Category: News

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.”

Like what you’re reading?

Drop your email for more content like this straight to your inbox.

 

 

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.

Gen Z is the most economically anxious generation since the 1970s. Plagued by student debt, historic inflation, and a high cost of living that makes traditional milestones like homeownership feel impossible, they are often branded as financially reckless, defined by the “doom spending” narrative.

The Gen Z Collective, recently released by Citizen, shows this narrative is not only lazy but fundamentally wrong. Gen Z’s financial behaviour is not careless; it is calculated, complex, and highly intentional. They are the first generation forced to adopt an investment mindset just to survive.

The Core Paradox: Anxiety vs. Control

The high-stakes tension between financial anxiety and intentional spending defines Gen Z’s financial behaviour. Their splurges are not driven by nihilism, but by a desperate effort to exert control and make strategic investments.

They aren’t ignoring their financial problems; they are solving tangible, immediate needs with their wallets. This intentional spending is a calculated, justifiable investment in three key areas:

1. Mental Health & Control

2. Future Competence

3. Social Capital

Case Study: Selling Agency and Competence

Brands that successfully connect with this financial paradox don’t sell stability; they sell agency and a pathway to competence.

Robinhood serves as a prime example. It succeeded by turning a historically intimidating financial activity (investing) into a frictionless, accessible, and gamified experience.

• Democratizing Access: It eliminated friction and lowered the entry barrier for investing, making a financially anxious activity feel manageable.
• Focusing on Competence: It positioned itself as a tool for financial education and empowerment, allowing users to feel smart and in control of their future.

This approach validates the Gen Z mindset: a financial risk is acceptable if it feels like a strategic, informed step toward independence.

Like what you’re reading?

Drop your email for more content like this straight to your inbox.

 

 

Winning with the 5 Personas

A successful PR and marketing strategy must recognize and speak to the intentionality behind every purchase decision. Here is how brands can position their product as a justifiable, strategic investment for each of the five personas identified in The Gen Z Collective:

CEO Takeaway: Stop Selling Fear, Start Selling Aspirations

Brands that try to connect with Gen Z by dismissing their spending as reckless will fail.

If a Gen Z consumer is splurging, they are making a calculated, justifiable investment. Provide proof points that position your product as a smart, justifiable investment in their well-being, their competence, or their social capital.

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

Global communications agency, Citizen Relations, has been named to PRNews’ 2026 Agency Elite Top 120 list. This recognition on one of the industry’s most respected list of PR agencies is a testament to the increased momentum the agency has had over the past year. PRNews is dedicated to spotlighting the most innovative public relations and communications firms of the year, celebrating those who demonstrate excellence, creativity, and impact year after year.

Citizen’s success is the result of continuous investment in its global capabilities and people. Over the past year, the agency has expanded its global portfolio with new clients, promoted staff members to new leadership roles, bolstered their integrated offerings with AI, and launched their 2024 Connections Report — all designed to give clients a competitive edge and drive unignorable campaigns

Citizen’s performance at the PRNEWS Awards extended beyond the agency level. Earlier this month, Alex Green (SVP, PR) was individually honoured as a PRNews Agency Innovator, a highly-coveted recognition for leaders who are redefining the industry by driving growth and transformation. A true tomorrow-first thinker, Alex embodies the spirit of innovation we champion across the agency. 

Spruce’s “Who Let The Dogs Out” campaign was also given an Honourable Mention for PRNews Platinum Awards’ CPG Campaign of the Year. The campaign created buzz for its successful launch of Spruce Weed & Grass Killer using a playful, nostalgia-driven spin on the Baha Men’s famous anthem to highlight the product’s pet-safe differentiator. Exceeding KPIs by 647%, this campaign took over social media and retailers, changing the conversation about weed & grass killers.

The Agency Elite Top 120 recognition adds to a successful year for Citizen and honours those who demonstrate excellence, creativity, and impact. With integrated teams across PR, Digital, Strategy, Creative, Insights & Intelligence (I&I), and Experiential, Citizen excels at staying ahead of trends and making bold moves for its clients. 

