PR does a good job of bridging gaps between brands and communities; however, there’s one area that is somewhat untapped despite being a beacon of raw, unfiltered opinions, viewpoints, and personal stories.

It’s Reddit.

With digital algorithms curating feeds and sometimes even influencing us to the point of a personal rebrand, it’s often the case that they prioritise numbers over honesty. In fact, only recently have algorithms started to inform their audiences about potential misinformation, though it is often contested as biased by the audiences themselves. Nonetheless, Reddit remains somewhat uncompromised by this.

Ever searched for an incredibly specific dilemma or situation? Chances are, there’s a Reddit thread out there detailing the exact one, with sometimes tough but genuinely helpful advice from the Reddit community.

It’s a cultural hotbed because it sits comfortably outside of mainstream social media – users don’t gain anything by being polished, aspirational, or agreeable with the masses. Its charm is being unapologetically real.

So, as much as it’s great for our personal lives, there’s also an opportunity for PRs to tap into niche subcultures without relying on mainstream perspectives that can often pigeonhole a group.

Reddit for PR people

It’s important to first understand that Redditors do not exactly want to be approached by brands, regardless of whether they do so overtly or covertly.

Reddit is built around communities, not audiences, and that shows in the platform’s functions. Comments can be upvoted or downvoted by others, meaning status is earned through the contents of their contributions rather than reach. That’s why commercial messaging is nearly always met with resistance or dismissal, because it largely stands out like a sore thumb.

Though when it comes to PR, Reddit is best used when we’re completely undetected.  Value lies less in participation and more in observation, and it’s especially meaningful when realising that it is quite literally how people think and talk to each other on topics when they aren’t being marketed to. In other words, when they aren’t in a digital panopticon.

It’s an unprompted insight that can identify stress points, unconsidered marketing segments, and blind spots, to name a few.

Simply including Reddit in your search terms can uncover a whole world of information to support your response to a brief,  and could lead to a goldmine of authentic accounts and stories from the community… After all, all the best ideas are grounded in real, relevant data. This often leads to a snowball effect, where you start to see a pattern in opinion emerge amongst certain groups, best used as either the launchpad for an idea or a culturally relevant evidence point.

That’s not to say there aren’t ads; Reddit has an opportunity for brands to interact on threads with the Ask Me Anything (AMA) format, along with a more traditional image or video advertisement.

Interestingly, when it comes to image or video advertisements, major brands adapt their messaging to fit into the Reddit style. Brands that do it right, and are met with the least backlash by Redditors, are ones that tap into memes, use a humorous tone, or address Redditors directly in their Call To Action.

Reddit’s General Popularity

The platform has an estimated 1.1 billion monthly active users, as well as 97.2 million daily users [Hubspot], which, for a non-conforming online platform, suggests there are masses of people looking for community and are doing well in building it.

In essence, Reddit has become something of a virtual third space, with Redditors spending an average of 25 minutes per day on Reddit. In fact, its style of being a conversation-heavy platform is what sets it apart from a 3-hour doomscroll on TikTok or Reels. It signifies an intentional interaction, not determined by who has the most followers, but rather what a user wants to discuss or read about.

The 25-minute average, in comparison to a lengthy scroll, mimics something of a conversation with your local coffee shop barista or someone on the train – it’s realistic.

There’s no cookie-cutter user; yes, Gen Z loves it, but at the same time, there are plenty of Gen Xers typing away much-needed life advice for the Millennial facing a crisis. So for brands that truly want to resonate with their audiences, it would be amiss to look over Reddit, especially when it’s as easy as adding one extra word in the search bar.

Conclusion

For brands serious about cultural relevance, overlooking Reddit means overlooking one of the few remaining spaces where people still speak primarily to each other – not to an algorithm, and not to a perceived audience.

Reddit doesn’t offer easy visibility or guaranteed goodwill. What it offers instead is something far more valuable: a view of culture before it’s packaged, optimised, or flattened.

And for any brand attempting to understand the ripple effects of real human behaviour, that should be reason enough to pay attention.

The post Why Reddit matters for PR: Where brands can listen to culture before it’s filtered appeared first on The Ripple Effect.

Admittedly, my understanding of PR was fairly surface-level before starting as an intern. In part, this could speak to the lack of awareness and representation amongst ethnic minority communities surrounding PR. Growing up, I did not know a single adult who mentioned PR or communications in reference to their career, nor did I know anyone who overtly worked in PR.

