Learning from 2025, a bumper year for communication catastrophes

The year just gone saw some of our biggest brands in an Olympic-style sprint to the bottom of the reputation heap. From the Optus 000 debacle to Qantas customer details on the dark web and Deloitte’s AI petticoat exposed, 2025 had it all.

The result? This race had no winners, least of all customers and service users. 

We witnessed half-hearted apologies, erratic messaging - or no communication at all, even when lives depended on it.  

Those blunders, some cringeworthy and others deeply sinister, gave rise to crucial lessons about what not to do when your brand is embroiled in a crisis.

For Qantas, the year lived up to every pun you can think of involving the word turbulence. After a cyber attack involving six million customers’ records, our national carrier proactively contacted everyone affected to outline the extent of the breach and how it was responding. Brownie points for a solid effort.

It didn’t last, though. When stolen customer data eventually leaked onto the dark web, Qantas reverted to a Say As Little As Possible strategy, seeming to have minimal regard for the many loyal customers now stressed out at the prospect of their details landing in the hands of very bad people. 

There mightn’t be an easy fix for the increasing threat of cyber crime, but trust is decimated when customers are kept in the dark about impacts on their personal data. Whatever the reason for a breach, leaders need to communicate early about what they know and what they expect to happen next.

And then there was Optus. The infamous September 000 failure, when Optus customers in multiple states were unable to call for emergency help but weren’t told there was a problem, has been reported from every angle and its trailing shadow is long and ugly.

In a crisis of those proportions, the essential rule is to communicate first with those most impacted. Saving lives must takes precedence over reputation damage control. Scrambling to control the narrative is irresponsible if you’ve left key people out of the communication loop – in this case, those in life-threatening situations followed by regulators and key government agencies. 

How Optus got the order of communication so badly wrong, with tragic consequences, is unfathomable and the subject of numerous inquiries.

Is there hope for the future? The company must demonstrate relentless honesty, extreme tenacity and genuine change if it’s to regain a fragile foothold in the public’s confidence.

2025’s tough economic conditions didn’t do any favours for tone-deaf leaders. Among government gaffes, we saw a NSW Minister resign over personal use of a government car and driver, while a local council hit the headlines for sending leaders on a luxury retreat – ironically, to consider its own financial position.

Among a cash-strapped community, any ethically questionable actions on the part of those in higher office risked major reputation damage. We showed we were hypersensitive to rip-offs and leaders needed to take notice. Some didn’t – and it cost them.

And finally, 2025 was the year when unfettered AI use slammed another nail into trust’s coffin. Deloitte Australia faced the embarrassment of having to hastily correct a $440,000 government report, found to contain AI-generated mistakes and hallucinations. After refunding part of their fee, the consultancy issued a lukewarm, low-key apology.

With trust in institutions continuing to crash and AI increasingly ruling our world, no organisation can afford to further erode credibility by using this technology without proper checks and guidelines. On top of the damage to individual reputations, a lack of confidence in public information is disastrous at a time of global fear and uncertainty.

Put all those examples together and there’s plenty for leaders and brands to learn.

Will they do better? Let’s see what this New Year brings.