Jaguar’s rebrand, Princess Kate’s photoshop blunder, and Taylor Swift: Here are the PR wins and sins of 2024

As we reflect on the year gone by and the PR Wins and Sins, it seems the world went bananas in 2024.

From the infamous Gina Rinehart portrait where the subject sought to supress its very exposure leading to, well, global coverage; to the ‘banana artwork’ one can only describe as an intimate original piece, with distinct detail shown throughout the work, a banana taped to a wall, which auctioned for an eye-watering $9.5 million.

First up the sins…

The controversy around Australia Day has been intensifying in recent years. This year it appears many brands navigated this social issue by dropping blatant Australia Day messaging. Woolworths and Aldi sparked controversy when they announced they would not be stocking Australia Day merchandise for the first time.

The decision resulted in widespread media reaction and social platforms encouraging boycotts to the retailers. Perhaps rather than an ‘all or nothing’ position, an approach that is balanced, inclusive and sensitive would have resonated with a greater depth of a brand’s community, while harnessing the components of Australian culture that our overseas counterparts admire. Perhaps this was the prompt for the organisation to backflip and restock Australia Day merchandise for the Olympics.

For those who remember, Y2K was set to overturn our world. It was the most powerful of PR spins with companies diligently preparing for outages with project groups and contingency plans. Now 24 years later, CrowdStrike struck and suddenly 8.5 million Microsoft Windows devices were disabled worldwide affecting large scale critical organisations including airports, banks, hospitals, shops and media.

Microsoft’s famous ‘blue screen of death’ was viewed and as IT gurus madly advised their teams to just “turn it off and on again”, many were debating its origins – a malicious cyber attack or a cyber war at play?  Ironically its Falcon sensor software, which is installed for threat protection was the culprit caused by its software update.

He was once one of Australia’s most influential (and controversial) media personalities, dominating the airwaves for more than 35 years until 2020. For three decades, Alan Jones won the Sydney breakfast radio ratings over 221 times with powerful political access and connections. Quiet retirement is possibly not on the cards no longer when Jones was charged in November with 26 offences of alleged indecent assault and incidents.

Last month Jaguar debuted its rebrand. Lights, camera but not a lot of car action. The brand had sought to convey ‘exuberant modernism’ – to be imaginative, bold, and artistic at every touchpoint. Jaguar needed to do something. Sales had been sliding since 2018 and it was pitched in a luxury fight against some very tough competition.

Unfortunately, this campaign was a huge leap from the brand’s vintage demeanour. The brand risks alienating existing customers and losing their intended new target if they can’t back up their bold campaign with an offering that meets this promise. More of this campaign is set to unfold.

But we did have some wins!

When a family photograph of Princess Kate and her children was shared ahead of Mothers Day, royal fanatics spotted ‘errors’ in the peculiar image leading to five photo agencies to halt its release in an unprecedented move. They cited a “manipulated” image from the source in statements, tipping an avalanche of conspiracies to circulate from Princess Kate being in recovery from a facelift to being replaced with a body double.

The initial apology on her photo blaming her amateur editing skills did not tame the news feeds with this photo a vast difference from her usually polished demeanour. When Princess Kate finally confronted the world to share her cancer diagnosis, she regained control of her narrative and vast empathy was directed to her and suddenly the media recognised the importance of giving her and her family space. Upon finalisation of her treatment she released a cinematic video update alongside her family aimed to inform, inspire and relate more personally. A distinctively new approach by the royal family.

Australia was in its Tay Tay era when Swift performed for more than 624,500 fans across her seven Australian shows. Overnight our streets were emblazoned with glitter, bracelets, beads and bangs. Tim Tams became Tay Tams, Twisties celebrated Twifties while Scarborough’s Chardonay became Chardo-Tay.

In Melbourne alone, NAB reported a $174 million boost in spending over the three days her tour was in town. With her wealth estimated at $US1.6 billion her Eras tour was the highest-grossing concert tour of all time. Taylor Swift catapulted into a global pop culture juggernaut and is connecting with fans at an unprecedented global scale earning 24 billion streams in 2024.

As 459 Australian athletes paved their way to Paris to compete and unveil their phenomenal sporting abilities, Aussies were ready to seal our nation’s fame in the anticipated swimming, soccer and athletics events.

But it was one particular homegrown talent who rapidly propelled to the world stage outshining our most famed contenders. The starting gun was Raygun who performed a breakdance that would break the internet instantly amassing viral viewership. The lecturer turned world-leading Breakdancer suddenly appeared in international headlines and it was not short lived.

Months later the media interest in her is as high as her kangaroo hop with her face splashed over tshirts, mugs, socks and aspirations for a new collectible. Despite all the commentary surrounding her curious act, Raygun did not shy away from the spotlight and is living up in her new found brand image – from cosying up with the likes of Richard Branson and Boy George to signing up with a talent agency to further monetise her notoriety. I wonder which brands she will leap into in 2025?

Nicole Reaney is founder and CEO of InsideOut PR.

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topics Alan Jones Australia Day InsideOut PR Jaguar Microsoft Nicole Reaney PR PR wins and sins Princess Kate Raygun Taylor Swift

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