Category: News

It is the first week of January. Historically, this is the moment when the “New Year, New Me” anxiety machine hits maximum velocity. But if you look past the crowded gyms and the detox ads, you will see that for Gen Z, the traditional resolution playbook has cracked down the middle.

As we kick off Q1, we aren’t seeing a singular generation striving for a singular definition of “better.” Instead, we are witnessing a “Pragmatic Pivot”. Gen Z is currently torn between two radically different approaches to the year ahead. One camp is treating their life like a high-growth startup, seeking a tangible “ROI” on their time and money. The other is actively rejecting the pressure to optimize, embracing “Resolution Fatigue” and the radical concept of being “Good Enough”.

To understand how to market to this generation right now, brands must look beyond the monolith. Using The Gen Z Collective personas, we can see exactly who is hustling, who is healing, and specifically what your brand needs to do to catch them before the January window closes.

The Split: How Gen Zs are Tackling January

Trend 1: The “ROI” Resolution

For a significant cohort, wellness is no longer defined by six-pack abs, but by a safety net. In a volatile economy, these consumers are prioritizing resolutions that pay dividends: career advancement, new skills, and savings.

Beta Testers (The Optimizers)

• The Vibe: “Confident leaders” who are “excited about AI”.
• What they are doing right now: They are using the first week of January to overhaul their personal tech stacks. They don’t want a generic planner; they want tools that gamify their professional growth. For Beta Testers, self-education is a survival strategy, and they are the most likely to adopt AI tools to maximize their efficiency in Q1.
• 👉 The Mandate: Stop selling generic health. Start selling “productivity” and “optimization.” Position your product as a tool that helps them get ahead in the “Hustle Economy”. Show them that buying your product provides a measurable return on investment for their career.

Risk Junkies (The Aggressive Investors)

• The Vibe: “Zero Hesitation Mode” and “Adventurous”.
• What they are doing right now: While others play it safe, Risk Junkies are bypassing traditional savings for crypto or high-risk assets (47% are confident with FinTech). They aren’t just saving; they are looking for the “hustle” that turns financial stability into a viral, social-first status symbol.
• 👉 The Mandate: Gamify the experience. This group craves ownership and identity. Don’t sell “banking” or “safety”; sell a “Money Main Character” energy that feels risky and exclusive enough to share with their niche communities.

Status Architects (The Ambitious Esthetes)

• The Vibe: “Career-focused” (71%) and “Image-conscious”.
• What they are doing right now: For this group, “ROI” applies to their image. They are treating wellness as a premium asset – spending their Q1 budget on luxury groceries and skincare. They will pursue the ROI resolution, but only if it looks aesthetically pleasing enough to earn an invite to a daytime “Coffee Party”.
• 👉 The Mandate: Pivot to “Investment.” Position your product as an essential asset for their personal brand. If you are selling wellness, it must be premium and shareable. You aren’t selling a gym membership; you are selling access to a lifestyle that signals they have “made it”.

Trend 2: The “Resolution Fatigue” Rebellion

Conversely, a massive split in the data shows many Gen Z-ers are entering the year “exhausted”. This group is rejecting the narrative that demands they fix everything “wrong” with them, opting for maintenance over transformation.

Anxious Avoiders (The Burned Out)

• The Vibe: “Overwhelmed,” “Skeptical,” and “Homebodies”.
• What they are doing right now: With 66% identifying as “anxiety-prone,” the pressure to optimize leads to paralysis. They are retreating to “sleepcations” or road trips to quiet inns. They are rejecting the “New You” in favor of “slow living”—baking homemade butter or hosting low-stakes dinner parties.
• 👉 The Mandate: Stop selling transformation. Start selling “Comfort” and “Maintenance.” Validate their burnout by pivoting your messaging from “Fix Yourself” to “Treat Yourself”. Be the brand that gives them permission to opt out of the rat race and celebrate “Good Enough”.