Most recently, Citizen has received accolades at the SABRE Innovation Awards, North American SABRE Awards, CLIOs, PRWeek Purpose Awards, Canadian Event Awards, The Drum Marketing Awards and ILEA E-Spirit Awards. Citizen’s sustained performance is highlighted by other agency-level titles, such as Strategy 2024 PR Agency of the Year (Silver) and Campaign 2023 Global PR Agency of The Year (Bronze). 

The landscape for food and drink advertising in the UK is undergoing a significant transformation, with new legislation set to reshape how “less healthy” products can be marketed. The intention is to reduce children’s exposure to commercial messages for ‘less healthy food and drink (LHFD) products. While the full regulation comes into effect from January 5, 2026, a crucial voluntary “soft launch” begins on October 1, 2025. This marks a major shift, particularly for paid online advertisements, including influencer content, which will be banned for less healthy products, and traditional marketing channels facing new restrictions.

These impending rules necessitate a fundamental rethink of PR and influencer strategies for affected brands to ensure compliance while maintaining strong consumer connections. At Citizen, we see this not just as a challenge, but as a powerful opportunity for genuine storytelling and strategic innovation. It’s a chance for brands to adapt, evolve, and future-proof their communications.

Helping Brands Thrive in the New Regulatory Environment

Citizen specialises in authentic influencer campaigns and media strategies, turning these regulatory challenges into opportunities for impactful communication and deeper consumer engagement. Here are four key ways we are guiding brands to navigate these new rules and build compelling strategies that work:

1. Lean into Brand-Led PR

The new regulations present a prime opportunity to shift focus towards brand-led public relations. Instead of directly promoting specific “less healthy” products in restricted channels, brands can leverage PR to articulate their core values, highlight broader compliant product ranges, and build a positive brand image. This approach ensures communications remain compliant while fostering authentic connections with consumers through overarching brand narratives.

2. Master New Channels & Owned Media

With restrictions on traditional and paid online advertising for certain products, exploring and optimising new content channels becomes paramount. Citizen helps brands master organic social media, experiential marketing, and audio content. We also guide brands in transforming their owned media channels into an “algorithm-ready content library,” enabling them to capture attention, build trust, and establish a strong reputation through AI-first content. This strategy ensures that brands can continue to engage audiences effectively and compliantly.

3. Evolve Influencer Partnerships

The days of simple paid posts for “less healthy” products are giving way to a more sophisticated approach. Citizen is working with brands to evolve their influencer partnerships beyond transactional paid posts. We focus on fostering co-created narratives that resonate on a deeper level, building genuine connections with audiences through authentic storytelling. This shift ensures that influencer collaborations remain effective and compliant with the new advertising restrictions.

4. Maximise brand discovery

Create AI-first content that wins attention, trust and creates a reputation shield. Brands must adapt and innovate to win attention and trust in a world where perception is reality and where people are increasingly finding brand information via algorithmic summaries, AI-generated overviews, and zero-click search experiences. We are helping brands implement generative engine optimisation (GEO) to maximise discoverability to ensure your brand is surfaced, cited and trusted within AI outputs.

These new regulations are a call to action for food and drink brands to innovate and adapt their marketing strategies. It’s critical to communicate expertise and readiness by highlighting compliant solutions, owned-channel activity, and brand-first storytelling.

Connect with Citizen for expert advice on future-proofing your communications and creating a compelling playbook for this evolving landscape. Our team is ready to help you transform these new rules into a competitive advantage.

Earlier this week, Citizen’s Jordan Hernandez, was named one of the Top 25 honorees at the Diversity Action Alliance G.E.M.S. Honors. This year’s awards celebrate “Purpose in Action,” recognizing those professionals who lead with intention and create lasting impact.

Jordan exemplifies the three key qualities the G.E.M.S. Honors recognizes: she’s a groundbreaker moving with clarity and conviction, demonstrates excellence through value-driven work, and creates meaningful impact through her work. 

“As head of our content marketing, Jordan makes sure diverse voices and perspectives are front and center in everything we create,” said Sue Jackman, EVP, Marketing & Growth at Citizen. “Jordan genuinely believes that when you succeed, you should help others succeed too, and she lives that every day. She’s always looking for ways to lift up the people around her, and that’s what real leadership looks like.”

