It’s Gregg Wallace, again.  The disgraced MasterChef presenter, who was sacked by the BBC in July following a six-month investigation which found him guilty of “inappropriate language”, has now reportedly...

James Staunton has been featured in Business Motoring: From buzzwords to authenticity: How the motor trade’s C-suite can close the comms gap | Business Motoring   Four in every five (81%) communications professionals believe they are doing ‘a great job’...

When people think of PR, they picture frantic teams trying to rescue a brand after a CEO says something regrettable. A swamp of ringing phones, keyboards clattering, coffee dripping down the side of a desk, a titan-like boss growling orders from the centre of the...