Value Vigilantes (The Skeptics)

• The Vibe: “Practical,” “Cautious Spenders” (77%), and “Reliable”.
• What they are doing right now: They are viewing the sudden January marketing frenzy as a cash grab. Instead of buying into the hype, they are aligning with “Resolution Fatigue” out of a desire for authenticity. They are spending their time in offline communities or exploring “sober curious” movements rather than high-pressure self-improvement drops.
• 👉 The Mandate: Drop the hype. Validate their skepticism by focusing on transparency, reliability, and community connection. Don’t push a limited-time “New Year” offer; push the long-term value and ethical standing of your brand.

The Tale of Two Strategies

Two brands have perfectly captured this bifurcation, proving that you can win Q1 by picking a lane.

Case Study 1: Cleo (Winning the “ROI” Crowd) No brand understands the “ROI Resolution” better than Cleo, the AI-powered financial assistant. Cleo doesn’t market “budgeting” as a boring chore; it gamifies the “hustle”. Their famous “Roast Mode” bullies users (lovingly) into saving money, using the harsh, meme-filled language of Gen Z internet culture. By hiring a “Chief Spending Officer” to demonstrate fiscal responsibility via TikTok, Cleo turned “saving money” from a dry resolution into a viral status symbol. They recognized that for Beta Testers and Risk Junkies, financial fitness is mental health.

Case Study 2: Mejuri (Winning the “Fatigue” Crowd) On the other side of the spectrum, jewelry brand Mejuri tapped perfectly into “Resolution Fatigue” with their “New Year, No Plans” campaign. Instead of pushing a “New You” narrative, they sent emails with subject lines like “New Year, Still You” and “New Year, Still Good”. They encouraged customers to reject the frenzy of self-improvement. By positioning their products as “permanent” rather than “limited edition drops,” they validated the Anxious Avoider’s feeling that maintenance is a victory and that they are “already good”.

The Takeaway

The “New Year” has just begun, but the window to resonate is closing. Your consumers are either building an empire or building a fortress—make sure your brand knows the difference.

Citizen Relations is underscoring its commitment to talent investment and strategic growth by announcing a wave of key promotions in 2H 2025 across its global offices. Building on the momentum from its first-half advancements and a stellar year of growth, the agency is wrapping up 2025 by recognizing Citizens across all specialties. 

Citizen is a global PR agency built to give ambitious brands the curiosity, confidence, and courage to stay ahead of trends and maximize measurable success. A series of global promotions across the second half of 2025 ensure that the talent driving this mission continues to be recognized and empowered:

• Kell Cholko, who leads the P&G Ventures account in the U.S., has been promoted to Senior Director, PR
• Jordan Hernandez, a U.S. based leader on the global Marketing and Growth team, has been promoted to Director, Content Marketing 
• Sue Jackman, who led the agency’s global rebrand in 2022, joins the agency’s executive leadership team with her promotion to Executive Vice President, Marketing and Growth
• Rebecca Myers, who has worked on such award-winning campaigns as Elimin8Hate’s ReclaimYourName.dic and Molson’s Keep It Real Can, has been promoted within the global strategy team to Vice President, Strategy
• Catherine Pover, who leads strategy for P&G in the UK, has been promoted to Client Strategy Director, PR 
• Suran Ravi, who leads Citizen’s expanding insights and intelligence group globally, has been promoted to SVP, Intelligence 
• Jonathan Siemens, who has worked on such award winning campaigns as Chill Train and Fix Tixflation for Molson Coors Beverage Company in Canada, has been promoted to Vice President, PR
• Kelsey Wheeler, who leads the Spruce, Valvoline Global and Duracell accounts in the U.S., has been promoted to Senior Director, PR

These advancements reflect Citizen’s focus on integrated capabilities and its continued investment – amidst great industry turbulence – in developing internal leadership.

“As we head into 2026 it’s clear that reputation is a brand’s most critical strategic asset,” says Nick Cowling, CEO of Citizen. “These promotions across our offices reflect our commitment to investing in the talent and integrated capabilities to help our clients protect and grow that asset.”

The full list of promotions includes: 

Accelerating Momentum, Accolades, and Actionable Intelligence

Citizen’s sustained investment in its people and its modern, tomorrow-first approach is generating significant external recognition. The agency has been named to PRNews’ Agency Elite Top 120 list and earned Strategy PR AOY – Bronze, marking its third consecutive year on the podium.

