Which campaigns and creatives do PR professionals most admire?

Following our conversations about what makes an award-winning campaign, where PR professionals find inspiration and best career advice, some of this year's CIPR Excellence Award winners tell us which recent campaigns have really impressed them, and whose creativity do they most admire? 

Their answers span PR, advertising, comedy, sport and documentary photography, proof that inspiration often comes from well beyond the communications industry.

Which recent campaigns impressed you most? 

David Fraser, founder of Ready10: The World Cup was full of them, but I really enjoyed Uber's campaign sending a bus, essentially a giant tissue box, to nations after they got knocked out of the tournament. 

Efetive Eguko, head of campaigns, Bank of England*: Specsavers' The Original Blur Rival activation around the Oasis reunion tour was brilliantly executed. It demonstrated the power of cultural relevance, perfect timing and a simple idea that generated huge earned media impact.

Gregor Hollerin, co-founder of Story Shop*: I’ve loved the work Studio Something has been doing with Newcastle United on social media. I love sport, but I probably love the stories surrounding sport even more, and there is no one better at telling those stories. The way the team has brought supporters’ stories to life, giving its campaigns real heart and soul, has been incredible.  

James Hawkins, director of communications and external affairs, BBPA: I have always thought Greggs are always on it.  They know exactly who they are, what they want to say and who they are speaking to, and always do it in really imaginative ways. 

Oli Bradley, managing director and founding partner, Words+Pixels: A recent one that stuck with me: Lego raising its product age limit from 99 to 100+ to mark David Attenborough's 100th birthday. It's perfectly simple; it uses their own brand equity, and the simplicity makes it instantly understandable and apparently memorable. 

Ritoók Teréz, PR team lead, Mediator: Heineken's Could Have Been a Heineken really stood out to me. What impressed me most wasn't the scale of the campaign but the strategic confidence behind it. At a time when every brand is competing for more attention, Heineken chose to encourage people to put their phones down and reconnect with each other. To me, that's what great communication looks like. It doesn't force itself into people's lives. It earns a place by saying something meaningful at exactly the right moment. 

Sara McCracken, founder, Sara McCracken Consulting: The PR surrounding Norwegian footballer Erland Haaland and the ‘row’ has been brilliant. I also loved seeing Gillette and Levis, brands that were not official sponsors in the World Cup, become part of the conversation. 

Shona Mathew, business director, Kindred: In Living Memory by the British Heart Foundation. I loved it from the minute I saw it. 

Tim Reid, director and lead media trainer at Tim Reid Media: Norwegian and British Airways agreeing to swap logos over the World Cup match. England beat Norway 2-1 in the quarter finals, so the BA logo appeared on Norwegian's social media profiles.

Trevor Webb, associate creative director at 23red, part of Capgemini: The Periodic Fable with The Ordinary by Uncommon Creative Studio. 

Will Holloway, creative director, Smarts:* I really love the power of simple, visual storytelling, so I loved the Mental Health Awareness Week work done by Sunderland and LiveScore, where they changed their black cat logo on the side of their stadium to a black dog to encourage people to open up more about their own mental health. 

The world is full of amazingly creative people – who do you admire and why? 

David Fraser, founder of Ready10: Social media has really unlocked the creativity in young people and given them a platform to show it. I love scrolling TikTok and seeing the inventiveness, the creativity, the unrestrained thought of young people just trying to do fun stuff. The latest thing that's blown me away is Saxboy Billy and his Puerto Rico song, though by next month it'll be something else entirely. 

Efetive Eguko, head of campaigns, Bank of England: David Droga is someone I greatly admire because he consistently turns simple human insights into campaigns that become part of popular culture. His work shows how creativity can drive both attention and positive social impact.

Gregor Hollerin, co-founder of Story Shop*: Larry David. I have watched every episode of Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm multiple times, and I have never seen anyone with such courage in their convictions about what works. 

I would add plenty of other comedians to that list: Stewart Lee, Nathan Fielder and Norm Macdonald, among others. They all have complete belief in what they are creating.

Jack Bedford, creative director, MHP Group: I'm most inspired by documentary photographers. At a time when so much creative work is starting to feel overly polished or AI-generated, documentary photography remains refreshingly human. 

One photographer I really admire is Sean Blakey. His Local Shots for Local People series captures life around the Grimsby coastline with humour and poignancy. It’s an honest view of a community, and as someone whose work often sits between brand and documentary storytelling, I find that kind of observation endlessly inspiring.

James Hawkins, director of communications and external affairs, BBPA: I remember working in an agency a few years ago and on the same day one team landed a front-page story which had Prince Harry at the centre of it, another landed a story on another front page about a somewhat innocuous hedgehog sanctuary. Landing the latter was much harder.  I have always admired those who land the harder, less obvious stories that require using all the skills that you have in the cupboard. 

Oli Bradley, managing director and founding partner, Words+Pixels: Cheese ball answer, but it's my wife. She's one of the most creative people I know, and she's building her own business in an industry – fashion – that's far less progressive than it likes to think it is. It's brutally hard to break into, let alone thrive in, and the odds aren't just stacked against you; they're actively out to rip you apart. 

In PR, we all tell ourselves the conditions aren't perfect – an idea that doesn't land, a budget that's too small, a media landscape that's too crowded – but that's nothing next to what people in fashion deliver against. The timeframes are tighter, the conditions are worse, and the expectations are far higher. 

It's easy to forget how much harder creativity gets when everything is stacked against you. You have to genuinely love the work to produce anything good in that environment, and anyone who can is an inspiration to me.

Ritoók Teréz, PR team lead, Mediator: I admire people who stay genuinely curious. The most inspiring people I've met aren't necessarily the ones with the loudest ideas. They're the ones who observe, ask thoughtful questions and are willing to challenge their own assumptions. Curiosity keeps you open to new perspectives, and I think that's where the best ideas come from. 

Sara McCracken, founder, Sara McCracken Consulting: I really admire Clare Balding. I’ve met her a couple of times, and she is the same in real life as on the TV. I love that she can switch between presenting a whole array of sports, to doing a radio show, to speaking at an event seemingly effortlessly. I am sure a lot of preparation is involved, and this is something we can all learn to do better and something I bring to any media engagement training I deliver. 

Shona Matthew, business director, Kindred: I saw Tracey Emin’s latest exhibition in London recently, and it’s given me a whole new respect for her approach and work. She literally puts everything out there in such a raw and thoughtful way. 

Tim Reid, director and lead media trainer, Tim Reid Media: Movie makers, actors, writers, artists, singers, dancers, especially when they make me laugh, cry, switch off, relax or go “Wow". 

Trevor Webb, associate creative director at 23red, part of Capgemini: I admire the mavericks who aren’t afraid of standing out from the humdrum: Nils Leonard, Bob Mortimer, Sleaford Mods, and illustrator Ana Jaks at B&A.  

Will Holloway, creative director, Smarts: The writer Jon Ronson is someone I've hugely admired ever since I read Them: Adventures With Extremists when I was 14. He's an incredible storyteller who has an uncanny ability to unearth interesting and captivating stories from the fringes of society and culture. He doesn't chase trends; he trusts that his topics will be powerful enough to engage audiences on whatever medium he's using. He's the definition of cultural endurance, which is what we aspire to at Smarts with every client we work with. 

Read more from this series 

• What makes an award-winning PR campaign or agency? 
• Where do PR professionals find their inspiration? 

*These organisations are CIPR Corporate Affiliate members. Find out more about a CIPR corporate affiliate membership - open to groups of five or more.