Author: citizen

The ILEA Esprit Awards, presented by the International Live Events Association, are widely recognized as the most inclusive and prestigious show in the global live event industry. At this year’s show, global communications agency, Citizen Relations took home a double win for their “Chill Train” campaign for Molson Coors. 

The campaign was honoured with wins for:

• Best Event Logistics
• Best Marketing Event

Born from the insight that Canadians were looking for their own Big Game moment, the Chill Train campaign gave Canadians their own ‘sub-zero spectacle.’ Citizen brought the idea to life across the country, frosting over street lights, benches, bike racks, and even a hot dog cart! 

The integrated campaign is no stranger to success. Earlier this year, the Chill Train campaign won top honours at the Canadian Event Awards and at the PRovoke Media’s North American SABRE Awards. The success of the campaign is a testament to the team’s agility and ability to create culture-driving immersive experiences for consumers. 

These wins come off the back of continued momentum at Citizen, with new business wins including Nespresso Canada, Nature’s Path North America and Jack Link’s Canada, plus recent wins at The Clios, The Drum Awards, and PRWeek Purpose Awards. 

We’ve all felt creatively stuck, defaulting to familiar approaches. In an industry shifting toward “earned-first, cultural creative,” that’s no longer enough. Add to this the industry’s obsession with youth culture and digital natives, and many experienced professionals across all fields find themselves facing an uncomfortable reality: being seen as too set in their ways or out of touch with emerging trends.

But what if the solution isn’t trying to chase every TikTok trend? What if it’s about developing something more valuable – creative agility that transcends experience.

Enter: Creative Range of Motion (CROM)

We’re well versed with the value of physical mobility/flexibility for our physical health and longevity. For creative professionals across all fields, developing creative flexibility is equally valuable for a long and healthy career. CROM is a first-of-its-kind tool designed to assess and expand your creative flexibility, just like athletes develop physical flexibility for peak performance.

The tool measures the ability to ideate and execute across diverse styles, tones, mediums, and cultural contexts. Think of it across three dimensions:

• Ideational Flexibility: Can you develop concepts for B2B tech and Gen Z beauty brands equally well?

• Executional Flexibility: Can you create everything from TV spots to TikTok content to PR-worthy stunts?

• Strategic Range: Can you solve problems through insight-driven storytelling, purpose campaigns, or cultural moments?

Why CROM Matters

According to AARP, 82% of marketing and advertising employees fully expect to be aged out of the industry as early as their mid-30s. And yet, 7,000 marathoners from last year’s NYC Marathon were between 55 and 88. We stretch our bodies, why not our creative muscles? And while brands prioritize authentic storytelling and cultural relevance, we often overlook the demographics that still control significant spending power.

The answer isn’t trying to be younger – it’s being more creatively versatile. Strong CROM helps avoid pigeonholing, staying adaptable as roles evolve, and solve problems in genuinely relevant ways, regardless of your career stage or title.

Building Your CROM

The strongest marketers  regularly assess and stretch their range across tone, format, category, and strategy. Like any fitness routine, developing CROM requires intentional practice and stepping outside your comfort zone. Try: 

1. Creative Cross-Training: Practice outside your comfort zone—social creators should try radio, traditional creatives should make TikToks.
2. Collaboration Sprints: Partner with people who work completely differently than you.
3. Reverse Briefing: Approach existing briefs from new angles—earned-first, meme-first, experiential-first.

Whether you’re a junior experimenting with everything or a seasoned marketer looking to stay agile, there are specific exercises and frameworks that can dramatically expand your creative flexibility.

Strong CROM makes you a more versatile creative professional and valuable strategic partner. When you can approach problems from multiple angles, you become the person clients and colleagues turn to for breakthrough thinking.

Interested in your own Creative Range of Motion? Get in touch with us at info@citizenrelations.com

Global PR agency Citizen Relations is announcing significant appointments and advancements within its Creative & Strategy team, led by Chief Creative Officer, Josh Budd. Building on recent global talent investments, the agency is doubling down on creative firepower with a fresh roster of talent, reinforcing Citizen’s commitment to pushing creative boundaries and delivering impactful, integrated solutions.