This commitment to growth is driven by the necessity of navigating today’s complex consumer landscape. Citizen’s recently launched Gen Z Collective, using an audience intelligence-led approach to directly address this complexity. The report identifies five distinct Gen Z personas that enable ambitious brands to move beyond guesswork and build a stronger consumer strategy. 

Citizen’s year was also marked with the launch of key new business partnerships across offices, including Jack Link’s and Nature’s Path. By leading with curiosity, Citizen is continually leveraging data-driven insights and technology to uncover hidden opportunities to deliver maximum impact to clients. 

Back in October, I had the privilege of traveling from the UK to the US to speak at the Digital Marketing World Forum in New York City, sharing the stage with industry thought leaders to discuss the future of marketing.

At the conference, my talk focused on how brands can ready themselves for what is next in today’s highly fragmented search world.

The discussion that followed my session was one of the highlights of the event for me, underscoring just how important this topic is for marketers today, given the strong interest and thoughtful questions from attendees.

I wanted to recap some of the core themes and insights from my presentation for those who couldn’t join in person.

The Search Crisis: Why Traditional SEO and SEM Are Breaking

Brands today are facing a major challenge as the traditional rules of search are being upended by two powerful forces: evolving consumer search behaviour and the rise of generative AI. Making traditional SEO and SEM more expensive and less effective. 

The modern consumer doesn’t search – they discover. For years, the path to purchase was a predictable journey: 

1. A user had a need
2. Typed a query into Google
3. Clicked a link
4. Landed on a website.

That era is definitely over!

We are in a new era of discovery, one fragmented by social media, driven by conversational AI, and defined by a new generation of users (Gen Z). 

The Fractured Landscape: Search is Everywhere

The old destination, the search bar, is now one of many starting points. 

Gen Z has shifted search behaviour, transforming platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram into visual, socially-validated search engines for everything from “nice restaurants in London” to “skincare for oily skin.”

Zero-click search with Google AI overviews is now becoming an essential part of how we find frictionless answers – making traditional SEO brand visibility and ROI difficult to quantify. 

AI is also becoming a beacon for multi-dimensional search, enabling users to merge text, imagery, and voice into a single search term, driving further personalized recommendations. 

For brands, this means your visibility strategy must extend far beyond Google.

In short: If you’re NOT in the answer, you’re NOT in the funnel.

The Solution: One Integrated ‘Whole Search’ Strategy

Brands need a unified approach that anchors their content strategy in human intent that can be activated across all channels. We call this Whole Search.

“Chasing algorithms is a losing game. Algorithms are constantly changing, but human behaviour signals are your constant.”

Whole Search is a modern, comprehensive approach designed to address the fractured search landscape and rebalance marketing efforts across Paid, Earned, Owned, and Shared tactics.

Whole Search has three essential principles that brands can adopt, to ensure they are creating the content strategy of the future: 

Principle 1: Lead with User Intent

The core of Whole Search is understanding the ‘why’ behind the search. Stop optimizing solely for keywords; start optimizing for intent. 

Whole Search goes beyond the standard intent categorization (Informational Intent, Transactional Intent, Navigational Intent, etc.). 

We add additional intelligence layers, for example, by classifying audience questions across all platforms, from forums and social media listening to traditional search queries we can uncover high-intent questions and build content that genuinely solves problems across the entire funnel and channel ecosystem. 

Principle 2: Break the Silos

A cohesive search strategy requires operational alignment. 

Teams must Plan, Activate, and Measure together, using one accessible set of holistic insights.

Principle 3: Develop an AI-Ready Content Engine

The future of search is a conversation, not a list of links. 

To succeed, your content needs to be effortlessly digestible by large language models (LLMs).

To become the answer, brands must commit to an always-on content engine (not just a campaign mindset) that is specifically optimized for AI, your content strategy needs to answer these essential questions:

1. Assess: Can your team move fast enough to respond to trends and news in real-time?
2. Optimize: Is your language and are your assets conversational and easily understood by AI?
3. Structure: Is your content formatted with clear signals, like headings, clean lists, and structured data that an AI model can reliably parse, cite, and summarize?

The New Search Mandate

The shift in consumer behaviour is rapid, and the technology is accelerating. 