With it being a predominantly white space, charities like the Taylor Bennett Foundation (of which I’m an alumna) have popped up to work on bridging that gap. I thought it might be quite interesting to offer a glimpse into PR from the eyes of a British Punjabi intern at a PR agency. 

On paper, being underrepresented in a particular industry is an opportunity to bring in insights from an ethnic minority perspective. Being of dual identity, British and Punjabi, I think it’s common to feel like a double agent with the ability to dip in and out of cultures. Although, like for many other diaspora groups in the UK, the British Punjabi identity has become a stronghold in itself simply due to longevity. 

I can see how empathising with certain stories and insider information comes in handy when interpreting or putting together stories. I recently experienced this when looking at research we carried out for Football Beyond Borders around the distinct, and sometimes conflicted, connection inner-city girls and those from ethnic minority backgrounds have with the Lionesses. Believe me, being of dual identity can certainly stir up some internal confusion.

However, there are some thoughts I have had that are perhaps more unique to someone from an ethnic minority background. So, a few weeks and an Intro to PR course later, I’m excited to share my findings on how I navigated it as I get better acquainted with the industry.

PR is everywhere!

One of the first tasks that really opened my eyes was going through newspapers to spot brand stories. 

It’s often overlooked, but the mention of a brand’s research and the message they want to get across as a result of it can be found throughout newspapers. Like most people, I perceived the news as a source for what’s happening, but now it’s shifted to who is commenting on what’s happening. That’s why I say PR is certainly more intricate than given credit for.

There’s a secret PR world

I hadn’t given much thought to the behind-the-scenes of PR, for example, how journalists are found and how coverage is proven. ‘Pitching’ and ‘sell-ins’ were strangers to me, and their partners, Meltwater and Roxhill even more so. 

Looking for the right journalists to cover a story comes much easier through platforms like Roxhill. It also, however, sparked some interesting thoughts as I filtered through names and faces when compiling a media list. Going through names and faces, I noticed that I’d be particularly aware of a more “ethnic-sounding” name or spotting someone with a similar complexion to mine. 

It provokes the question of whether past studies that found prejudice against those with an “ethnic-sounding name” in job applications might translate to this quite client-facing industry?

A 2020 Reuters report found nine out of 10 journalists came from a white ethnicity background, which isn’t necessarily surprising considering the UK is a white ethnicity country. However, upon reflection, it speaks to the zero family members I have in journalism or PR. Most are in tech, business, or project management – so not exactly helpful if I needed career advice or support. But I think that’s what excites me, knowing that I’m the first to step into this industry and transfer what I learn (even if in the form of fun facts to family and friends). 

Data is key

Understanding how data can inform a PR story was one of the first things I understood as an intern. It made sense to me that brands would carry out relevant research to show how they’re confronting or proud of certain statistics. It also, funnily enough, is an area that my family members could help me out with – although I haven’t (yet) had to consult them on anything. 

It’s particularly satisfying to see the results come back and truly learn what respondents think. As someone who has always had scattered interests and often tried a bit of everything, this has been perfect for how my brain works. That’s not to say that it’s a walk in the park. At some points, you don’t want to see a spreadsheet again – but then you do, and I think that’s the beauty of it.

Statistics can sometimes feel dehumanising, as though you’re lumped into nothing other than one big percentage. It’s certainly the case in sensationalist stories that sometimes ostracise certain groups or fear-monger. On the flip side, seeing what teen girls feel about the increased diversity of the Lionesses 2025 squad doesn’t simply boil them down to a number. It instead gives a voice to underrepresented groups, and subsequently sometimes ones that I can resonate with. It makes me quite hopeful, for how PR has the ability to positively influence the notoriously controversial British media. 

So yes, PR is a strange and slightly unpredictable industry. Sometimes it’s hard to see the end goal, or the bigger picture, but learning to embrace that uncertainty rather than fear it is one great way to settle in as well as possible.

The post PR on the Flip Side: A Minority Perspective  appeared first on The Ripple Effect.

Press Gazette recently uncovered a PR agency pitching tear-jerking tales of “lottery losers” to outlets like Metro, The Sun, and Daily Mail. But the “winners” couldn’t be found online, and the agency admitted it deleted all records after just 30 days. The result? SEO-friendly content built on smoke and mirrors.

Then came The Telegraph’s now infamous feature: a private school parent claiming their family had been forced to cut back to just one holiday a year due to VAT changes on school fees. But the reality?

