Call it smoke and mirrors, call it sleight of hand. The best PR is often invisible PR.

In this latest episode of our mini-series on the Golden Rules of PR, David Yelland and Simon Lewis look at the risks of showing your workings.

Increased transparency is admirable in many cases - but beware of just how much you reveal.

A great example from 2025 was the Heathrow Airport crisis. A power outage caused the airport to shut down - and it quickly became known that Heathrow's CEO was asleep when the decision to close the airport was made. There may have been very good reasons for him not to be awake but the optics were terrible.

Creating an illusion is part of the PR toolbox - you're trying to persuade people to come on a journey with you. If, like in the Wizard of Oz, the curtain is pulled back and the artifice crumbles, it could mean game over.

Producer: Duncan Middleton