This is no longer a conversation about SEO best practices; it’s about competitive survival.

By the end of this article, you should have four key takeaways to ensure your content strategy is ready for what’s next:

1. Search is a Powerful Signal of Consumer Behaviour: Be present where your audience begins their journey
2. Break the Silos: Plan, activate, and measure as one unified team.
3. Lead with User Intent: Shift from chasing algorithm updates to understanding human needs.
4. Become the Answer: Build an authoritative, always-on content strategy for the age of AI.

The brands that will win the next decade will be the ones that stop viewing search as a destination and start embedding themselves into the fabric of the customer’s decision-making behaviour.

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This fall, the marketing community gathered across Canada for the ICA’s Social East and Social Pacific Summits. From Halifax to Vancouver, these conferences brought together hundreds of marketing professionals to explore the future of brand storytelling, behavioural science, and the evolving media landscape. Among the industry leaders taking the stage were Citizen Relations’ own Lindsay Page and Cher Lee, who delivered a compelling presentation on “The Untapped Power of Earned to Drive Effectiveness in 2025”.

While the conferences covered a breadth of topics—from AI to influencer marketing—Lindsay and Cher centered their discussion on a critical shift in the industry: the resurgence of earned media in an era of distraction.

The Attention Economy: A New Reality

The core of the Citizen Relations point of view is that the battle for consumer attention has fundamentally changed. While time spent on social media has risen to over 2.5 hours daily, actual engagement has plummeted to a mere 47 seconds. Lindsay noted that the “human brain has become adept at ignoring clutter, efficiently discarding what is irrelevant.” Consequently, the traditional “pay-to-play” model is losing its efficacy. As noted in each presentation, “Attention is not for sale.” The brands currently winning are not necessarily those with the deepest pockets, but those telling stories worth listening to.

The Power of Earned

Despite headlines suggesting the decline of traditional media—marked by layoffs and shrinking newsrooms—Lindsay and Cher argue that earned media (PR) holds the greatest potential in modern marketing. Their rationale is grounded in consumer skepticism. Audiences today are savvy regarding paid and sponsored content. This skepticism gives the storytelling-centered discipline of PR a distinct advantage in generating authenticity and relevance. They referenced data (WARC) that supports this pivot: PR was a key metric in 71% of the most-awarded ideas for creativity and effectiveness, compared to being a metric in only 29% of all awarded campaigns. Rather than just viewing Earned Media as an amplification tactic, marketers should consider it a strategic foundation, leveraging its strengths in driving cultural relevance and brand engagement from the start. 

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Friction, Feeling, and Truth

To harness this power, Lindsay and Cher outlined a strategic framework designed to break through the apathy of the scrolling consumer:

• Add Friction and Tension: Contrary to the seamless user experience often preached in tech, they argued that “friction is good.” It represents effort and possibility, forcing the consumer to pause and engage rather than passively scroll.
• Feeling Over Doing: The focus must shift from the product to the audience. As Lindsay explained, understanding the audience means “getting the mundane right”—understanding the annoying bits of their lives and what riles them up, not just their dreams.
• Find the Truth: Cher  emphasized that “effective work centers on the consumer’s desires and fears.” Meaningful marketing must bridge the connection between the brand and the audience, rather than simply listing product features.
• Be Attention-Worthy: In a world where engagement is measured in seconds, brands must earn their place. The goal is to show up in the consumer’s world rather than inviting them into the brand’s world.

The Future of the Industry

Looking toward 2026, both leaders expressed optimism about the industry’s evolution, provided marketers are willing to adapt. For Cher, the future is defined by a reversal of the traditional dynamic.

“For the first time, human behavior is driving marketing, not the other way around,” she noted.

Where advertisers once created needs, they must now root their work in deep human insight. She also highlighted the necessity of adapting to AI, which is reshaping search and discovery, requiring brands to optimize for new algorithms to break through.

Lindsay emphasized resilience and the “creative playground” that small markets can offer when they are properly understood. She championed the idea that “change is good,” advocating for constant reinvention and the resilience required to stand out as a brand.

Ultimately, their message to the attendees at Social East and Social Pacific was clear: In an age of infinite content but finite attention, the future belongs to those who can earn it.

