Fresh eyes

PR and comms in 2025 – A year of dilemmas and tough decisions

PR in 2025
Andrew Taylor Senior PR & Comms Manager

Published by Andrew Taylor,
PR & Communications Director at Freshfield

‘Apple board pushes against diversity rollback call’
‘Police force steps back from social media site X’
‘Meta’s free speech overhaul sparks advertisers’ concern’
‘Employees push back on return to office policy’
‘Are investors falling out of love with ESG?’

This small selection of headlines from these early days of 2025 is a reminder that organisations of all sizes are facing big decisions that could have major reputational implications.

Below is a summary of some of the big PR and communications challenges businesses are grappling with, many of which are inextricably linked to the fast-changing technological and political environment.

Staying authentic in the age of AI

Artificial intelligence is opening up new possibilities for businesses, but its increasing adoption also presents ethical challenges. While it offers enhanced efficiency, it can lack the human touch and lead to inauthentic engagement with audiences.

We’ve seen many recent examples of AI generated content missing the mark, from Apple’s misleading AI generated news headlines to Coca Cola’s uninspiring AI generated Christmas advert. Adopting AI in an authentic and ethical way will be one of 2025’s key challenges for businesses, which will need to be upfront about their use of AI in their communications activity.

Communicating transparently on ESG issues

The way businesses communicate about ESG continues to change. There appears to be a growing fatigue around ESG issues in the investment community and some large American corporates are watering down diversity, equality and inclusion pledges due to the changing political landscape in the US.

Businesses need to do (and be seen to be doing) the right thing, but ever-growing scrutiny and claims of ‘greenwashing’ mean that ESG communications need to be carefully considered. One of our previous posts looks at five top tips for getting your ESG Communications strategy right.

Navigating a shifting social media landscape

Elon Musk’s divisive use of his X social media platform to influence political discourse around the world is leading many organisations to move away from X for reputational reasons. But for those that have long used X as a customer service tool, the decision on whether or not to stop using the platform is a more complicated one.

There’s been dramatic user growth of social platforms like Bluesky and Threads, but even these newer, ‘more ethical’ platforms are not without their problems with analysis showing that impersonators, harmful content and AI scraping are growing on Bluesky.

The ongoing fragmentation of social media means decisions on which platforms to use shouldn’t be made in a knee-jerk way. Instead, they should be based on factors like business need, audience need and organisational values.

Addressing misinformation in a changing political environment

The aforementioned shifts in the social media landscape coupled with the fast-changing geopolitical environment will continue to present challenges for businesses in countering misinformation.

Facebook owner Meta’s recent decision to change its content moderation practices, including the removal of third-party fact-checking, is said to be partly in response to an incoming Trump government, with Meta looking to align with the administration’s views on freedom of expression.

This post-truth environment means businesses need to develop strategies to be able to counter misinformation quickly to safeguard their reputation and keep stakeholders onside.

Attracting and retaining talent

The so-called ‘Great Resignation’ in the years after the Covid-19 pandemic may have slowed but businesses everywhere are still dealing with staff shortages and talent gaps.

The ability to engage and inspire current and potential employees will still be one of the top challenges for businesses in 2025. This makes effective internal communications programmes vital for any business and we listed six internal communications ideas in one of our previous posts.

Freshfield has been helping organisations to solve big PR and communications challenges for over 20 years. If you want to discuss a project, contact our team at hello@freshfield.com.

 

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