What is Reactive PR and How Does it Compare to Proactive PR?

If you're out in traffic and see that a car is going to crash into you, do you hit the gas to avoid it or stay there and wait for the crash so you can face the consequences?

In digital PR, crashes happen every day, and the way you react to them makes a difference between a successful PR strategy and a flop.

Today, we'll show you what reactive public relations is, the differences between proactive and reactive PR, and some great examples of reactive PR strategies.

What is reactive PR?

Reactive PR is a public relations strategy based on responsiveness. Reactive PR involves responding quickly to events, breaking news, trends, crises, or discussions relevant to a brand, organization, or industry.

The main difference between reactive and proactive PR is that in a proactive PR strategy, messages and campaigns are planned and executed in advance.

Reactive PR typically includes:

• Media monitoring: tracking news and social media to identify relevant opportunities or risks quickly.
• Rapid response: quickly creating and distributing statements, commentary, or engaging with media inquiries from your target audience.
• Crisis management: managing negative publicity, criticism, or issues by addressing concerns publicly and transparently.
• Newsjacking: using breaking news stories by offering expert opinions or timely commentary to get media coverage and visibility on various media outlets.

The importance of reactive PR

Reactive PR campaigns are no longer just nice to have. They let businesses and agencies manage brand reputation, stay relevant, and build trust by responding effectively to real-time events, news, and crises.

Here is why you should invest time and money into reactive PR in 2025:

#1 Protecting reputation

Reactive PR helps brands quickly address negative events or controversies, preventing misinformation from spreading by controlling the narrative before it spirals out of control.

You can catch negative press from media outlets early on and resolve issues before they snowball into full-blown digital PR crises. If you do it right, you can even generate positive publicity instead of only minimizing the damage.

#2 Building credibility and trust

When brands promptly respond to public concerns or industry issues, audiences perceive them as transparent, accountable, and engaged.

Implementing reactive PR means that you're willing to engage with your target audience across social media platforms. You don't just speak to the masses when you have new press releases or something to promote and sell.

#3 Capturing opportunities (newsjacking)

Brands that swiftly react to trending news or cultural moments can gain significant media exposure, attract new audiences, and reinforce their position as industry leaders or innovators.

Even when you don't have much to say, leveraging social media in a reactive way can be a superb way to comment on relevant external events.

#4 Demonstrating industry leadership

Responding quickly and thoughtfully to emerging industry trends or crises positions a brand as authoritative, informed, and reliable in its field, differentiating it from slower-moving competitors.

For example, reacting quickly to the latest piece of news in your industry can generate media coverage as relevant journalists cover what you have to say, while competitors may take weeks to identify trending topics.

#5 Increasing relevance and engagement

Reactive PR allows brands to participate actively in current conversations, increasing visibility, audience interaction, and brand affinity.

You can provide valuable insights about a topic before it starts trending. Unlike proactive PR campaigns, you're shaping the story as it happens.

#6 Effective crisis management

Quick, clear, and honest responses during a crisis can reduce public backlash, minimize potential financial or reputational damage, and even transform negative situations into positive outcomes.

Crisis management is one of the most important aspects of reactive PR strategies, as it can help you avoid both negative publicity and that big dent in your revenue.

P.S. Check out this guide on social media crisis management to fine-tune your strategy with a few practical tips.

Reactive PR examples

You've probably seen a few examples of reactive PR campaigns before even becoming familiar with the term. Here are some prominent examples from recent years that you can learn from.

Example 1: KFC Chicken Shortage (UK, 2018)

Because of supply-chain disruptions, KFC restaurants across the UK ran out of chicken, causing customer frustration.

To make things better, KFC published a humorous full-page apology ad featuring an empty chicken bucket with the rearranged letters "FCK." Instead of anger, the public reacted positively to KFC’s self-deprecating honesty, turning a crisis into positive publicity.

Example 2: Burger King’s response to Kanye West (2018)

A few years ago, the controversial rapper Kanye West tweeted "McDonalds is my favorite restaurant" and, in a bout of inspiration, Burger King took a risky, but strategic approach and replied:

In just under three minutes, Burger King came up with a reply that quickly went viral. They may not have made friends with Kanye, but Burger King became the talk of the town.

Example 3: Weetabix and Heinz Beans (2021)

In 2021, Weetabix suggested that instead of bread, customer can try Heinz beans with their product, in a fun tweet.

What they didn't expect was a series of fun replies from similar brands in the industry:

And responses kept coming in even from brands outside of their industry:

The end result was extensive media coverage for Weetabix and Heinz and for every company that joined the party early on.

Tools & techniques for reactive PR

Looking to build up a reactive PR strategy but not sure where to start?

Here is some inspiration:

#1 Media monitoring tools

Real-time tracking helps identify relevant news and social media mentions. These tools send you alerts every time someone mentions your brand, helping you keep your finger on the pulse of the news cycle with daily media monitoring.

• Examples:
  • Prowly
  • Google Alerts
  • Mention
  • Meltwater
  • Brandwatch
  • Talkwalker

Prowly takes monitoring to the next level, helping you set up different filters for your reactive PR strategies. For example, you can use #journorequest or #blogerrequest, which are popular hashtags in the UK. Users can set up a precise # filtering for requests related to travel or finance topics and arrange for email alerts with such requests.

In other words, every time someone needs thought leadership quotes from someone in finance, Prowly will send you an alert you can react to to gain positive coverage, hopefully from high authority websites.

💡 PS. you can learn how to do media monitoring from our blog post.

#2 Social listening tools

With these tools, you can listen in on conversations on social platforms, detect sentiment, and discover trends. The main difference is that you can understand why people are saying certain things on top of knowing who mentions you and when.

• Examples:
  • Prowly
  • Hootsuite
  • Sprout Social
  • BuzzSumo
  • Awario

For example, Prowly lets you determine the sentiment of each mention with the help of AI. As soon as someone mentions a certain brand or topic, you'll understand whether it was in a positive, negative or neutral sentiment. This can help you spot crises and media opportunities early on.

#3 PR management software

These tools don't just help you react to news or social media posts. They help you build relationships with the journalists you can find in their media databases. You can use these tools to craft personalized press releases that always hit the mark.

• Examples:
  • Prowly
  • Muck Rack
  • Prezly
  • Cision

Prowly's media database has over one million contacts that you can filter through and find the exact journalists that want to cover your story.

#4 Analytics and measurement tools

These tools let you assess the impact of reactive PR efforts and refine future strategies. You can see how much media attention you were able to grab, whether the buzz resulted in any high authority backlinks or track other, similar results.

• Examples:
  • Google Analytics
  • Google Trends
  • CoverageBook
  • Semrush
  • BuzzSumo

Conclusion

In 2025, you don't really have a choice between proactive and reactive PR. The reality is that you have to do both to stay at top of the mind, avoid crises, and make sure your reputation stays in tip-top shape. And luckily, you don't need an entire team of PR experts to do this anymore. Just get Prowly and use our set of PR tools to monitor your online presence and adopt a reactive approach to PR today.