PR & communications insights

Thinking on reputation, media and the craft of being remembered — from the Wordzmiths desk.

Featured · Strategy

"From obscurity to category leader in six months."

12 min read · June 2026

The Challenger Blueprint: how an unknown brand became the one to beat

A practical breakdown of the strategy, the media plan and the relationships that took an independent challenger from launch to market leadership in a single season.

Gillian Bentley

Founder & CEO

Media

6 min read · May 2026

Vanity Press 2.0: why so many 'magazines' are suddenly offering you a cover

How to tell genuine earned media from pay-to-play — and why the difference matters for your brand.

Lorna Shields

Practice

5 min read · April 2026

Public relations: far more than press releases and media coverage

What modern PR actually encompasses — and why the best work rarely looks like 'PR' at all.

Gillian Bentley

Crisis

7 min read · March 2026

David vs Goliath: rebuilding trust in a retail crisis

A field guide to the first 48 hours — and the long, deliberate work of earning trust back.

Gillian Bentley

About the author

Gillian Bentley

Founder & CEO of Wordzmiths and a published author (Managing Perceptions). Master's in English & Communications, with three decades of award-winning PR for brands across Southern Africa, Europe and the USA — and former directorships at Southern Sun, British Airways and Cape Tourism.

Have a story worth telling?

That's our favourite kind of brief. Let's talk.

Message us on WhatsApp

Chat on WhatsApp