Matt Seabridge
12 May 2025
PR Campaigns I Saw and Kinda Liked Volume 3
Hey, welcome to Volume 3 of "PR Campaigns I Saw and Kinda Liked".
If you missed Volume 2 check it out here.
I've got 17 campaigns to share in this post, hopefully one or two of them help to spark a bit of creative inspo for you. Let's get to them!
GambleAware: Poker Chip Sculpture
What happened?
GambleAware unveiled a sculpture made out of 85,000 poker chips to highlight the number of children aged 11-17 currently suffering from gambling related harm
What I liked about it:
Great activation stunt
Uses the power of a PR Stunt to highlight an important issue of gambling addiction for children
Great example of how to build on a survey stat into a more powerful storytelling format
McVitie’s: You’ve Been Eating Chocolate Digestives Wrong
https://www.famouscampaigns.com/2025/05/youve-been-eating-chocolate-digestives-wrong-for-a-century/
What happened?
McVitie’s celebrated their 100th anniversary by revealing that we’re all idiots who have been eating chocolate digestives the wrong way
What I liked about it:
Such a great way of making a "boring" anniversary celebration into a fun PR story
A rare example of a PR story that is all about the brand but doesn't feel forced
Got coverage everywhere because it's a product that appeals to basically the whole nation
Has a layer of controversy that creates conversation and engagements which makes for a great PR story
Peppa Pig: Exclusive Interview with Grazia
https://graziadaily.co.uk/life/in-the-news/peppa-pig-gender-reveal-baby-name/
What happened?
2025 continues to be the year of Mummy Pig as she got everyone talking about her gender reveal and did an exclusive interview with Grazia (we are such an unserious country)
What I liked about it:
Whoever is doing Peppa Pig's PR is having a hell of a year
Mummy Pig doing an exclusive interview with Grazia is hilarious
Mummy Pig's pregnancy is somehow one of the biggest UK pop culture stories of the year
This bit in particular - "I’m self-employed and working from home, so it’s all quite flexible. There won’t be too much pressure to get back to writing, but it’s what I love to do, so I’ll be posting throughout my journey and providing lots of tips and tricks for all the mummies and daddies out there. Stay tuned and be sure to follow my socials oink!"
The Pudding: The Pour-igin of Species
https://pudding.cool/2025/04/wine-animals/
What happened?
The Pudding researched the relationship between the price of wine and the animals on their bottle labels
What I liked about it:
Another great example of The Pudding finding creative ways to tell data stories
As always, the landing page for the story is extremely well produced
Being able to filter between countries on the data is a cool touch
CV Villas: Happiest Beaches
What happened?
CV Villas used facial recognition technology Instagram photos geotagged at beaches around the world to reveal which beaches produced the happiest faces
What I liked about it:
Very cool use of facial recognition technology
A clever alternative way of ranking the "best" beaches
Getting coverage across different national and regional titles for each of the different beaches in their top 10
Blackcircles: UK Pothole Report
https://www.blackcircles.com/news/uk-pothole-report
What happened?
Blackcircles used FOI data to reveal which areas of the UK are most affected by potholes, and which councils spend the most repairing potholes
What I liked about it:
Great use of FOI data to reveal unique data points
The YoY comparisons and financial costs of potholes for each region are a great added touch to the data
Hits a audience problem that triggers strong emotions and is relevant to the brand
Having your campaign referenced in Parliament is pretty bloody cool
Textla: The Most Harassed States in America
https://www.textla.com/post/most-harassed-states-in-america
What happened?
Textla analysed data on complaints about scam calls and texts from telemarketers to reveal with States make the most complaints
What I liked about it:
Cool use of third party data to tell an interesting story with a PR campaign
Hits on a topic that annoys a lot of people which makes for a great PR story that will get clicks
Ranking states against each other is always great for producing hyper relevant regional news stories
Cadbury: The World’s Largest Creme Egg
https://www.famouscampaigns.com/2025/04/cadbury-creates-the-worlds-largest-creme-egg/
What happened?
Cadbury celebrated Easter by creating the world’s largest Creme Egg and putting it on display at Cadbury World in Birmingham
What I liked about it:
It's a bit silly
Formats like "the world's biggest", "the world's most expensive", etc, always seem to do well
Having it on display at Cadbury World is a clever way to link the campaign to commercial metrics too
Business Waste: Which Easter Eggs Have the Most Packaging?
https://www.businesswaste.co.uk/news/easter-eggs-with-most-packaging/
What happened?
