Skout news, opinion & commentary

From 1 October 2026, Claire James, Skout’s current Deputy MD takes on the role of Managing Director, while founder Rob Skinner becomes Head of Growth. Claire Lamb will transition from operational responsibilities on 1 January 2027 but will remain actively involved as a board member and strategic advisor. Here’s why we’re making the change and […]

In our hyper-connected world a PR crisis rarely starts and ends with a product failure or a corporate scandal. More often, the catalyst is people, either how they’re treated or their response to poor behaviour. This leads to a need for HR crisis communications. A badly handled redundancy announcement. An insensitive comment about employees. A […]

The world in that we live is unpredictable, to say the least. Businesses, organisations and even individuals are all vulnerable to issues which may lurk in the shadows or around corners. Some of these crises are natural while some are very definitely man-made, but they can strike at any time and with them put reputations […]

Updated: September 2026 Influencer marketing is often associated with celebrities plugging products on social media. But in B2B markets, particularly HR and the future of work, influence looks very different. Today’s HR buyers are turning to trusted influencers in the form of analysts, workplace experts, practitioners and content creators to help them navigate complex decisions. […]

AI has been the hot topic in our team meetings over the past few months, with the Skout team debating the pros and cons of its use. From using it to assist with desk research and providing inspiration for headlines through to transcribing interviews to help remove the need for extensive notetaking. Its flipside, however, […]

Traditionally, B2B marketing and TV advertising are two phrases scarcely seen together, but the recent approach ServiceNow has taken to promote its digital workflow platform has made us question whether B2B mass media evolution is on the horizon.   The adverts in question are a breath of fresh air, using Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory to add a nostalgic touch, whilst conveying […]

In the pantheon of great British rivalries, few could have predicted that two chocolate sponge caterpillars would join the ranks of Oasis vs Blur, tea vs coffee, or the eternal debate over cream-first scones.Yet here we are. Colin the Caterpillar from M&S and Cuthbert the Caterpillar from Aldi managed to divide the nation, dominate social […]

Updated: October 2026 Renowned film director (and personal favourite of mine), Martin Scorsese once claimed that streaming services were devaluing cinema by reducing films to little more than content. In particular, he questioned recommendation algorithms, asking: “If further viewing is suggested by algorithms based on what you’ve already seen, and the suggestions are based only […]

I was recently getting stuck into my new book The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff (some light lockdown reading, I know) when I noticed something interesting. The word ‘data’ was consistently written as a plural – the data are as opposed to the data is – something that I had never seen before. […]