Stories and Strategies with Curzon Public Relations
Stories and Strategies is the podcast for public relations and communications professionals who want substance, not slogans.
Hosted by Doug Downs and Farzana Baduel, the show is released every Tuesday and breaks down what’s actually shaping modern PR: the changing media landscape, measurement that goes beyond dashboards, leadership realities, behavioral science, and the ethical principles that keep persuasion honest.
We also keep it transparent. Our download numbers are public on OpenSource3, showing we average about 10,000 downloads a month, helping make Stories and Strategies one of the most listened-to PR podcasts globally.
If you’re responsible for the story people believe about your organization, you can’t afford to guess. Follow Stories and Strategies wherever you listen.
Episodes
244 episodes
The 7 Reputation Drivers Every Leader Should Know
In today’s world, PR leaders need to build and protect their brand’s reputation in an AI-shaped, polarized world, where owned media matters more than ever. Reputation is no longer a soft metric but an economic multiplier and an insu...
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Season 2
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Episode 219
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22:30
Public Relations in the Age of Insularity
Trust used to flow upward. To experts, institutions, and authority. Then it shifted to “people like me.” Now even that circle is tightening. The 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer reveals a growing insularity: smal...
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Season 2
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Episode 218
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21:53
Why Brands are Too Serious… and Paying the Price
Can a joke really sell a brand? Or save it from sameness?Most campaigns sound the same because they’re afraid to sound wrong. Safe language, serious faces, purpose-heavy messages that all blur together. And yet one of the mos...
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Season 2
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Episode 217
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21:16
When Your Message is Consistent, But Your Audience Isn’t
You can be the same person across every channel. Your social media accounts. Your YouTube. Your newsletter. Your blog. The same principles. The same voice. Often even the same message. And many of the people following yo...
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Season 4
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Episode 216
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20:19
The New LinkedIn: How Reach Actually Works now
You’re using LinkedIn wrongNot because you’re not smart… you are. It’s because you’re using yesterday’s LinkedIn. The platform is changing fast. The feed has changed, and the rules for reach have changed with it.&...
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Season 4
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Episode 215
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23:59
Is Silence Still Strategic When the World’s on Fire?
When the streets erupt, the headlines explode, and public pressure hits boiling point… can business leaders still afford to say nothing? In this episode tackle the growing tension between corporate responsibility and political risk...
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14:28
How Personal Branding is Changing… and What You Need to Do Now
Personal branding is changing in real time. The first impression is no longer a handshake or a conversation. It is a clip you did not choose, a post someone else shared, a comment you left, or a quote that gets passed around without context.
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Season 4
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Episode 214
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17:21
The Mark Carney Mic Drop in Davos
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney stood up in Davos and didn’t waste words. He gave a speech that cut through the noise. The room stood. The world noticed. He said, “If you're not at the table, you're on the menu.”...
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25:56
How to Compete for Attention in a Distracted World
PR teams are being asked to win attention in a world that barely gives it. The problem is not reach. The problem is what happens after the click, after the view, after the impression. If your audience does not stay, nothing sticks. Not the mess...
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Season 4
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Episode 213
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22:39
Is Davos Still a Forum? Or Just a Stage?
In this week’s The Week UnSpun, the panel takes on three high-stakes stories where influence, identity, and global perception collide. First, the team unpacks the latest flashpoint over Greenland, where the U.S. talks secu...
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17:52
Too Old for Public Relations? Why Age is Still the Industry’s Blind Spot
It doesn’t matter whether you’re 25 or 55. If you speak and people listen politely but not seriously, it hurts. Too young to be trusted.Too old to be creative.The message lands the same way. You...
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Episode 212
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21:24
The Capture of Maduro… Arrest or Act of War?
A headline-grabbing raid, a revolution-in-the-making, and a “beige” prime minister walk into the attention economy… who wins the story? Farzana and Doug unpack three global flashpoints through a PR and narrative-control lens: the s...
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17:53
Public Relations… Ten Years in the Future
This is a special audio time-jump episode. It’s an immersive journey ten years into the future to explore how public relations has managed three of the biggest challenges: the rapid rise of AI, the disappearing entry-level job, and the ongoing ...
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Season 4
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Episode 211
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22:36
Is Iran’s Regime Really Listening? Or Just Buying Time?
What happens when protests shake a regime built on control, not consent? We look at Iran’s largest wave of unrest since 2022. Fueled by economic collapse and skyrocketing inflation, the protests are no longer just about hardship, th...
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17:00
Should Public Relations be Regulated?
Public relations shapes what people believe, how communities respond, and which ideas earn trust. It influences elections, corporate crises, government decisions, reputations, and public sentiment. Yet unlike medicine, law, or engin...
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Season 4
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Episode 210
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23:56
Sri Lanka Beyond the Headlines… What the World Misses
What happens when war, resilience, and optimism collide on a tiny island in the Indian Ocean? In this special Boxing Day episode of The Week UnSpun, David Gallagher is off so Doug Downs and Farzana Baduel trade headlines fo...
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21:05
The Stories and Strategies Podcast Trailer
This is not just one podcast. It’s a feed with two.First is Stories and Strategies with Curzon Public Relations. A weekly show hosted by Doug Downs and Farzana Baduel. Every Tuesday, we tackle the real work of p...
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1:16
Grief is a Communications Challenge… Not an HR Process
What do you say when there’s nothing to say?Most workplaces think they handle grief through policy, a few days of bereavement leave, a checklist, and a quiet expectation that people will return “ready” to work. But grief doesn’t follow p...
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Episode 209
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24:17
Susie Wiles and the Cost of Poor Media Strategy
What happens when a top political strategist forgets the rules of media engagement? This episode of The Week UnSpun strikes a nerve for PR professionals as Doug unpacks Susie Wiles’ widely criticized Vanity Fair interviews...
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15:08
Why Your NGO Can’t Afford to be the “Best Kept Secret”
Nonprofits often describe themselves with a strange sense of pride: “We’re the best kept secret.” But in an era where funding is shrinking, donor expectations are shifting, and public trust must be earned every single day, staying a se...
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Season 4
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Episode 208
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26:09
Who Will Control Hollywood’s Future? Netflix vs. Warner Bros
Who’s Really Writing the Stories That Shape Our World?This week, we dive into the high-stakes power play unfolding in Hollywood as Netflix and Paramount battle to take over Warner Bros. What looks like a blockbuster business deal is, in ...
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19:58
Winning Trust When the World is Skeptical
In every corner of the world the public mood is shifting, sometimes quietly and sometimes all at once. Climate anxiety, pandemic fears, economic pressure, geopolitical tension and a surge in concern about data security have all reshaped what pe...
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Season 4
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Episode 207
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26:49
The Agency Checkup: How Healthy Is Your PR Firm?
Most agencies can tell you how their clients are doing but ask how they are doing and the room gets quiet. The truth is that even the best run firms skip their own checkups. Margins thin out, teams burn out, and culture drifts while the spotlig...
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Season 4
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Episode 206
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25:16
Are Leaks Strategic PR Tools or Signs of Corporate Decay?
This week, we look into the murky ethics of media leaks and their growing role in shaping political, corporate, and cultural narratives. From leaked peace plans that spark international diplomacy to budget details released minutes before parlia...
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23:54
The Old Fashioned Deal: Trust and Influence in a Digital Age
Trust isn’t built in boardrooms or over Zoom. It’s built in the quiet moments. A conversation that lingers, a promise kept, a drink shared between people who still believe words matter. In this episode, we explore how the foundation...
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Season 4
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Episode 205
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23:15