Following the recent promotions of Travis Myers and Jess Richards to Creative Directors, Lindsay Page has been appointed EVP, Head of Strategy. The Creative team has also added two new creative duos:

• Jon Dick as Senior Copywriter + Heather MacDonald as Senior Art Director
• George Hobby as Junior Copywriter + Grace Zhou as Junior Art Director

Jon joins from McCann Canada with award-winning campaigns recognized at Cannes Lions, The One Show and CLIOs. Heather brings over a decade of experience from Sid Lee, Anomaly, Ogilvy, and Grey, with work earning accolades from Cannes, CMAs, and the One Show. Grace and George come from Miami Ad School with impressive accolades, including Grace’s Young Ones Student Merit award and George’s Gold win from the National Advertising Challenge.

“We’re not just hiring individual talent, but building a roster of complementary skills and perspectives that make us collectively better creatives,” said Chief Creative Officer, Josh Budd, who was recently named to Campaign USA’s prestigious 40 Over 40 list. “They embody the core characteristics we seek: good humans, good teammates, and great creatives, proven by portfolios that show they aren’t afraid to swing hard.”

The promotions of Travis Myers and Jess Richards recognize their exceptional leadership and consistent delivery of unignorable work, including Citizen’s award-winning campaigns for TurboTax, Egale Canada, and SickKids. Lindsay Page’s promotion to EVP, Head of Strategy recognizes her pivotal role in Citizen’s growth over her four-year tenure, leading campaigns such as ReclaimYourName.dic – named a Fast Company World Changing Idea – and Cheetle in Cheadle – a two-time Cannes Lion winner. With nearly two decades in the industry, Lindsay has been recognized as a judge for the Effie Canada awards and was ranked a Top 10 Planner in Strategy’s 2024 Creative Report Card.

These appointments come off the back of continued momentum at Citizen, with new business wins including Nespresso Canada, Nature’s Path North America and Jack Link’s Canada, plus recent wins at The Clios, PRovoke Media’s North American Sabre Awards, The Drum Awards, Canadian Event Awards and PRWeek Purpose Awards.

Citizen Relations’ Chief Creative Officer, Josh Budd, has been named to Campaign USA’s prestigious 40 Over 40 Awards, recognizing industry leaders who have made groundbreaking contributions to creative work and innovation while paving the way for the next generation of talent. 

A place on this year’s coveted list recognizes Josh’s remarkable 15-year trajectory as an agency evolutionary pioneer – someone who was among the first to disrupt the traditional agency model and recognize the power of integration before it became industry standard.

Transforming PR Through Creative Excellence

Since joining Citizen Relations four years ago as the agency’s first North American CCO, Josh has fundamentally transformed how the agency approaches creative work. He’s been instrumental in reengineering the business around creativity as a core currency, building the agency’s first global creative and strategy offering that repositioned Citizen as an earned-first creative powerhouse.

The results speak for themselves: under Josh’s creative leadership, Citizen has achieved its first Cannes Lions, D&AD, and One Show wins, along with multiple Agency of the Year honors – including Campaign’s Global PR Agency of the Year (Bronze) and Strategy’s PR Agency of the Year in 2024 (Silver) and 2023 (Gold). Industry bellwethers like the ICA Power List and Strategy Report Card now rank Citizen in the top 10 as Canada’s highest-ranked PR agency multiple years running.

Josh’s campaigns have sparked global conversation and twice landed on Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas list. Notable Citizen work under his helm include “Cheetle in Cheadle,” a cultural phenomenon that drove double-digit sales growth, and Elimin8Hate’s “Reclaim Your Name,” which advanced inclusion and normalized Asian identity worldwide.

Josh’s impact extends far beyond individual campaigns. A two-time PRovoke ‘Creative Professional of the Year’ (2023, 2024), he’s been recognized among Creativepool’s Top 100 Creative Leaders and The Drum’s World’s Most Awarded Creatives. He has served on juries including Cannes, D&AD, and the Effies, and regularly speaks on industry panels.

“Josh is much more than a great creative mind. He’s a great business leader, responsible for building and growing an incredibly talented and inspired team,” said Nick Cowling, CEO of Citizen Relations. “Josh has been a catalyst for creative curiosity and agency evolution, and this recognition from Campaign USA is a well-deserved acknowledgment of his leadership.”

Josh will be honored alongside fellow industry leaders at the awards ceremony in September in New York City. A huge congratulations to Josh on this well-deserved recognition, and to all the inspiring leaders earning a spot on the 2025 list. 