Business Waste analysed ten easter eggs to reveal which have the highest ratio of packaging to Easter egg
What I liked about it:
Very on brand
It's got a strong consumer hook but also a good sustainability message
I love a good experiment campaign
Dominos: Garlic & Herb Dip Easter Egg
https://metro.co.uk/2025/04/05/dominos-launches-criminal-easter-egg-flavour-fans-freaking-22855756/
What happened?
Dominos released a Easter Egg inspired by their famous Garlic & Herb dip
What I liked about it:
A clever way for a pizza brand to create an Easter campaign
Makes their Garlic & Herb dip seem more popular and famous than it probably is
Good mix of emotions such as intrigue, humour, and disgust, to provoke a reaction with the campaign
Papa Johns: Garlic Bath Bomb
https://www.papajohns.co.uk/garlicbathbomb
What happened?
Papa Johns release a bath bomb inspired by their famous garlic dip
What I liked about it:
How Dominos and Papa John's launched basically the same campaign
Again, it's weird but it's also conversational
Surfshark: What Data Do AI Chatbots Share with Third Parties
https://surfshark.com/research/chart/ai-chatbots-privacy
What happened?
Surfshark analysed the data collection practices of 10 popular AI chatbots to reveal what user data they collect and share with third parties
What I liked about it:
A lot of people worry about data privacy and this campaign does a great job of using that as the "why will people care about this?"
It's a great way for a cybersecurity site to target their core audience
Clever methodology reviewing the data collection policies of AI chatbots
How the data that is collected has also been categorised
People Managing People: The Best and Worst States for Workplace Culture in 2025
https://peoplemanagingpeople.com/culture/workplace/the-best-and-worst-states-for-workplace-culture/
What happened?
People Managing People created an Index ranking US states by which have the best workplace culture based on 24 metrics such as employee benefits, turnover rate, salary growth, and more
What I liked about it:
Very relevant idea for HR brand
Very thorough methodology
Nice infographics
Scrap Cap Comparison: The Most Scrapped Cars of 2024
https://www.motor1.com/news/748241/ford-focus-most-scrapped-car-uk/
What happened?
Scrap Car Comparison used internal data to reveal which cars were their most scrapped cars of 2024
What I liked about it:
I love an internal data campaign
When you're using internal data you're inherently producing an on brand campaign
Great way to position the brand as a authority figure and expert within their industry
SportsShoes: 2025 Running Report
https://www.sportsshoes.com/advice/running-hub/health-wellbeing/running-report
What happened?
SportsShoes produced a very detailed report with survey statistics and trends insights about the running industry
What I liked about it:
A super detailed report
Trends reports are a really underused way of creating content that your target audience will definitely be interested in
The survey stats are a great way of adding unique audience insights (although probably cost a fair bit!)
This is the second straight year that SportsShoes have run this report which is great for authority building, but also building links at scale to a campaign page by keeping the same url each year
Remitly: Immigration Index
https://www.remitly.com/us/en/landing/the-immigration-index
What happened?
Remitly analysed 24 different ranking metrics to create an Index ranking the best countries for immigrants
What I liked about it:
A really well done methodology that hits on a trending topic with a large audience that is perfect for the brand
The detailed breakdown of the top countries for each individual metric which gives you so many angles to pitch
Over 50 referring domains in less than three months, but also ranking for "best countries to migrate to" type keywords in multiple countries which is great for organic visibility
Stephen Follows: Are Movies Based on Video Games Still “The Worst”?
https://stephenfollows.com/p/are-movies-based-on-video-games-still
What happened?
Stephen Follows analysed over 14,000 films to research if movies based on video games really do suck
What I liked about it:
I love nerdy analysis pieces like this on entertainment topics
Fits nicely into that "oh that's interesting I wouldn't have thought of that" niche
Based on a large dataset with great comparison points to other genres
Enjoyed this post? Each week in The Digital PR Observer Newsletter I share and analyse 5 successful campaigns looking at why they performed so well. If you're not signed up just enter your email in the box below to receive the newsletter in your inbox for free every Wednesday.
CAMPAIGNS
