7 things The Crown Netflix series teaches us about PR and Marketing * spoiler alert*

1. Storytelling - The Crown scriptwriters are absolute masters at it – even if fact has been blended with drama. The storytelling is fantastic - especially in seasons 3 and 4, which is some of the best television I've ever watched.

2. Music - careful and clever use of music facilitates the storytelling and helps the viewer understand the mood of the story. There are several different musical themes which reoccur throughout the 5 series. Music plays a key role in modern marketing, particularly with the meteoritic rise in short-form video content, which often uses music as a way of further capturing the audience.

3. Image management - Camilla is persuaded by Prince Charles to accept the help of a professional public relations expert or, as she calls him, a 'spin doctor.' The term 'spin doctor' is an unfair representation of a profession that helps people and businesses develop a favourable relationship with their many 'publics' or audiences. A PR professional can help build this positive image and weathering the storm of bad publicity is so much easier if you've already got a favourable image.

4. Listening to a PR professional’s judgment – sometimes PR’s are asked to do something against their better professional judgement, for example pitching a story with no news value. The Queen’s Press Secretary, Michael Shay, was famously caught up with a scandal about the Queen breaking with Royal protocol by expressing a view on Margaret Thatcher – it is alleged that he leaked this to the Sunday Times. The Crown depicts Michael strongly recommending against this cause of action. But his advice was ignored.

5. Brand development - the cast of Season 5 is completely different to previous seasons, yet there is a strange familiarity with the characters even though they're played by completely different actors. With the right expertise, it's possible to rebrand, or make brand adjustments, but maintain brand recognition and affiliation.

6. Good market research: Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, a new product or service just isn't what customers want - or it just can't compete with the OG product on the market. Like the OG object of the Prince’s desires, Camilla -?Diana never stood a chance. Using thorough market research to facilitate any new product development should help you guard against this but, if the worst does happen, have you built in a plan to deal with it?

7. Modernise - a key theme in The Crown season 5 is the modernisation of the monarchy - particularly driven by Prince Charles. The decommissioning of The Royal Yacht is symbolic of this. It’s really important that brands understand, and respond to, the changing external landscape to prevent them becoming obsolete.