Global communications agency, Citizen Relations, won two Gold awards at The Drum Awards for Marketing Americas 2025 last week in New York. The Drum’s flagship awards celebrate the world’s best marketing, judged by a panel of influential decision-makers from the world’s best brands. 

Citizen’s Undone campaign for TurboTax won golds in both the Content and Finance categories. The campaign, which features a 9 minute horror short film on Gen Z’s fear of filing taxes, also took home Silver and Bronze wins at the global Drum Awards Festival in 2024. 

“The insight was so darn good: nothing scares this bold generation more than doing their own taxes,” said Citizen’s Chief Creative Office, Josh Budd. “So we listened to their anxieties and pain points, and developed content to directly address their fears. A 9 minute horror film might seem like a long walk to do that, but the business impact and engagement results prove that putting long form content out into the world doesn’t have to be so scary.”

Since its launch in 2024, the campaign has garnered significant industry recognition. Most recently, Undone took home a win for Best Content Creation for Media Sites and the #3 of 5 ‘Best in Show’ campaigns accolade across all categories at PRovoke Media’s SABRE Innovation Awards. 

The campaign has an Applied Arts win under its belt and was featured in the Plus Co ‘Partners in Possibility’ podcast, where Citizen’s Chief Creative Officer, Josh Budd, and Intuit Canada’s Head of Marketing, Gah-Yee Won, shared their insights on pushing creative boundaries and taking risks.

Citizen Relations is surging forward with significant momentum, building upon a successful 2024 that garnered accolades including Strategy AOY Silver and Campaign Global AOY Bronze. This trajectory continues into the latter half of 2025, driven by the agency’s focus on technological innovation, integrated services, and client expansion. A key element of this advancement is Citizen’s continued investment in its talent, marked by strategic promotions across global teams.

Citizen’s promotions across offices and disciplines reflect the agency’s growth and dedication to recognizing and cultivating expertise from within. In Public Relations, Joe Cariati, Alex Green, and Cher Lee have been promoted to Senior Vice President while Katie Skinner has been promoted to Vice President and Chloe Magliato has been promoted to Director. To further its digital innovation, Sol Carmona has been promoted to Senior Director of Digital Strategy and to bolster their industry-leading Experiential Marketing team, Jackie Scrymgeour has been promoted to Associate Director. Reinforcing their ongoing dedication to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, Andisheh Fard has been promoted to Senior Manager, EDI. 

“These promotions reflect both the exceptional talent at the agency and Citizen’s commitment to recognizing and fostering leadership. They make our mission to unleash the potential of ambitious brands a reality every day through their curiosity, confidence and courage. Congratulations to everyone for the well deserved recognition,” says Nick Cowling, CEO of Citizen Relations.

Promotions across all markets include:

Promotions around the globe come off the back of an industry leading start to 2025 with the launch of Project Maverick, Citizen’s digital-led reimagined agency of the future, and the expansion of Performfluence, Citizen’s proprietary tool to enhance the effectiveness of influencer marketing. 2025 has also brought the agency several wins at such shows as The Clios, PRovoke Media’s North American Sabre Awards, Canadian Event Awards and PRWeek Purpose Awards. Earlier this year Citizen announced new business wins with Nespresso Canada, Nature’s Path North America and Jack Link’s Canada.

The Gen Z Collective is Citizen’s ongoing series uncovering the nuanced motivations, evolving priorities, and untapped opportunities within this pivotal generation. 

As the most influential consumer demographic today – with an estimated $12 trillion in spending power worldwide by 2030 – it’s no surprise that retailers today are scrambling to cater to Gen Z. And while Gen Z’s shopping habits start online, a significant portion of this demographic prefers to shop in stores. But the key to catering to Gen Z isn’t just through seamlessly blending the online and in-store experience, it’s in understanding why they choose an in-store experience. 

The Gen Z Consumer Journey Is Nuanced

Gen Z’s consumer journey isn’t as straightforward as it has been with older generations; it constantly oscillates between the digital and physical space. We know that Gen Z consumes more media than any other generation, which means they’re exposed to a multitude of ads on a daily basis. Their digital world is highly saturated and they’re incredibly skeptical of any branded content they encounter. Understanding what motivates Gen Z’s retail habits is crucial to breaking through the constant clutter around them. 