The term “Sober Curious” has dominated conversations about Gen Z drinking habits, but it’s widely misunderstood. The narrative often centers on abstinence when the reality is far more nuanced. While Gen Z consumes approximately 20% less alcohol than Millennials, Citizen’s latest research in the Gen Z Collective reveals something more sophisticated at play: the 5 personas uncovered aren’t outright rejecting alcohol—they’re rejecting thoughtless consumption. They’re saying no to the “default drink.”

Here’s what makes this shift so compelling: Gen Z’s health consciousness doesn’t translate to universal sobriety. Instead, their desire for control and convenience is driving them toward specific, premium alcoholic options. They’re making choices that allow them to feel intelligent and empowered—fully in command of their bodies and social experiences.

The Data: Rejecting the Ordinary

Gen Z demonstrates a decisive shift away from traditional, high-volume alcohol categories. They’re not just avoiding beer and wine—they’re rejecting the entire culture of generic, mindless consumption. Their preference? Beverages engineered for precision and convenience: Ready-to-Drink (RTD) cocktails and Hard Seltzers.

When we examine their RTD purchase drivers, three criteria dominate:

• Alcohol content level
• Uniqueness
• Calorie count

Every sip is a calculated decision. The RTD category—whether alcoholic options or functional non-alcoholic alternatives—serves as the ultimate moderation tool. It enables defined choices without sacrificing flavour or social connection. Brands win by selling intentionality itself: superior, consistent products that define the experience upfront (ABV, ingredients, precise flavour profile) and give Gen Z consumers complete control over their consumption.

Winning with Gen Z: A Persona-Driven Marketing Strategy

To connect with this highly discerning audience, marketers must shift focus from selling liquid volume to selling the intentional, controlled experience. By leveraging the insights from Citizen’s Gen Z Collective, brands can tailor their messaging to meet the distinct needs of each of the five personas.

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1. The Status Architect: The Wellness Collaborator

Status Architects are ambitious, image-conscious, and prioritize wellness and self-improvement, placing them firmly in their “wellness era”. They redefine “going out” to favour daytime Coffee Parties and wellness clubs. They desire luxury, even redefining their groceries to include high-quality brands like Liquid Death and Olipop.

2. The Beta Tester: The Utility Champion

Beta Testers are confident, opinionated leaders who thrive on being the first to adopt new things and demand utility and convenience. They are looking for frictionless, superior experiences.

3. The Value Vigilante: The Transparency Seeker

Value Vigilantes are practical, cautious, and hold brands to a high standard, seeking reliable brands and expecting transparency. Sobriety is specifically noted to be on the rise within this group, demonstrated by the popularity of drinks like Poppi and Olipop.

4. The Anxious Avoider: The Comfort Creator

Anxious Avoiders crave comfort, familiarity, and a slower, simpler pace. They are the “Homebody Generation” and seek acceptance and community where they feel safe (at home).

5. The Risk Junkie: The Niche Enthusiast

Risk Junkies are adventurous and embrace the niche, the novelty, and the weird. They value strong communities and are the most likely cohort to drink more than once a month (43%).

The CEO Takeaway: The Experience is the Product

The future of the beverage category hinges on the intentional experience, not liquid volume. Brands that position themselves as “unintentional consumption” will lose Gen Z entirely.

To win, brands must:

• Prioritize Precision – Clearly communicate attributes like ABV, calorie count, and ingredients
• Elevate Flavour – Justify quality through unique, sophisticated taste profiles
• Validate the Choice – Position your product as the intelligent decision that supports a balanced, wellness-focused lifestyle

Gen Z isn’t drinking less—they’re drinking smarter. The brands that understand this distinction will define the next era of beverage innovation.

For a custom look at how your brand can win with each persona, download the report and connect with us. 

Citizen Relations believes in the power of curiosity and mentorship as a critical form of connection in the creative space. Their commitment to empowering curiosity and nurturing the next generation of leaders is exemplified by the journey of Jon Dick, Senior Copywriter based in Toronto. Jon is in progress at the highly selective London International Awards (LIA) Mentorship Program. This intensive, global initiative connects Jon with a curated panel of industry leaders, offering a unique, executive-level perspective that is now being infused directly into his agency work.