The interviewee’s name and identity were fake, the accompanying photos were stock images, over a decade old – the “family” left no digital trace.

The article was eventually pulled, and The Telegraph admitted its verification process had failed.

Something’s Not Stacking Up

The rise of AI-generated content — and even AI-generated people — means it’s easier than ever to create something that feels true without actually being true.

When stories are written or sourced with AI but not verified by humans, editorial standards can quickly slip. We start to rely on what sounds plausible instead of what’s proven. And that’s where the line blurs between compelling content and misinformation.

There’s another uncomfortable truth behind this wave of unverified, PR-packaged stories –  journalist job cuts. With shrinking newsrooms, overstretched reporters, and relentless pressure to publish fast, fewer people are asking the tough but essential questions.

“Who is this source? Where’s the evidence? Is this real?”

So when a story like The Telegraph’s “holiday cutbacks” goes live without basic checks, we have to ask: whose editorial responsibility is it, really? The journalist? The subeditor? The PR who supplied the case study? The client who signed it off?

As the lines between earned media and advertorials continue to blur, shared responsibility is crucial — but so is journalistic rigour. Because if no one’s checking the facts, then we all suffer when trust breaks down.

What this means for us — and our clients

At The Ripple Effect, we hold ourselves to high compliance and editorial standards — and recently, we’ve found ourselves repeating this:

“We can’t – and won’t – force respondents to give the answers you want”.

Here’s why:

• Emotion without accountability is dangerous. Shocking stories might grab headlines, but without credible sourcing, they’re closer to fiction than journalism.
  
• Verifiability is non-negotiable. Whether it’s survey insight, lived experience, or third-party voices – if you can’t trace it, it’s not fit for publication.
  
• Transparency builds long-term trust. Fake names, stock photos, and deleted data might land you one piece of coverage – but they’ll cost you your credibility.

At Ripple, we work with brands, journalists, and consumers who value honesty and transparency. We build credible campaigns with insight that stands up to scrutiny – whether it’s in the media, in Parliament, or used in your business decision making processes.

How we do it

• Clarity & consent: Our questions are neutral. Participants know what they’re part of – and why.
• Verification wherever possible: We confirm identities, archive responses, and document methodology.
• Uncomfortable truth has value: If the insight challenges a brand or brief – even better. We believe audiences want the truth. 
• Durability: Our data doesn’t disappear. It is stored securely and ethically – ready if you need to back it up.
• No leading or steering: We include balanced, neutral options – always.

When a story lands because it’s true, not just clickable, everyone wins.

The post When Fiction Reads Like Fact: The Importance of Insight with Integrity appeared first on The Ripple Effect.

We donate 2.5% of our profits to two small charities each year alongside a year’s worth of pro-bono comms support, our staff volunteer quarterly, and we advocate for the island we call home – all whilst urging the wider industry to follow suit.

It is so important to us that we give back, and think about how our business can work for good, not just for profit. Our 2.5% Promise has been integral to the way we work from the moment we started, and we’re excited to continue this for another year.

So far, we have been fortunate enough to partner with six incredible organisations around the world and have donated over £15,000 of our profits to The Childhood Trust, Southern Thailand Elephant Foundation, Refuge4Pets, Changing Faces, Winston’s Wheels, and Switchback, a men’s prison rehabilitation charity – enabling each organisation to create impactful change via our fully unrestricted funding.

PR for good

Last year, we increased our pro-bono offering for our partners, and we were lucky enough to be invited to attend one of Switchback’s events, experiencing first-hand fantastic spoken word and music performed by the Switchback trainees. We secured coverage in Resident Advisor and The I paper. 

Antonia Cross, Head of Influencing at Switchback shared: “I am so proud you got to see the amazing men your PR support and fundraising has directly impacted. Such a joy to have a charity partner so engaged – and also a team that’s just such good fun! And really ‘gets’ Switchback. Stefani – your media support in the run up has been amazing – that iPaper The Weekender piece may be my favourite bit of Switchback media ever- you were efficient, swift and totally advocated for us as your client – the perfect PR rep throughout – smashed it”.

Our new partners

After weeks of research, days of deliberation, and some healthy office debate, we’re excited to announce our newest charity partners for 2025/26.

This year we will activate our 2.5% Promise for river campaigning charity River Action UK and retired police dog charity Thin Blue Paw Foundation.