While their consumer journey often begins online – with platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and Pinterest crucial for inspiration and product discovery – 53% of Gen Z say they prefer discovering products in store rather than online. But the steps between product discovery and making the purchase have drastically increased. Research shows that Gen Z spends a considerable amount of time thoroughly investigating a product before committing to a purchase. From looking at independent reviews to trying on the product in person, they’re extremely intentional with what they put their money behind. This intentionality behind their spending habits is one of the reasons they prefer to shop in-person – to be able to fully get the feel of a product before taking the plunge. 

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IRL Experiences Driven By Nostalgia 

Part of creating retail experiences, whether online or IRL, requires understanding what Gen Z responds to the most. And while we can’t bucket the entire generation into one cohort, the appeal of “nostalgia” seems to be consistent across the group. We tend to characterize Gen Z as a group of digital natives that can only consume content in 30 second videos on a smartphone. But the reality could not be further and their penchant for nostalgia – particularly the 90s and Y2K – are indicative of just that. 

We’ve seen that desire grow in the way TikTok and Instagram algorithms have changed, moving from 30 second videos to 3 minute videos and photo carousels. The rise of Substack to one of the largest subscription-based newsletter platforms shows the desire for long-form written articles in a time where traditional media suffers. From 90s fashion trends of capris and banana clips to Y2K gadgets such as digital cameras and wired headphones and even the resurgence of chain restaurants, nostalgia is everywhere.  

Gen Z’s longing for new, IRL experiences is born out of the loneliness and isolation they have experienced spending their most formative years in a pandemic. Their desire and need for “third places” surpasses any other generation – a place where they can feel community and belonging. Whether it’s to “touch grass” or go out for “retail therapy,” Gen Z craves a hub where experience trumps aesthetics, creating a huge opportunity for retailers to give this generation exactly what they’re looking for. 

And big brands are picking up on it too; Old Navy’s been at the forefront of nostalgia marketing, especially with their recent 80s inspired campaign featuring Lindsay Lohan. Starbucks, a brand that was moving away from its third place persona, has decided to “reclaim third places” and create a space that fosters community and belonging. They’re not the only ones; influencer-led Chamberlain Coffee, which was exclusively online, has entered the brick and mortar space to provide Gen Z with a third place. Shopping malls, which have been struggling to stay open since before the pandemic, are suddenly making a comeback because of Gen Z’s view of retail therapy as an “experience.” In response, shopping malls are enriching the mall experience by adding rock climbing walls or pop-up concerts. 

Beyond Blending: Crafting Purpose-Driven Omnichannel Ecosystems

Gen Z’s consumer journey is a fluid dance between screens and real-world encounters, driven by authentic purpose and genuine connection. The conventional omnichannel approach of simply linking online and offline falls short. Instead, brands must build integrated strategies that recognize and cater to Gen Z’s nuanced movements, offering unique value at every touchpoint. This isn’t about replicating experiences; it’s about evolving spaces – both digital and physical – into platforms for discovery, engagement, and community building. In fact, one of the main reasons the Metaverse failed to live up to its hype is because brands weren’t bringing anything unique or new to the Metaverse experience that didn’t exist elsewhere.

It’s important for brands to remember that creating Instagrammable moments with specifically curated aesthetics aren’t enough to draw Gen Z in. Instead, they want elements that enrich their actual experience, whether it’s live music like Abercrombie & Fitch’s concert pop-up or an activity that gives them the opportunity to connect with people. There needs to be a larger purpose brands are serving for Gen Z – whether online or offline. Understanding that purpose isn’t as difficult as it may have been in the past; with Gen Z actively selling their personal data, retailers have all the information they need to personalize the entire shopping journey. The popularity of Spotify Wrapped with Gen Z is a clear indication that they are willing to give brands as much data as they can to get a personalized experience in return. 

The brands that master this balance between the digital and the tangible won’t just find success — they’ll claim the future. Gen Z isn’t asking for another shopping experience; they’re demanding a reason to care. Retailers who turn every interaction into something worth remembering will define what retail becomes. The question isn’t whether you can afford to invest in this generation—it’s whether you can afford not to.

Interested in more? Check out our previous article, Gen Z Collective: Influencing the “De-Influenced” Generation, here.