WPR Awards 2025
We’re back with new awards and, in this era of flood-the-zone news management, some new rules as well. The judges* have huddled together in a secret location and decided ‘The Donald’ cannot be allowed to dominate the WPR awards in the same way he dominates the news cycle and he will, therefore, be limited to only two nominations.
So, sit back with a glass of something – a small sherry is the preferred tipple at WPR Towers – and enjoy a trip down memory lane as we reveal our heroes and villains of 2025.
*Full disclosure: there is no judging process, there are no nomination papers and I am the only judge. All opinions my own!
Shoot Yourself in the Foot Award
With a flatlining economy, you would think encouraging one of the crown jewels of British manufacturing to invest further in the UK would be a strategic no-brainer for the government. Think again!
Within months of being elected, a £50 million grant to encourage AstraZeneca (yes, the same AstraZeneca that gave us our lives back with the Covid vaccine) to build a new £450 million vaccine plant on Merseyside was pulled to save money. So peeved were senior management at the decision, they have decided to build it in the USA instead. Brilliant!
PR Cock-up of the Year
As a general rule, “don’t p!$$ off the pensioners” is one all organisations should follow – just ask any chancellor of the exchequer who has ever even floated the idea of ending the pension triple lock.
So, in the lead-up to Valentine’s Day, what was Deliveroo thinking when it sent handwritten cards giving the mistaken impression thousands of our elderly citizens had secret admirers, when in reality it was just trying to flog flowers? Recipients quickly experienced a whole range of emotions, from elation to let-down to boiling anger, forcing a rapid climbdown and a corporate-speak promise to “review processes”.
Worst News Management
Long ago, budget statements were treated with a solemnity somewhat akin to Moses bringing the tablets of stone down from Mount Sinai. In fact, one chancellor was forced to resign when he inadvertently let slip the price of fags was about to go up as he entered the House of Commons chamber. In recent years, however, much to the exasperation of the speaker, the chancellor’s intentions have increasingly leaked like a sieve.
This year’s budget reached new heights of leakage, with floated stories about everything from playground makeovers to rail fare freezes, and press conferences to tell us that difficult decisions are coming, code for a 2p rise to the basic rate income tax – all culminating in a night-before announcement about the minimum wage. The result? An entirely predictable slump in consumer and business confidence.
Our award for worst news management goes to the ‘sieve’, a new collective term for the 10 Downing Street and Treasury ‘spin’ operations.
Best Screeching U-Turn
The whole point of acronyms is they’re short and trip off the tongue. When Standard Life Aberdeen rebranded to ABRDN in 2021, many of us pointed out the change saved no time and joked the firm had “irritable vowel syndrome”. The ridicule was merciless and a clearly chastened ABRDN senior management team felt compelled to complain that the media was involved in “corporate bullying”. The inevitable climbdown this year was welcomed by all, not least by City AM, which ran with the headline: “ABRDN: an apology – sry we kp tkng th pss ot of yr mssng vwls”.
Image of the Year
There was a time when a visit to the White House was regarded as a massive PR opportunity for a foreign leader. Alas, no more.
When President Zelensky was ambushed in the Oval Office, it confirmed what most of us feared; a new era of American diplomacy was upon us, one in which rapprochement and détente had been replaced with just being plain rude.
Most Unnecessary Lawsuit Award
In-house lawyers are a notoriously litigious lot. Who can forget when a certain three-letter acronym movie studio forced a south London used car dealer with the same initials to sign an agreement that it wouldn’t try to flog Ford Escorts; as long as he wouldn’t attempt to make blockbuster movies with Tom Cruise?
Such unnecessary behaviour continued this year when Hugo Boss sued a Liverpool pet store called Boss Pets for brand infringement. No matter that ‘boss’ is Liverpool slang for ‘good’ and that, presumably, the pet store has no intention of branching out into high-end designer clobber. Lighten up, guys!
Best HistoricAL Reenactment
Those of us of a certain vintage remember all too vividly the strife of the summer of 1984 and the miners’ strike. So, there was a real sense of nostalgia in August when it was announced staff at the National Coal Mining Museum in Wakefield were going on strike over pay and conditions.
Social media loved it, with plenty of jokes about “getting the brass band back together”. At the time of writing, the strike continues (of course it does), although there is no sign yet of former National Union of Mineworkers leader Arthur Scargill joining his comrades on the picket line to stand around a burning oil can.
Social Media Content Creators of the Year
There was a time when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was a shadowy bunch not known for its humour. Not anymore. When The Donald announced 40% tariffs on Chinese goods in an attempt to Make America Great Again, those CCP pranksters leaped into action.
A series of brilliant AI-generated memes taunted the fact that most Americans wouldn’t be seen dead working in a sweatshop, and asked whether US leaders would be joining their electorate in working on the newly reshored Nike trainer production lines.
The CCP is a worthy winner of our social media content creators of the year award.
Best Conclave
There can only be one winner here. When Pope Francis sadly passed, some of us mourned and the rest of us rushed to Netflix to watch the film Conclave, with Ralph Fiennes, to find out what actually happens when the cardinals get locked in the Vatican to elect a new pope.
Besides the praying (obvs), apparently there’s a lot of backstabbing, a bit of breaking and entering, and lots of eating pasta with Stanley Tucci. Who knew?
Worst Social Media POst
In this era of fake news, it is legitimate to question the authenticity of what we see on social media. For many, the initial reaction to an X post that appeared to be suggesting The Donald could be the next pope was “that must be fake”.
Alas no. The post, originating from the White House studiously ignored the fact that the president isn’t Catholic, isn’t a cardinal and the austere surroundings of a Vatican apartment are not exactly to his taste. Was it a joke? With this White House, who knows?
Unlikely Heroes Award
We live in extraordinary times with Western democracies creaking under the burden of massive debt and voters around the world worrying themselves sick over bond yields.
Far from being a bunch of mad ‘bond vigilantes’, it increasingly feels like bond traders are the real grownups in the room when the president of the United States tries to sack the chairman of the, supposedly independent, Federal Reserve, and our own UK politicians seem ever more determined to ignore the massive structural debt.
A spike in bond yields is the market’s way of saying, very politely, “hang on, that sounds a bit risky”. The recipients of our unlikely heroes award for 2025 are the international bond markets for keeping our unruly politicians in line.
Villains of the Year
It is no exaggeration to say women’s football at the highest level is rewriting the rulebook. Without the millions of their male team counterparts to spend, the women’s game has been forced to rely on the traditional virtues of scouting, coaching and development.
Too bad then that a bunch of Premier League clubs struggling with PSR regulations made the decision over the summer to sell their women’s teams to subsidise their profligacy in the men’s game. Our villains of the year are Chelsea, Aston Villa and Everton football clubs.
Persons of the Year
All of the above makes the England women’s football team’s performance at the Euros this summer even more mind-boggling. This was football as it was meant to be; full of attacking verve, last-minute winners, penalty shootouts, team spirit and never-say-die attitude.
It seems churlish to make the comparison, but this was so much better than long balls up to a statuesque Harry Kane in the vain hope of getting something, anything frankly, from a dead-ball situation. Many of us looked on in wonder as an England team played the ball out from the back in a style not seen since the heyday of Bobby Moore.
But, I’ve started now so I’ll finish. It’s 60 years since the men’s team won anything. In fact, the men’s team has never, ever, won the Euros. For the Lionesses to have won two – yes two – European tournaments is exceptional.
Our persons of the year are the England women’s football team.
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