The origins of f&ckiwishidthoughtofthat lie in 2011. Two people decided to start a consumer brand agency and had some time on their hands as they waited for the phone to ring and the clients to come flooding through the doors.
As it happened, both of those things did come to pass. But at the same time a couple of quiet months meant that a book was created – christened Ideas of the Year. It was a collection of around 60 of the best pieces of work from across the industry.
Fast forward to 2020 and a second tome was created – this time called Interesting Times – as a collection of Covid-inspired ideas and a celebration of the creative resilience that was displayed during that weird 18-month period.
In 2025 (or 2026 as it now is) we thought that we’d revive the tradition. We believe firmly that, in looking at the best work from across the industry, we learn. So having a team of 85 or so people hunting down great examples of earned-first campaigns fills our collective consciousness with tools and tactics that will no doubt feed into our work in the year to come. If you’re not occasionally inspired by the work that others produce you might wonder why you’re in this business in the first place.
We hope that this little book will inspire a new generation of people in the industry. Whether you’re a student and have stumbled across it or a young person starting out in the business, you will find great work, smart ideas, insightful observations and we hope that you’ll find the source of your next response to brief – or that you might find the notion of creating such campaigns interesting enough to join the industry.
We also do this because we think it is worth keeping a catalogue of the work that the public relations industry creates. We will from time-to-time tell others that today’s news is tomorrow’s chip paper – such is the ephemeral nature of what we do. It is because it can be so ephemeral that we think it is worth collating and collecting.
That philosophical perspective out of the way, some notes. This book is entirely subjective, there were no judges involved so the only arbiter is the taste of a member of the Hope&Glory team who chose to include (or not include) any given piece of work. We’ve sought to credit where we are able and are more than delighted to add or amend credits retrospectively if you get in touch. We have begged, borrowed and stolen the visuals throughout these pages but if they are yours and you would rather they were removed, again please do contact us (the same goes if you would like to request a credit which we will of course honour).
It remains only to say that we hope you enjoy the read. We think there’s some brilliant stuff in here, we think it’s worthy of being shared as widely as possible and we doff our caps to those who made it.
