Author: citizen

Citizen Relations US was officially selected as one of PRWeek’s Best Places to Work 2022 [Mid-Sized Agency]. Highlighting some of the most prominent and progressive agencies in the PR industry, the Best Places to Work winners show how successful employers listen to and empower their staff, and help drive the collaboration necessary to take their workplace culture to a whole new level. PRWeek’s panel of judges recognizes Citizen for its commitment to work-life balance, recognition of employee excellence, and effective and inspirational leadership.

PRWeek’s Best Places to Work initiative, launched in 2013, invites agencies to explore what keeps employees truly invested in their work and satisfied with their workplace. Participating agencies distribute a link to our survey questionnaire to their employees. After collating the scores and narrowing down a shortlist, PRWeek convenes a panel of staff and external judges — experts in talent recruitment within the public relations sector — to pick the winners. 

“The competition for agency talent, and especially young talent, is tougher than ever as agencies and corporations compete against traditional rivals, new types of firms and each other for the most talented staffers,” said Frank Washkuch, PRWeek’s executive editor. “PRWeek’s Best Places to Work truly shows off the best of the best in terms of creativity and innovative and progressive work environments.” 

Citizen is a global communications agency built by and for the Modern Citizen. We wake up each morning inspired to make every conversation count, partnering with clients to grow their brands and positively impact culture. Across offices and disciplines, this is our single-minded mission. 

We know our name comes with a responsibility – to our fellow Citizens inside our walls and around the globe. We live by the values of the Modern Citizen; one who is courageous, builds up rather than breaks down, and puts their efforts towards conversations that count. Conversations that inform, educate, or make life easier for our fellow citizens. We champion equity. We set the standard. We do what’s right. We believe that conversation leads to action, and action leads to impact.

You can read more about PRWeek’s Best Places To Work here. 

While the value of influencer marketing is clear, many companies have struggled to build relationships with both ethnically diverse customers and ethnically diverse influencers, risking criticism for inauthentic and tokenistic displays of diversity. When we looked at the research available today on this topic, we were frustrated at the lack of data on how ethnically diverse communities connect with a brand’s marketing – there just isn’t enough data to inform how to do things differently.

We wanted to connect the dots between consumer, content creator, and brand to provide insights that lead to creating inclusivity from behind and in front of the camera. To do that, Citizen Relations established the Citizen Inclusive Influencer Index which surveyed nearly 2500 ethnically diverse consumers in 2022 and led focus groups with ethnically diverse influencers in the US and Canada. 

Our research revealed four cornerstones of creating trust-centered, authentic, inclusive influencer marketing:

• connections
• channels
• content
• commitment

The findings of this study have the potential to change how we think about inclusivity in the realm of influencer marketing, and we are eager to get to work. We hope you are too.

Global communications agency announces new identity and position, transforming its operating model to offer consumer & corporate campaign services across digital, creative and strategy.

Global communications agency, Citizen Relations, announces refreshed brand design in conjunction with the significant growth the agency has seen over the past two years. This rebrand reflects the evolution of Citizen Relations, having completely transformed its operating model to grow a team of experts who build, protect and drive reputation and results through innovative communications strategies.

“The rebrand does a wonderful job of representing both the agency we are today and the agency we want to be in the future,” says Nick Cowling, CEO. 

Under Cowling’s leadership, Citizen has seen incredible performance over the last two years, having adjusted to the realities of new ways of working with the onset of the pandemic across their eight global offices (New York, Los Angeles, Orange County, London, Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and Quebec City). Citizen Relations emerged from this period with over 20% growth in 2021, and projects to grow another 20+% this year. Nick Cowling says:

By focusing on our mission and living our values, we’ve been able to improve in every area of our business – our talented people, our client satisfaction and success, our work and our growth.

To maintain Citizen’s momentum there has been a number of recent promotions across the leadership team:

