What if the best market research started by IGNORING what people say?

What if, instead, you started modeling them based on proven behaviour?

Right down to the regional level?

And what if political polling was done this way too 

A new term is showing up in research and strategy circles with major implications for communicators: synthetic populations. This is not a cheap AI focus group. It is a data-built population model that reflects how people are distributed and behave at scale using high-quality inputs like official statistics, mobility patterns, and registration data, rather than relying only on interviews and surveys.

That matters because self-reported data is often aspirational, incomplete, or socially filtered. Synthetic populations offer another path: estimating market potential, testing where campaigns should start, understanding regional differences, and pressure-testing assumptions before rollout. The real question is not just what synthetic populations are, but what happens when strategy shifts from asking people to modeling populations.

Listen For

3:07 What’s the difference between a synthetic panel and a synthetic population?
5:13 How can a synthetic population be realistic without using real individuals?
8:49 Why do surveys over-claim luxury brands? And how does official data correct it?
11:58 What did Germany’s flat-rate transit ticket reveal about commuting by region?
14:15 Could synthetic populations change how political polling is done?

Guest: Eike Hartmann, Vice President Custom Research & Insights Business at Statista+

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White Paper on Synthetic Populations

Doug

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Farzana

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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 insurance policy. From the difference between brand and reputation to the growing tension between character and competence, this episode explains what actually moves corporate standing up or down in today’s environment.

We also share why owned media now plays a disproportionate role in shaping not just earned coverage, but AI-generated search results and stakeholder perception. 

Listen For

3:45 What Is the Real Difference Between Brand and Reputation?
5:07 What Are the Seven Drivers That Shape Reputation?
6:28 How Has AI Changed Third Party Advocacy and Media Influence?
9:58 Do Character Crises Damage Reputation More Than Competence Failures?
16:13 Why Is Reputation a Business Tool Rather Than Just an Image Strategy?

Guest: Stephen Hahn-Griffiths, RepTrak

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Doug

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Farzana

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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: smaller tribes, hardened perspectives, and a widening mass-class divide driven by whether people believe the system works for them. 

Persuasion is shifting to trust brokerage, and what communicators, leaders, and businesses can do when trust itself has become the battleground.

Listen For

3:10 Skip the opening story and go right to the interview with Tim Weber

3:47 What does it mean that we’ve moved from echo chambers to “turtle shells”

7:21 Is polarization economic, cultural, technological—or all three?

12:35 How can companies blunt fear and become true trust brokers?

20:13 Will AI reinforce our biases and deepen our personal echo chambers?

Guest: Tim Weber, Managing Director & EMEA Head of Editorial, Edelman

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2026 Edelman Trust Barometer

Doug

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Farzana

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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 most successful creative agencies in North America has built its reputation by doing the opposite. Zulu Alpha Kilo lives by a simple motto… Fight Sameness… and they do it with humor, sarcasm, and a willingness to say the quiet part out loud.

Why does that work? Why does making people laugh end up being the fastest way to earn trust? 

Why does honesty often land better as a joke than a lecture. 

Listen For

3:01 Fast-forward to the start of the interview

5:19 Check out an example of a funny (sarcastic) ad by Zulu Alpha Kilo

5:36 Why does ad satire feel so personal to marketers?

9:11 What tiny detail annoyed people in that absurd ad?

Guest: Michael Siegers, Zulu Alpha Kilo 

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Doug

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Farzana

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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 you on LinkedIn are the same people who see you on Instagram, hear you on a podcast, or read your newsletter. Yet those same people can understand you, trust you, and remember you very differently simply because they encounter you in a different place.

Not because you changed.

Because they did.

They arrive with different expectations.

Different attention.

Different patience.

The channel shapes what they notice, what they believe, and what stays with them, even when the words don’t change at all. 

In this episode, we explore how platforms shape perception, why fractured identities are now the norm, and what that means for communicators who already know better but are running out of time and headspace.

Listen For

4:30 How do you tailor one piece of content for different platforms?
6:04 Is it better to master one channel or be on many?
7:49 Can AI help create content that still feels human?
12:21 What’s the right way to use emojis on LinkedIn?
16:35 Are we choosing content or are algorithms choosing for us?

Guest: Molly Demellier, Sounds Profitable

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Doug

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Farzana

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This week on The Week UnSpun, the trio of Farzana Baduel, Doug Downs, and David Gallagher dive headfirst into a whirlwind of global news through a comms lens, touching on everything from the chaos and opportunity of the UN General Assembly, to Keir Starmer’s image struggles within his own party, to the ethics of AI-generated media.  

Farzana shares her rookie experience navigating UNGA week in New York, revealing the sheer magnitude, and confusion, of diplomatic and fringe events.  

Doug flies the flag for ostrich rights in a bizarre Canadian court case that’s become a comms conundrum.  

Meanwhile, David unpacks the stark contrast between rage-fuelled and reasoned political playbooks, and all three tackle the growing unease about the tidal wave of AI-generated content.  

Serious insights, global stories, and yes… ostriches. 

Listen For

1:36 What’s it really like to attend the UN General Assembly as a first-timer?
3:16 Why is Keir Starmer unpopular even within his own party?
8:31 Can corporates cut through the noise at UNGA? Or is it just theatre?
14:48 Are AI-generated podcasts ruining the media landscape?
20:20 What should the Canadian government say if they’re forced to cull healthy ostriches? 