For Jon, the LIA Mentorship program ensured he was prepped with the ability to secure a path forward in a rapidly evolving industry. Jon sought guidance from a diverse group of creative leaders working across different sectors and regions. This intentional breadth confirmed a vital truth: success is achieved by forging your own unique path, one that often “meanders” through different experiences.

A major topic of conversation with global leaders was the looming question of Artificial Intelligence. While uncertainty abounds, the consensus from Jon’s mentors was overwhelmingly optimistic: AI will function as an increasingly embedded tool in the creative process, but it won’t replace the core human element.

“In a world dominated by AI, the differentiating factor will be ‘taste,'” Jon notes. “This requires the uniquely human ability to judge the quality of work, to believe in humanity, and to possess that individual belief in what is truly good.”

The most significant lesson Jon is bringing back to his day-to-day work at Citizen is a refined clarity: success is about creating work that makes a measurable impact now, not just chasing titles or flashy campaigns. This shift in mentality emphasizes driving the most significant value for clients and consumers, aligning perfectly with Citizen’s commitment to setting the industry standard and unleashing potential for its clients.

The key takeaway that aligns closest with the agency’s values is the mandate to be “insatiably curious.” Jon stresses that curiosity is the essential fuel for all creative professionals, leading them to find new insights and avenues for breakthrough work. Much like Citizen’s CCO Josh Budd advocates for, Jon is prepped to expand his Creative Range of Motion (CROM) and stretch his creative muscles. 

Jon’s mentorship experience required him to chase down meanings to feed his curiosity, which reinforced that great opportunities are only “half the battle.” The journey to success never ends, and sustained effort, driven by relentless curiosity, is the key to unlocking true potential.

Citizen Relations recently hosted “Tomorrow First: 2026 Trends & Bets,” a panel discussion in their Toronto office exploring how brands can successfully build reputation, trust, and discoverability in the face of AI and evolving consumer behaviour. Citizen is fresh off a 3-year run on Strategy’s AOY podium and ready to go full force into the new year. The event – moderated by CEO Nick Cowling and framed by EVP, Marketing & Growth Sue Jackman – emphasized Citizen’s “Tomorrow First” approach to keeping clients ahead of culture.

The Panelists:

The discussion featured four distinguished industry leaders navigating transformation in their respective fields:

• Tanbir Grover (Chief Marketing & Digital Manager, Pet Valu): Focused on data-driven growth, analytics, and customer experience.
• Dave Kim (Head of Industry, TikTok): Offered perspective on the creator economy and social discovery.
• Jon Macca (Chief Marketing Officer, RBCx): Shared insights on tech, retail marketing, and adapting established brands.
• Kate Torrance (VP, Head of Brand, Content & Comms, SickKids Foundation): Provided a mission-driven perspective on building trust and brand.

Four Forces Reshaping Marketing

Brand Building Makes Its Comeback

The pendulum is swinging back from pure performance marketing. Data now proves the tangible dollar value of investing in brand reputation and trust. As Kate explained for SickKids Foundation, “Brand work brings in the love, while performance work provides the tactics that close the donation gift.” Jon emphasized the need to rebuild: “We must extend our brand story and invest in the long-term equity that drives organic discovery and recommendation.”

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The Baseline? Being Real 

The panel’s advice on what brands must stop doing was refreshingly direct:

• Stop taking yourselves so seriously. Magic happens when brands loosen up and show personality on social platforms.
• Stop selling in every piece of content. Focus on being genuinely useful rather than creating thinly veiled sales pitches.
• Stop creating overly staged content. Amplify real, human moments from your community instead.
• Stop being performative. As Kate warned, people will quickly notice and call it out.

When we take on a creator approach with this lens, the credibility lies in the genuine connection between the brand, the creator, and the community. When that partnership is truly authentic relationships are built among creator ambassadors and the audience. 

Navigating AI-Transformed Discovery

The classic SEO funnel is fracturing. Dave described the new three-stage discovery journey: using AI chat for planning and structure, TikTok for social proof and lived experience, then traditional search for transactions. In short: AI gives us information, but social is a critical compliment in giving that information texture and human context that we crave. Jon sees AI’s biggest promise in analytics—pulling together disparate datasets for real-time impact and better attribution. Meanwhile, Pet Valu is exploring AI-powered personalization at scale.

