Good and Bad PR: Ferrari, BrewDog & British retail, royals and remainers

Who would have thought that it has been 10 years since Brexit was thrust upon us? It seems like only yesterday that David Cameron thought he had it in the bag, before Boris and his NHS bus derailed the whole plan. 

Anyways, onwards onto this week’s Good and Bad PR hits and misses.

Bad week for the British retail economy

Two news stories landed on the same week as the Brexit 10 year anniversary that reinforce most economists’ opinions: that leaving the EU was a mistake. Firstly, TG Jones, (who I have lambasted before) confirmed that it was closing up to 150 of its old WH Smiths stores having had a rescue deal approved. Seems a very odd comms decision to position this as a “rescue” deal given not that many stories are actually being rescued.

At almost the same time Morrisons of northern supermarket fame also confirmed that it too is closing 100 of its convenience stores. It was a bleak week for UK high street retailers. Neither brand has come out of it very well. 

Bad PR all round.

10 years on from Brexit – what have we learned?

I still remember the day that Brexit happened. It was memorable for me because the agency I was involved with at the time had two floors, and we had to separate the remainers and leavers onto different floors as so many arguments were going on.

This would not happen nowadays because the majority of the new Gen Z brigade only communicate with each other via social media and company Slack channels, so it would have just meant some louder than normal keyboard bashing.

I think we can all agree, from a UK economy point of view alone, Brexit has been a disaster. Every major financial institute report seems to say this, and I know from my own experiences of being a Brit abroad in Europe, we are largely considered to be idiots for it happening.

Boris, the chief architect of our economic downfall, has seemingly skipped off into the horizon and no one has seen the doomed Brexit bus after the campaign. 

Who do we give Bad PR to? Boris, I think, although I suspect he won’t care.

Royals have another strong week in the media

The Royal Family is having something of an annus mirabilis in 2026, and this week was no different. When King Charles and Prince William revealed how much tax they had paid, it was, by and large, well received by the media. William making a significant charity donation really helped.

A few tax experts used the reactive media weapon to try and put the boot in, but none of it really stuck.

Just as Harry and Meghan threatened to dominate the media landscape about the lack of UK Plod security for their visit, Kate came along and blew them off the front pages by completing the Three Peaks Challenge.

Another great week for the Royal family. 

Great PR.

Parent power is the strongest power there is

As a coach for a kids' football team, I am more than aware of how strong parent power is. Michael O’Leary felt it too this week, as Ryanair, for the first time that I can remember, reversed a policy decision.

The cheap flights airline was planning to charge parents extra if they wanted to sit with their kids. Everyone kicked off and for once, the airline did a u-turn. It didn’t go down without a fight, highlighting in its comms statement that its policy did not breach any guidelines or rules.

I would probably pay extra to not sit with my kids, thank you very much. 

Good PR for Ryanair for demonstrating that it has a heart and can be flexible.

Ferrari’s CMO get the Spanish Archer after the doomed EV launch

In the game of chess that we call crisis comms, the ultimate sacrifice is to lose a member of the C-Suite in the hope that it pacifies the muggles. This is what Ferrari has done this week. Its Chief Marketing Officer has stepped down after 16 years with the supercar brand, and just a few months after its much-ridiculed EV launch. 

The comms statement was everything you would expect, and the only thing that was missing was my favourite ever line, “gone to spend more time with his family”. Even Sir Jony Ive could not save the EV launch, or, as it it turns out, the career of its marketing director. 

Still, it looks a strong and decisive move by Ferrari to try and move on from the whole saga.

New BrewDog owner proves it has more of a heart than the brand’s original founder

When Tilray Brands took on the ashes of the BrewDog brand fire, I doubt they could have realised just how passionate its super fans were. Tilray have shown though, that they are people who will listen.

It has announced the re-opening of its BrewDog Inverurie bar as a community-first venue. I don’t know what that means. In my head it will now host cross-stitch, Women’s Institute and board game club nights.

What is interesting, is that the community in question approached the new owners with a plan and proposal, and Tilray listened and then acted. BrewDog have said it will run as a pilot for at least a year before then being reassessed. 

A fantastic PR win for Tilray, and worthy winners of this week’s final Good PR of the week.

That’s it for this week. At the time of writing, England have not played their latest knock out stage World Cup game, so Thomas Tuchel will have to wait until next week to see if he gets a Good or Bad PR gong.