Andy Barr, senior communications manager at PR firm Season One Communications: “Many brands and individuals have had a tough 2024. Splitting it between corporate and real life communications, there have been several standout moments.

“In the mundane world of corporate shenanigans, few could argue that Boeing had anything other than a torrid year. A share price fall of nearly 40% in just 12 months has the company failing to take off. Talks of breaking up the company, job cuts and last chances are not the signs of a brand that is soaring. The comms team battled hard to turn the company reputation around, but if the product is not solid, it is always going to make it hard for even the best PR person to fix.

“In real-life I think the live music industry has had a tough twelve months. The Co-op Live arena teething issues dominated the media on and off. When that was sorted, it was then the turn of the live entertainment ticket companies to get a pasting. Everyone’s favourite northern rage-brothers Oasis, once again proved the power of nostalgia based marketing, but it also opened the muggles eyes to phrases like surge-pricing.

“The way the communications was handled by the ticket companies, trying to push it back onto the artists, came across as cynical and lazy crisis comms. We were led to believe that Noel and Liam were sitting in their houses, turning the dial up on the pricing as and when they personally saw fit. Obviously, that wasn’t the case but the blame game is contagious and it mired the whole industry in negativity. Still, we are never ones in our industry to look back in anger, so let’s see how it all plays out in 2025.”

Paul Maher, CEO of Positive Marketing: “Ticketmaster's handling of the ShinyHunters data breach is a textbook example of how poor crisis management and delayed responses can quickly escalate a situation, resulting in long-lasting damage to a brand’s reputation. The company’s most significant mistake was the delay in disclosing the breach. Customers were left in the dark for far too long. It took weeks for Ticketmaster to officially confirm the breach after the news broke. 

"This delay not only allowed rumours and negative press to spiral out of control but also eroded trust in Ticketmaster’s ability to safeguard sensitive customer information. When a company is trusted with customer information consumers expect swift and transparent communication, and Ticketmaster’s failure to deliver on this front suggested it wasn't treating the breach with the seriousness it deserved. Further adding to the problem was the insufficient response to the breach itself. While offering free credit monitoring services is a common post-breach response, many saw it as inadequate for the scale of the incident. 

"This response demonstrated a lack of urgency and a failure to acknowledge the severity of the breach, leaving consumers questioning whether Ticketmaster was fully committed to improving its security practices. Taken together, slow communication and an inadequate response transformed what could have been a manageable crisis into a major PR disaster. The company’s reaction revealed a lack of strategic foresight and empathy, allowing the situation to spiral into a full-blown crisis that could have been avoided with a more thoughtful response.”

Samir Nanji, associate director, corporate and brand purpose at PR firm WE Communications: "Repeated crises in 2024 continued to knock the world off balance. In the biggest year in the history of democracy, with 70 general elections taking place all over the world, incumbent parties took a kicking and were all beaten for the first time in almost 120 years of records.

“Social movements, geopolitical shifts and rise of the far right, wars in Europe and the Middle East will have all reshaped the way businesses and communicators manage crises and reputations.

“Businesses that operate globally have continually had to walk a tightrope balancing their commitments to sustainability and DEI against an increasingly conservative backlash against “woke” capitalism. The election of Trump will only embolden some businesses and individuals to take more divisive stances or roll back their commitments.

“Businesses and communicators will need to become more adept at choosing when and when not to engage, how to proactively cut through the noise and when to ignore it. While challenging, it also presents an opportunity for business to demonstrate its values in the face of criticism, potentially reshaping both perceptions and priorities."

Amanda Coleman, crisis comms consultant and author at comms firm Amanda Coleman Communications: “Back in September the recently elected Labour Government decided to release around 1,700 prisoners early. It was never going to be a popular decision and, when it came to light that 37 had been released in error, it sparked a lot of criticism. This only came to light when one of the wrongly released was then accused of a further sex offence.