Irreplaceable Human Skills

As AI advances, the most valuable leadership capabilities are becoming more human: discernment and bravery to know when to trust data versus instinct, compassion that AI cannot replicate, and cultural awareness to protect brand reputation as things move fast.

Citizen’s Strategic Response

Nick outlined how Citizen is addressing two fundamental industry crises:

Whole Search audits how content performs across social platforms, AI answer engines, and traditional search—ensuring clients show up as the answer everywhere people look.

Experience Renaissance recognizes people’s craving for tangible, real-world interactions that build trust in ways digital alone cannot. The future blends Whole Search discoverability with experiential storytelling.

The Path Forward

The brands that will thrive won’t be those with the biggest budgets or most sophisticated AI. They’ll be the ones brave enough to show up authentically, strategic enough to meet audiences across fragmented discovery journeys, and human enough to build connections that matter.

In a world changing faster than ever, the only sustainable strategy is to stay tomorrow first. If you are ready to future proof your strategy, reach out for a quick chat. 

The PRovoke Global Summit has always been where senior communications leaders gather to confront the profession’s most pressing challenges. This year’s Chicago event—centered on “Why Relationships Matter More Than Ever”—revealed an industry in the midst of fundamental transformation.

Citizen Relations took to the Windy City to experience the conference first hand, even walking away with a Global Sabre for a top campaign of the year recognition for its Undone campaign. Beyond the accolades, the Summit’s conversations exposed three critical shifts reshaping how PR operates in 2025 and beyond. Here’s what our Citizens learned:

1. AI Has Redefined What “Agility” Actually Means

AI dominated every conversation. Mary Kate McCarthy, Associate Director, PR, observed this year’s event was “much more AI & crisis management heavy” than previous gatherings, with Josh Budd, Chief Creative Officer, noting “every third conversation touched on AI in some capacity.”

The reason? PR owns a brand’s reputation, risk, and credibility, making our discipline central to how brands navigate this era of experimentation.

The impact on speed has been seismic. AI tools now outpace traditional cultural and social listening platforms “within months,” delivering faster insights for clients. But speed without strategy is dangerous.

The non-negotiables:

• Human oversight remains critical. Firms must maintain a “human in the loop” approach, ensuring experienced professionals can still execute without AI when systems fail.
• Balance your talent. Teams need AI-native skills and seasoned judgment to quality-check outputs.
• Define your goal first. As McCarthy warned: “You don’t want to be caught just doing something to do it.”

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2. The Line Between “Promote” and “Protect” Has Disappeared

The most striking shift? The collapse of traditional PR boundaries. The clear separation between proactive promotion and reactive crisis response is gone.

McCarthy captured it perfectly: 2025 is the year where “two things can be true” in strategy. The political landscape and post-COVID blurring of work and life have made the old “promote and protect” binary obsolete. Crisis management now “feels like a branch of overall PR strategy as opposed to a separate approach, agency, or team.”

What this means: Every campaign requires risk assessment. Every crisis response needs brand positioning. Agencies must build predictive work into everything.

For creatives, this ambiguity is opportunity. Budd declared “PR’s definition is officially undefined. And that’s a great thing for creativity in the discipline”—a philosophy Katie Skinner, Vice President, PR, echoed when discussing the award-winning TurboTax work: “There’s creativity anywhere—even in the most corporate work, creativity can live in the most unexpected places.”

3. EDI and Purpose Aren’t Optional—They’re Innovation Engines

McCarthy delivered one of the Summit’s most powerful takeaways: “There is no innovation without EDI.” The logic is simple: groupthink kills creativity. EDI isn’t just about culture—it’s a competitive advantage.

Skinner reinforced this thinking with her own perspective on creative problem-solving: “Look beyond your borders. Someone in a different market with different experiences can still spark your imagination.” This global, inclusive approach to ideation isn’t just good ethics—it’s smart business.

On corporate purpose, the message was clear: it still matters. While some have tried to course-correct from perceived over-emphasis, Budd noted that in spaces like the SABREs, “purpose still wins a jury room over.”

