What does the budget mean for the PR industry? A comms agency CEO reacts
‘Decapitation, denial and delay – it was a budget in the great British tradition,’ says the founder and CEO of Team Lewis.
2025 has been a reassuring year for Britain. Yes, you heard that right. We’re a predictable country with traditions you can rely on. The BBC will regularly decapitate itself. Then the BBC will spend weeks interviewing BBC journalists about the BBC. Decapitation also haunts British governments and this was a key consideration of the budget. How do we placate the parliamentary Labour party? Well, job done (for the time being).
A Labour government can traditionally be relied upon to increase taxes and unemployment – already two clear trends after a year in government. Equally reliable is the presence of a radical opposition-in-waiting to promise to wipe away all the tears. Reform and the Greens are pouting and posing in the wings much like the Liberal Democrats did in 2010. “I agree with Nick” has become “I agree with Zack”. And we will continue to indulge in that other great national obsession, self-flagellation and denial.
And so, we come to the budget which was again conventional, save for one event.
The day is hailed as an event but it’s really a process. Much of it had already been trailed in the weeks preceding as government “focus grouped it” (test yourself with the future conditional interrogative declension of this trendy new verb). This process – always preferred by timid Treasuries - is, in itself, destabilising. Money had already flowed out of pension funds and company accounts in anticipation. Savvy directors had already “dividended” out before the budget saving themselves 2%. This is traditionally welcomed by HM Treasury as a short-term bump in receipts. Think of it as HMRC discount for early payment.
Some cynics will say the chancellor deliberately trailed more bad news to crystallise a greater immediate tax income. I’m shocked at this suggestion in the same way that Captain Renault was shocked to find gambling going on at Rick’s Casablanca casino.
The OBR's budget leak
The only real unorthodoxy was that the whole thing was leaked by the OBR by mistake half an hour before the chancellor’s speech. This sent bond markets temporarily WTF haywire. Wags were quick to cite this as another example government early release cockup.
The chancellor cannot be held responsible for this but it did nothing for the perception of competence. I suspect this will hasten the demise of the OBR, especially if it emerges that someone benefitted. In any case, the OBR enjoys the sort of easy relationship with chancellors that Thomas Becket had with Henry II.
The other tradition on show was an age-old communications technique that runs crudely something like this: Tell everyone you’re going to s*** on them. That way, when you only fart on them, they’ll think it’s brilliant. This was the case with trailing that income tax rates were going to increase. Of course, that didn’t happen and yet it was clearly signalled then rowed back from.
The budget's impact on the PR industry
So, what is our industry supposed to make of it all? Well, probably bemusement in our industry. Why? Well, firstly, because we’ve heard it all before. It’s not our fault. It’s someone else’s fault. Black hole blah. But more importantly, we have much bigger fish to fry when faced with massive structural change. Calendar Q1 next year, will see holdcos [holding companies] continue to consolidate and concertina brands. Some hoped this was cyclical, but it is clearly structural. Marketing budgets continue to bleed away to tech companies and mergers abound. WPP shares for instance have given up two decades of growth.
Like the country at large, our profession needs re-energising, reinvention and reinvestment. But that requires real leadership. It needs us to recognise that being professional is not enough. You need to be commercial as well. Not something the middle classes are always comfortable with.
The good news is our cohort and country is full of bright minds and their time is coming. Change is always great for challengers. But we’re not at that stage yet, we’re still in the early stages of a traditional Kübler-Ross reaction – denial, anger, delay, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Cheer up though. The main budget take-away was in the great British tradition of “it could’ve been worse”.
Chris Lewis is the founder and CEO of Team Lewis. Chris’s new book, Pomp and Circumstance, which he co-wrote with Penny Mordaunt, is out now, published by Biteback.
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