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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 Substack | Website | LinkedIn   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. 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 Support the show

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 2:43 Certification over Accreditation 6:02 Ongoing Education and Accountability 12:55 Mandatory Certification in Some Countries 17:00 Answer to Last Episode’s Question from Guest Vince Nero   Guest: Sia Papageorgiou, FRSA, FCSCE, SCMP Website | Email | X | LinkedIn CSCE link to training offerings  Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads Request a transcript of this episode Support the show Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode Support the show

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 Email | PRSA Bio Doug Substack | Website | LinkedIn 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 Support the show

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 Substack | Website | LinkedIn 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 Support the show

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 Website | LinkedIn Doug Downs Substack | Website | LinkedIn   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 Support the show

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 Substack | Website | LinkedIn   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 Support the show

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 Substack | Website | LinkedIn 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 Support the show

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? 7:44 Why Did People Accept Wrong AI Answers 80% of the Time? 9:53 Can Cognitive Surrender Weaken Critical Thinking Skills? 12:47 What Happens When AI Sits Between PR Pros and the Public? 15:14 Why Should Communicators Think First and Prompt Second? Guest: Dr Steven Shaw, PhD, King’s College London and Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania Website | LinkedIn | Google Scholar page Doug Substack | Website | LinkedIn   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 Support the show

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 Substack | Website | LinkedIn   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 Support the show

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 Website | Email | LinkedIn  Doug Substack | Website | LinkedIn   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 Support the show

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 Website | LinkedIn Colleen Killingsworth  LinkedIn Book Rethinking the Table on Amazon   Doug Substack | Website | LinkedIn   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 Support the show

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 Substack | Website | LinkedIn   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 Support the show

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 Website | LinkedIn Colleen Killingsworth  LinkedIn   Book Rethinking the Table on Amazon   Doug Substack | Website | LinkedIn Watch this episode on YouTube   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 Support the show

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 Substack | Website | LinkedIn  Watch this episode on YouTube 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 Support the show

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 Fred bio Doug Downs Substack | Website | LinkedIn   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 Support the show