Younger generations continue driving accountability, with millennial and Gen Z cohorts praised for pushing corporations to align actions with stated objectives.

The Takeaway: The Future Belongs to the Adaptive

The 2025 PRovoke Global Summit painted a picture of an industry that’s simultaneously more complex and more exciting than ever. The practitioners who will thrive are those who can:

• Harness AI without losing the human judgment that makes great communications possible
• Navigate blurred lines between promotion and protection with strategic foresight
• Embed EDI and purpose into innovation processes, not just mission statements
• Find creativity in unexpected places and look beyond traditional borders for inspiration

As relationships become more critical and the landscape grows more volatile, one thing is certain: the old playbook won’t work anymore. The question isn’t whether to evolve—it’s how fast you can do it.

Citizen Relations is demonstrably operating as a tomorrow-first agency, not just observing these shifts, but actively implementing modern practices that align with the future of communications highlighted at the 2025 PRovoke Global Summit. The agency’s strategic philosophies and recent successes illustrate how they are embracing agility, integrating promotion and protection, and using diversity as an engine for innovation.

What happens when you combine tomorrow-thinking strategy with an integrated team determined to unleash potential? Impactful and award winning work.

The agency was honoured at back-to-back award shows last week, receiving wins at The ADCC Awards and The CMA Awards: two of the industry’s most prestigious events. The ADCC Awards (Advertising & Design Club of Canada) celebrates the highest standard of creative excellence in Canadian advertising and design. The CMA Awards (Canadian Marketing Association), recognizes the best in data-driven strategy and marketing success. 

Citizen’s impressive success across multiple shows and varied disciplines is a powerful confirmation of its integrated approach, solidifying its position at the intersection of strategic effectiveness and creative innovation. This achievement demonstrates that true integration is essential for modern marketing success and that unlocking client potential requires a fluid, forward-thinking communication strategy.

Canadian Marketing Awards 2025: 

• SickKids Foundation: Balloonspotting – GOLD for Social Causes: Customer Experience

ADCC Awards 2025: 

• Molson Coors Beverage Co: Fix Tixflation – BRONZE for Experiential: Events
• Egale: Gallery of Memories – BRONZE for Audio/Radio: Branded Content & Podcasts

These wins follow a year of success for Citizen, who was just named a PR Agency of the Year winner for the third year in a row and recognized in PRNews’ 2026 Agency Elite Top 120 list earlier this fall. Additionally, ‘Gallery of Memories; was seen earlier this year landing wins at the North American SABRE Awards and the SABRE Innovation Awards, while Fix Tixflation took home Bronze at CLIOs. Citizen attributes this success to its integrated teams, whose collaborative expertise allows the firm to fluidly move between different platforms and objectives, delivering groundbreaking work for its clients.

Citizen Relations’ commitment to excellence and unleashing the potential for ambitious brands has been recognized once again by Strategy, with the agency winning bronze for PR Agency of the Year (AOY) at the 2025 Strategy AOY Awards last night. This marks the third consecutive year Citizen has secured a coveted AOY honour, taking home  Gold PR AOY in 2023 and Silver PR AOY in 2024. 

The Strategy AOY Awards are among the most prestigious distinctions in the Canadian marketing, advertising, and PR industries. This recognition signifies best-in-class performance and leadership in driving client success.

“Securing our third consecutive Strategy AOY award reflects the power of our integrated teams,” said CEO Nick Cowling. “It speaks volumes of our forward-thinking, tomorrow-first approach and the partnership we’ve built with our clients. Especially in a challenging market, consistency at this level proves we’re not just adapting – we’re leading.” Hear more from him in his interview with Strategy Magazine. 

The recognition is fueled by the agency’s continued growth and momentum in 2025, including expanding its global portfolio with new clients, promoting innovators into leadership roles and building a creative arsenal with strategic talent moves.

This win joins a prestigious lineup of continuous agency-wide recognition that highlights Citizen’s global and industry-specific leadership, including being named to the 2026 PRNews Agency Elite Top 120 roster, winning Campaign 2023 Global PR Agency of The Year (Bronze), and being named in PRWeek’s best places to work in 2022 and 2023.