At Citizen, Jordan leads strategic content marketing initiatives that have significantly grown Citizen’s industry presence and established their thought leadership. She also serves as co-chair of the Global Racialized Affinity Group and member of the Global EDI Committee and Mentorship & Professional Development Committee, bring to life her passion to lift up others. 

Beyond her professional role, her community impact is extensive: she’s a board member for not-for-profit Party with Purpose, supporting children’s charities, a co-founder of the Hernandez Family Foundation for education, and founder of Completely Booked, a diverse literary community. She volunteers with food distribution efforts in her Hoboken community and is currently training for her second NYC Marathon to raise funds for charity. 

The G.E.M.S. Honors philosophy that “purpose gives meaning to the metrics” perfectly captures Jordan’s approach, demonstrating that true leadership means lifting others as you climb. Congratulations to Jordan on this well-deserved recognition!

Potential. It’s a word filled with possibility; the promise of something smarter, sharper and with no opportunity left untapped. At Citizen, our mission to unleash this potential begins within our own walls. 

Our annual internal value awards, The Mods, recognize those Citizens who truly embody our core values and, in doing so, bring our mission to life. This year’s winners are a testament to what’s possible when we live by our values every day. They are the individuals who fuel curiosity, instill confidence, and inspire courage in all of us. They don’t just talk the talk; they walk the walk, setting the standard for what it means to be a modern Citizen.

This year’s winners were anonymously nominated and then shortlisted and scored by a judging committee. Four were selected to win an all-expenses paid three days at any of the 10 Citizen offices across North America and Europe.

Here they are:

1. Motunde Sotuminu, Account Executive (LDN)

Motunde, a former journalist turned PR professional, has been at Citizen for close to a year and already made a mark on her teams and clients! Known for being a “force of good,” Motunde actively takes part in the London office’s EDI initiatives and Citizen’s Professional Development & Mentorship Committee. One nominee says, “A true problem-solver, she takes ownership, inspires others, and stays ahead of industry trends. Her commitment to improvement and ability to get things done make her an invaluable team asset and a role model for excellence.”

When asked how she brings Citizen’s value of Setting the Standard to life, Motunde said, “Keep the bar high. I should everyday try and jump, and try to meet that standard. Sometimes I will fall. That doesn’t change the standard. That doesn’t change that the standard is excellence.”

Congratulations Motunde!

2. Jerry Yang, Manager, Intelligence & Insights (TOR)

Jerry, a boomerang Citizen, has been with the agency for nearly four years and is beloved in the Toronto office, completely unrelated to the fact that he leads the office’s Culture Committee. Jerry has been described by one nominee as “a flexible, genius-level contributor who always gets the answers you didn’t know you needed.”

When asked how he brings Citizen’s value of Empower Curiosity to life, he said, “I am naturally a curious person . . . Which is why I’m always so eager and so willing to jump on opportunities where I can mentor or teach other citizens how to be curious about something”

Congratulations Jerry! 

3. Ellie Deutsch, Senior Account Executive (NYC)

In her three year journey at Citizen, Ellie – and her Cavapoo, Oliver – have come to be known as a burst of positivity in the New York City office. From always being ready with whatever task is thrown her way to lending her beautiful voice at the end of year global townhall, she never shies away from a challenge. One nominee said, Ellie exemplifies what it means to champion equity. She makes sure everyone has a seat at the table, creating space for open dialogue and inclusivity.” 

Ellie shares, “My goal from 9 to 5 is to create an environment where people feel comfortable, sharing their authentic selves… I pride myself for being present for both the highs and lows, convinced that a foundation of warmth paves the way for exceptional work and stronger collaboration.”

Congratulations Ellie! 

4. Sophie Brewer, Account Director & Creator Specialist (LDN)

Sophie got her start at Citizen six years ago as an intern and has quickly risen to Account Director & Creator Specialist. In the London office, Sophie’s known to bring her ‘can do’ attitude to work everyday, with one nominee saying, “Sophie demonstrates courage and conviction in her actions; she speaks up and challenges behaviours that aren’t what is right for the client or agency and are willing to step outside their comfort zone to do what they believe is right.”

As a long-standing Citizen, Sophie is a huge proponent of creating an environment of positivity to help the team thrive. She says, “Some of our best ideas can sometimes come from the newest or most junior team members, and I always make it a point to give everybody a voice and a chance to contribute . . . empowering curiosity means every voice matters on the team.”