The Week Unspun is a weekly livestream every Friday at 10am ET/3pm BT. Check it out on our YouTube Channel or via this LinkedIn channel 

We publish the audio from these livestreams to the Stories and Strategies podcast feed every Friday until Sunday evening when it’s no longer available.

Folgate Advisors

Curzon Public Relations Website

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What do Tylenol, Jimmy Kimmel, and Disney all have in common? 

They’re all caught in the crosshairs of public opinion this week. 

On this episode hosts David Gallagher and Doug Downs are joined by B2B PR powerhouse Michelle Garrett to dissect a week of PR minefields. From President Trump’s dangerous misinformation about Tylenol and pregnancy, to the backlash and brand gymnastics following Jimmy Kimmel’s controversial monologue.  

The trio also touches on the shifting global perception of American brands and how companies can (and must) navigate reputational risk in polarized times.  

Listen For

5:42 What did President Trump say about Tylenol? And how should PR teams respond to misinformation?
14:52 Why did Jimmy Kimmel get pulled off the air, and what does it say about Disney’s PR strategy?
26:33 How can political polarization affect brand trust and corporate reputation?

Special Guest Michelle Garrett

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The Week Unspun is a weekly livestream every Friday at 10am ET/3pm BT. Check it out on our YouTube Channel or via this LinkedIn channel

We publish the audio from these livestreams to the Stories and Strategies podcast feed every Friday until Sunday evening when it’s no longer available. 

Folgate Advisors

Curzon Public Relations Website

Stories and Strategies Website

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Farzana Baduel and David Gallagher take on everything from Justin Trudeau’s headline-grabbing kiss with Katy Perry to how PR pros can unwittingly become enablers in global corruption scandals.

In this special mailbag edition, the duo responds to smart, sharp questions from their audience, spanning topics from King Charles III’s strategic image evolution to the silent retreat from ESG and DEI in corporate America. 

They unpack ageism in the PR industry, dissect Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s contradictory branding, and spotlight how London became the global capital of reputation laundering, all through the lens of real-time feedback from their PR community.

Listen For

00:24 What does a Katy Perry kiss do for Justin Trudeau’s PR?

07:34 How can PR professionals avoid becoming enablers of corruption?

12:32 Is King Charles III succeeding at modern monarchy PR?

17:22 Has Europe followed America’s retreat from ESG and DEI?

21:21 How do we confront ageism in the PR industry?
 
 

The Week Unspun is a weekly livestream every Friday at 10am ET/3pm BT. Check it out on our YouTube Channel or via this LinkedIn channel

We publish the audio from these livestreams to the Stories and Strategies podcast feed every Friday until Sunday evening when it’s no longer available.

Folgate Advisors

Curzon Public Relations Website

Stories and Strategies Website

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Every Friday we scan the PR Mega Chat and pick the stories that actually shaped the week. 

What happens when narrative control collides with tragedy, misinformation, and an unfiltered digital age?

In the second episode of The Week Unspun, hosts Farzana Baduel, David Gallagher, and Doug Downs dive into the breaking news of political commentator Charlie Kirk’s shocking shooting and the volatile aftermath, both online and off. 

From exploring how disinformation spreads faster than facts to how leadership (or lack thereof) shapes national reaction, the trio offer PR-savvy analysis of crisis communication, media ethics, and the real-world consequences of social media. 

They also explore surprising connections between gender inclusion, menopause in the workplace, and how ageism and AI are reshaping the public relations industry.  

Listen For

4:07 The Vacuum of Information and Divisive Reactions

7:58 Unfiltered Violence: Children, Social Media, and Emotional Fallout

18:53 Menopause in PR: The Silent Career Killer?

24:33 The Great Unbundling of PR Talent

30:15 Are Reputations Still Vulnerable in the Teflon Age?

The Week Unspun is a weekly livestream every Friday at 10am ET/3pm BT. Check it out on our YouTube Channel or via this LinkedIn channel

We publish the audio from these livestreams to the Stories and Strategies podcast feed every Friday until Sunday evening when it’s no longer available. 

Folgate Advisors

Curzon Public Relations Website

Stories and Strategies Website

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Every Friday at 3pm UK and 10 am Eastern we scan the PR Mega Chat and pick the stories that actually shaped the week.  

This week’s episode is a fiery, globe-spanning dive into the uncomfortable truths of modern communication. From protests on the streets of London to censorship in North America, we break down what’s really going on behind the headlines.  

Farzana delivers a powerful personal reflection on racism and PR spin around far-right movements in the UK, while Doug unpacks Jimmy Kimmel’s removal from airwaves and the free speech debate in the U.S.  

We also dive into AI’s growing role in reshaping communication strategy, the rising cost of silence in the PR industry, and the intricate dance between the UK and US in global affairs.  

Listen For

4:26 The Flag and the Trauma: A Personal Protest Reflection
13:09 Racism, Silence, and the PR Industry’s Reckoning
15:02 Jimmy Kimmel, MAGA, and the Censorship Crisis
21:33 AI Bots Are Your Audience Now
26:25 When Strategic Silence Becomes Ethical Evasion

The Week Unspun is a weekly livestream every Friday at 10am ET/3pm BT. Check it out on our YouTube Channel or via this LinkedIn channel

We publish the audio from these livestreams to the Stories and Strategies podcast feed every Friday until Sunday evening when it’s no longer available.

Folgate Advisors

Curzon Public Relations Website

Stories and Strategies Website

Request a transcript of this livestream

Support the show