“It happened because a change in legislation had not been identified when release plans were developed. Victim support charities were concerned about the lack of support to those who had been affected by the criminal activities. They were highly critical of the failure in the system that led to the release of serious offenders. The resulting headlines were not what the new Government wanted when making such a controversial decision. On top of that, came images of those released sipping champagne, being driven in top of the range cars. 

"In response, the Ministry of Justice said those released in error were being traced and that ‘public safety is our first priority’. Any statement that says something is a top or first priority feels like trying to say something without really saying anything. At the heart of this whole situation were many thousands of victims and it was never clarified whether they were made aware of the early release of offenders. Effective communication of this was critical but then so was having a system in place that would ensure only those who should have been were actually released.”

Emma Streets, associate director, North at PR firm Tigerbond PR: “Strictly’s bullying claims saga might now seem like a relatively distant memory for the BBC, in what has undoubtedly been a hugely challenging year for the broadcaster, beset by allegations that have all presented reputational issues. 

"However, this story was also an example that demonstrates how crisis management is about what you do as opposed to what you say. Sometimes it can be clear that a high-profile issue won’t necessarily generate a long-term impact on reputation and by extension, sales or in this case, viewing figures. But it is always important to do the right thing. The broadcaster’s approach of conducting investigations and providing support for those involved is evidence of this. 

"For Strictly, there hasn’t been a long-term impact on viewing figures – those who may have chosen to turn off would have been replaced by people who became interested in Strictly after seeing extensive media coverage of the allegations and after initially struggling, the show still secured more than 8m viewers for Blackpool week.”

Ed Whitehead, advisory director at Ipsos, Corporate Reputation: “Crisis communications is about keeping the score down. July’s CrowdStrike incident provided a fine case study in damage limitation, while one mis-step highlighted the importance of meticulous communications oversight. A faulty security update triggered a widespread IT outage, causing millions of ‘blue screens of death’ and an estimated $10bn worth of financial damage. Here’s what CrowdStrike did well:

1. Tackled misinformation: As a cybersecurity business, it was crucial to reassure customers and stakeholders that the cause of the blackout was not a security breach.

1. Transparency: Openly acknowledged the issue, apologised sincerely, and provided timely, accurate updates – even when all the details weren’t immediately available

1. Visible Leadership: With CEO, George Kurtz, as primary spokesperson, CrowdStrike showed it was taking matters seriously. Kurtz was fielded for live interview requests, and provided regular updates on Twitter and LinkedIn, offering a full apology to anybody impacted by the incident.

1. Practical action: Reassurance words mean little in a crisis without urgent action. Crucially, CrowdStrike established a dedicated remediation and guidance hub, providing regular updates, technical details, and resources for affected customers. This platform became a vital source of information and helped regain control of the narrative, and also addressed malware created by bad actors seeking to exploit the situation.

“It wasn’t all flawless. There was one colossal own goal, a well-meaning but horribly tone-deaf goodwill gesture. To apologise to customers for the issues the outage had caused, CrowdStrike wrote to partners with a $10 Uber Eats voucher.

“Rightly derided, this blot in the copybook serves as a useful reminder of the need for senior comms leaders to be across all communications during a crisis, not just responses to media and on social media.”

Lisa Gibson, head of comms at PR Firm Yours Sincerely: “A reception with the King of England to celebrate your Olympic success? Sounds lovely, thanks! An after-party hosted by one of the biggest luxury brands in the country? Ahhhh, not for you heroic Paralympians, no.

“Fortnum and Mason's snub of the Paralympics GB team was a bad decision, rightly highlighted publicly by athlete Zac Shaw. However, Fortnum and Mason managed to make it so much worse with its apology, which really made the foie gras hit the fan.

“Its response to Shaw roughly explained that it had a separate party for Paralympians that it hadn’t disclosed yet. The insincerity and panic of the actual statement rings through, and it feels so condescending that the royal grocer thought anyone would believe them. It did not reflect well on the Fortnum and Mason brand, and as I write this I can find no reference to any party having been scheduled. There's a lot that PR people can learn from these mistakes: most importantly, how not to make a bad situation worse.”