Congratulations Sophie! 

Learn about last year’s winners here.

Summer means many things: concerts, outdoor patios, relaxing in the park and hydration season! This summer, our integrated teams quenched Canada’s thirst for authentic experiences with three refreshing campaigns for our clients, Perrier and Essentia, that proved the best ideas bubble up from creative collaboration.

Oui Can Do It: Bringing Paris to Your Patio

This summer, Perrier wanted to surprise Canadians with the joie de vivre of France. Our Experiential and PR teams transformed patios across Toronto and Vancouver into vibrant Parisian bistros for the “Perrier Terrasse” campaign. Our on-ground crew crafted authentic French bistro vibes – complete with a French accordion player and an artist creating live French fashion sketches of the guests. Our PR team secured coverage of the launch and ongoing activation across lifestyle and events outlets, calling it a must-visit summer experience that had Canadians saying “bonjour” to European sophistication. Meanwhile, our Citizen influencer experts partnered with local creators to generate drool-worthy content that drove OpenTable reservations faster than you could say “café au lait.”

Sober Curious? We’ve Got Your Number (And Your Quiz Results)

Like what you’re reading?

Drop your email for more content like this straight to your inbox.

 

 

To get MAISON PERRIER Chic’s latest mocktails in front of Canadians, our Digital, PR and Experiential teams cooked up the “Chic Alter Ego” quiz – because who doesn’t want to discover their mocktail personality? We positioned the campaign at the forefront of the “sober curious” movement, while our influencer partners showcased mindful indulgence that looked as good as it felt. We brought our Chic activations to Montreal’s Mural Festival, Vancouver’s Jazz Festival and Toronto’s Union Summer, giving our audience the chance to discover their ‘Chic Alter Ego.’ The result? A campaign that made choosing not to drink feel like the chicest choice of all.

Performance That Packs a Punch: Essentia Gets Essential

For Essentia’s ongoing “Unstoppable Self” campaign, our Digital and PR team flexed their data muscles with a performance-driven creator program powered by our proprietary Performfluence model. We handpicked creators whose authentic lifestyles embodied Essentia’s resilience and ambition values. Our analytics team optimizes every post in real time for search enhancement, using user intent data and funnel-stage insights to ensure each piece of content drives maximum impact for the brand. 

What made these campaigns flow seamlessly? Cross-functional collaboration that would make a Michelin-star chef jealous. Our PR, Experiential and Digital teams didn’t just work together – they created a creative cocktail that delivered comprehensive audience engagement across every touchpoint that mattered.

Citizen’s SVP, Alex Green, has been recognized as PRNews People of the Year “Agency Innovator”, an accolade that celebrates the most visionary and impactful leaders in the PR industry. This recognition highlights professionals who have expanded their firm’s offerings and spearheaded winning campaigns. The Agency Innovators category specifically honors those who have helped their firm grow in client base and revenue, a definition Alex has more than lived up to.

In her six-year tenure, she has led remarkable growth, particularly in the past year, by spearheading key business wins, including Nestle Confectionery and Nespresso Canada. Her strategic leadership of the Nespresso win seamlessly integrated, strategy, innovation, digital, creative, and experiential teams, to deliver substantial revenue growth.

Her impact is perhaps most visible in the stunning success of the campaigns she’s led. Since 2022, her work has garnered over 40 industry awards, including top honours from the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, The One Show, CLIOs, and The Webby Awards. She led the “Cheetle in Cheadle”campaign for PepsiCo Canada as the primary account lead, a campaign that didn’t just achieve excellent results (2.2 billion impressions and a 47% regional sales increase), it became a cultural phenomenon, appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live and Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show. 

As Senior Vice President, Alex is central to Citizen’s success. Her trust-based relationships with clients enable her to fearlessly weave new products, services, and POVs into brand work while delivering industry topping results. Her constant curiosity and collaborative spirit have positioned her at the forefront of innovation, embodying the very essence of an Agency Innovator.

“Alex’s innovative mindset, strategic thinking, and creative outlook has delivered every time,” said a long-time client at Citizen. 

Citizen Relations is incredibly proud of Alex and congratulates her on this well-deserved recognition!