• Laura Bremer has been named President, U.S. With Citizen since 2010, Bremer has driven significant growth by pushing the boundaries of earned and influencer marketing. In her new role, Bremer will continue to lead with a people-centric philosophy to drive further expansion and global integration.
• David Brodie has been named Global Vice President,  Innovation and Growth. Brodie has led award-winning campaigns with Citizen Relations for the past 17 years and is now responsible for the development of new and enhanced service offerings in addition to new business development worldwide.
• Jenn Duggan has been named the President, Ontario and West at Citizen. With Citizen since 2018, Duggan has led multiple award-winning programs and will now oversee the offices in Toronto and Vancouver, building on the exceptional regional expertise and fueling strong national collaboration.
• Erin Georgieff has been named Managing Partner, U.S. Growth & West Coast Operations. Georgieff has been with Citizen for over 20 years, leading the strategy for some of the agency’s leading brand partners. Georgieff will oversee day-to-day operations of the West Coast offices with a focus on US growth.
• Sue Jackman joins Citizen Relations as the Senior Vice President of Marketing, leading the brand marketing and communications for Citizen Relations globally. She joins Citizen from Intact Financial where she served as the Director of Marketing and Communications.
• Heidi Mamer has been named Senior Vice President, Global Operations. Over the past 6 years, Mamer has been a key consultant for clients and internal teams across the spectrum of the integrated marketing mix and will now focus on streamlining global business operations across offices and centralized teams for continued growth.

Citizen’s new identity reflects the agency’s global mission to make every conversation count, anchored in the values of the ‘modern citizen’ – to champion equity, set the standard and do what’s right.

When it comes to sustainability and ESG, it’s not potato/potahto. There is a difference, and the difference matters.

The term ESG has been used to distinguish investment funds that, in theory, screen companies for some level of sustainability performance or advantage. But applying an ESG categorization doesn’t guide behaviour or connect to outcomes. It is an acronym, with topics that a company can choose to address.

An ESG approach can lead to compartmentalizing issues, resulting in environmental, social or governance silos. This is problematic because most issues don’t fit into neat boxes. For example, climate change impacts not only the physical environment but also human rights, including the rights to life, food, water, housing, health and work.

In contrast to ESG, sustainability makes room for a systems approach to understanding and addressing topics that overlap and intersect.

Moving beyond ESG and embracing complexity

The view that ESG is not only good for the planet and people but also good for business has gained momentum in the past five years, and really took off after Larry Fink’s 2018 letter to CEOs declaring,

To prosper over time, every company must not only deliver financial performance but also show how it makes a positive contribution to society.

While investors and heads of corporations are showing interest in ESG, activity is limited to what’s required, focusing on compliance and efficiency, and relegating innovation to a moonshot.

Companies that move beyond checking boxes aspire to fundamentally transform their businesses — to seize an opportunity. Rather than continuing to think about sustainability commitments as obligations or contributions to society — something necessary but on the periphery of the business — leading companies treat those commitments as a competitive advantage.

Unilever and IKEA have both moved their sustainability efforts far beyond what’s required, to boldly integrate sustainability (not ESG) into the heart of how they do business, and all the while disrupting the status quo.

For example, Unilever’s sustainable living plan outlines the company’s requirements for sourcing, supply chain and production. The plan includes guidelines on water and energy use, worker rights and pushing for a “circular economy” for plastic packaging.

Rigorous metrics are required to measure progress and performance on sustainability goals. However, to inspire and galvanize action, these metrics need to be pulled into a compelling narrative and emotional engagement across the organization with stakeholders. The overall approach needs to come from a place of conviction, distinctive for the brand, meaningful to stakeholders, motivating to employees, resonant in the marketplace, aligned with the business’s purpose and consistent with its values.

A company must start with purpose.

Crafting a clear and compelling purpose is essential to creating a strategy that moves the dial from compliance and efficiency, and in time lands on innovation. Purpose answers the questions:

• Why do employees come to work each morning?
• If the company disappeared tomorrow, what would the world lose?

Defining the company’s purpose isn’t a writing exercise built around peer comparison. It’s an exercise in exploration — unearthing the company’s unique strengths and taking an in-depth and wide-angle view of what the world needs from the company.

After purpose is articulated, it should be brought to life across the organization, motivating stakeholders, driving strategy and elevating the brand.

Purpose becomes a critical filter for developing a sustainability strategy that is authentic: focused, credible, distinctive and inspiring.

While a robust sustainability strategy should cover a variety of topics, it’s important that the company identify one or two areas where it can have a significant impact. Purpose lends itself to zeroing in on a set of relevant issues that the company is uniquely positioned to address. What one thing does the company want to be known for or in what area does it want to influence industry or society?

Finally, a company needs a compelling and distinctive sustainability story — a strategic narrative from which all sustainability communications flow.

The story connects stakeholders emotionally, and should be told with strong vision and commitment rooted in tangible actions.

However, beware of a self-congratulatory story about the company’s incremental progress on metrics. Substance is the most important element: a company’s sustainability story should be supported by tangible actions and transparent progress.