River Action UK

River Action UK fights to protect our rivers, and finding ourselves on the tidal Thames, this was an important cause close to our hearts. Their efforts to tackle the issue of Britain’s polluted rivers comes with the overarching goals of empowering local communities, mobilising public opinion, and advocating for government policy and change to industry practices.

Katy Shorten, River Action’s Senior Development Coordinator said: “We’re delighted to be chosen as one of The Ripple Effect’s charity partners this year. Their creative skills and passion for rivers will go a long way in supporting our mission to rescue Britain’s rivers”.

Thin Blue Paw Foundation

Thin Blue Paw Foundation is a national charity supporting, rehabilitating, protecting, and celebrating serving and retired police dogs across the UK. Police dogs dedicate years to serving their communities and helping fight crime. Once retired, police dogs do not receive a pension or any other financial support from the government or the police force they served with, meaning that the responsibility for their care and the cost of their vet bills falls solely on their ex-handler or new owner. 

Kieran Stanbridge, Chairman of the Thin Blue Paw Foundation said: “We’re thrilled to have been selected as The Ripple Effect’s charity partner for 2025. Police dogs undertake heroic work throughout the United Kingdom daily, and it’s thanks to partnerships like ours with The Ripple Effect that we are able to provide these heroes with the retirement they deserve”.

Stefani Konstantinesku, Account Executive at The Ripple Effect said: “We are so excited for the year ahead, and to get stuck in with the teams at River Action UK and Thin Blue Paw Foundation. I felt really excited to get to take the lead on choosing our charity partners this year. We really hope to be an extension of their team, and to collaborate on some amazing projects which will raise awareness and encourage action. Located on the tidal Thames, and being huge dog lovers in the office, these two charities just felt like the perfect fit for us”.

The post Every Agency Has the Power to Make an Impact appeared first on The Ripple Effect.

Social media has infiltrated every aspect of our lives now. Whether that’s finding a recipe, watching a crochet video, or getting your news, social media has become the way that we interact in the digital world – we even use it to buy the latest products.

Without even fully realising it, this medium of communication is shaping our interests, desires, and beliefs, depending on the content we are shown. The people at the forefront of this are influencers. 

Influencers are consistently trying to sell you a product, a lifestyle, a vibe, or a “core”. It becomes harder and harder to cut through the noise and connect with followers in an authentic way. Whether you like them or not, influencers are influencing all of our buying habits. 

PR and influencers exist to drive sales and shape trends, but they can do so much more than that. Using their power for good, influencers can become activists, educate audiences, and drive positive change.

De-influencing and thoughtful consumption

The latest trend that has caught my attention is one I can finally get behind: De-influencing. 

Although still a relatively unexplored area, this trend is all about decreasing your carbon footprint, breaking away from the culture of consumerism, prioritising slow fashion, and emphasising honesty and transparency. 

De-influencers are helping us not buy stuff: they point out brands who are unethical, products that don’t do what they’re supposed to, cheaper alternatives that do the same job, or even prompting us to think more about sustainability. They often promote intentional spending, decluttering, minimalist lifestyles, and teach us how to trick our rat brains into stopping impulse buying. 

Fashion de-influencers have been at the forefront of this trend, encouraging consumers to move away from fast fashion and promote more sustainable wardrobes that are higher quality, good for our bank balance, and better for the environment too. Brands like Vinted and ByRotation – alongside eBay’s Pre-Owned ranges are changing the space for the better.

This evolution in behaviour is interesting to note – it seems that the new consumer, especially Gen Z, value discernment and thoughtful consumption more than ever before.

The challenges of being mindful in the online space 

Of course, advocating for less consumption on platforms such as TikTok, Snapchat or Instagram that have been created for consumption is paradoxical… but so is social media. 

Although we are well aware of the negative effects of those online spaces, ruining our attention spans, eating up our time, leaving us struggling to connect offline – and how they subconsciously influence us, we continue to allow it into our lives, but perhaps in a more self-hating and guilt-fuelled way. 

Although we all know the benefits of a digital detox, we find it harder and harder to tear ourselves away. Gen Z are leading the way on this front as well, seeking to limit their use of social media and turning to digital minimalism instead.

Re-defining our relationships with brands and materialism 

I believe we are coming into a post-consumerist culture, challenging the life ideals that big corporations are trying to sell and instead turning inwards to understand our own desires and ways of living. Consumers are looking for authenticity and transparency, with more and more Gen Z ignoring influencer campaigns and inauthentic brand partnerships.

