The team took a new approach, moving from product-led PR to campaigning on issues that matter to customers, such as employment for young people and data privacy.
But it was its crisis response to two network outages that really won it plaudits and resulted in a 43 per cent boost in its reputation in the 2012-13 period according to RepTrak.
Jordan Stone, strategy director at We Are Social, said O2 had achieved "the gold standard in crisis management, and a team that has effectively identified and organised for the digital age".