De-influencing is incredibly relevant in today’s cost of living crisis. With less disposable income and more economic uncertainty, people have to be extra careful about what they spend their money on. If an influencer is pushing hundreds of expensive products, it seems tone deaf. 

De-influencing reveals that today’s social media landscape is lacking authenticity. Consumers, especially Gen Z, are realising that online spaces are fuelled by materialism and consumerism, where companies increasingly try to sell us products in covert ways. Breaking away from materialism and the impulse to buy can be tricky, which is why the de-influencing trend is so interesting. 

Influencers can become selective with brand partnerships, review products honestly, and advocate for sustainability – Natalie O’Neill is just one of the latest skincare influencers who is dipping her toe into de-influencing. She encourages her followers to stay away from viral products and de-mystifies popular skincare myths. Although she still endorses popular skincare brands, she does so authentically and intentionally. 

2025 will be the year of broader conversations around digital responsibility, financial awareness, and sustainability. The best influencers in 2025 may not be those who push endless products, but those who resonate with audiences and help them make thoughtful choices.

The post Could 2025 be the year for de-influencing? appeared first on The Ripple Effect.

Since then, however, we have seen further external factors affecting the fundraising landscape, including the current cost-of-living crisis – which has most definitely resulted in a change in giving patterns. 

Research conducted for the Big Give in late 2023 shows that during the year, the figures remained stark: 25% of people said they would give less that year. Across the whole year, regular giving to charity was down from 49% in 2022 to 45% in 2023, and 69% of people said they would need to make spending cuts.

However, despite a marked drop in lower-level donations to charities in the UK last Christmas, many charities saw their average gift amount increase, meaning those who could give were giving more.

The challenges are also evident in the Charities Aid Foundation’s (CAF) latest report on Corporate Giving, which this year includes the wider business community as well as FTSE 100 companies. 

The report highlights that whilst corporate giving currently stands at around £4.29bn, if all companies met the CAF’s best practice target of donating 1% of pre-tax profits, this could rise to as much as £9.9bn.

Surely then, in a sector worth £4.6billion and with almost 7,000 individual businesses, we should embrace our power to do the same… 

The tangible benefits go further than simply supporting a charity in need: we can all further demonstrate our collective commitments to being a responsible business, drive positive impact, build loyalty, help to attract and retain employees and customers (with staff feeling like they’re working towards something bigger), and set an example for yet to be established consultancies to follow.

PR land, of course, has the added benefit that we can become influencers to our respective client pools, so any agency adopting charitable giving practices could indeed be inspiring a further group of brands and organisations to do the same. Feels like a no-brainer to me!

Personally, as a fairly recent agency Founder, knowing our work is creating positive ripples even outside of our own campaigns has been an incredibly energising driving factor, and makes landing coverage for a challenging brief all the more rewarding. After all, isn’t making a difference what PR is all about?

Many agencies – and indeed campaigns – speak highly about Purpose… So what better way to back this up than for more of the industry to introduce donation pledges. We chose 2.5% as our number, and donate this quarterly from our gross profit figure, but at the very least we’d encourage agencies to look at the 1% end of year pre-tax figure suggested by the CAF.

By way of an example, I’ve looked at PR Week’s Top 150 to help illustrate the good our industry has the power to do. 

On this list, we can see these agencies have a combined revenue of £1,996,724,000 – almost £2bn. Let’s give them an average gross profit of 30%, for argument’s sake, so £599,017,200.

If each of these agencies were to embrace a charitable donation policy as we’ve done with our 2.5% Promise from day one, donating 2.5% of profits to small independent charities of interest to the team, the Top 150 agencies in the UK could have added £14,975,430 to the Third Sector economy in 2023 alone… really not a huge amount if the industry Top 150 looks set to exceed £2 billion in the next iteration, and even less when taking into consideration the huge number of agencies who fall under this amount: almost 6,850 according to a recent census. 

The Ripple Effect is proud to have donated over £10,000 to charities since our launch in 2022 and we’ve recently formalised a full year pro-bono support package for each charity partner we onboard. See our current partners!

Personally, I’d love to see an ‘Impact 150’ list launch to champion all the good in our industry and those agencies going above and beyond to make a difference through CSR initiatives. 

For now, though, I’d encourage anyone reading this to speak to the powers that be, and question why your agency or brand isn’t donating to causes in need.

The post Charitable Giving in the PR Industry: Why Agencies Can Do More appeared first on The Ripple Effect.