Category: News

Welcome to The Rundown by Citizen – special Travel Edition! A round up of the conversations that count, this month we’re unpacking relevant trends in the ever-evolving  travel space. 

Getting Away To Get Some Sleep

It might feel counterintuitive to plan your next trip around the part you’re not awake for, but sleep tourism is having a major moment. And when we explore what this trending term really means, it’s not as counterintuitive as it sounds. 

Across generations and regions, the number one reason that people want to travel this year is to rest and recharge. It’s no surprise that destinations and travel experiences that prioritize unplugging to relax and reset are taking precedence over action-packed adventure trips for many right now. Google Trends showed that “sleep” hit an all-time high for searches in 2023, and according to Sleepfoundation.org, 37% of adults in the U.S. recorded worse sleep last year than previous years. 

As such, folks looking to get away with sleep recovery on their mind can find exactly what they’re looking for through curated programs and amenities from luxury hotels and sleep-focused resorts, with the help of sleep psychologists and wellness experts, and AI.

With Americans searching sleep concerns online about 5 million times every month, aiming to catch up on precious zzz’s while on vacation isn’t a new concept. But there are a few factors driving hotels to feature ways to optimize your sleep that brands beyond the travel and tourism industry should note:

1. People are becoming increasingly interested in the role sleep plays in our overall health. Measures to improve sleep are gaining a lot of online conversation and span everyday measures like mouth taping, consulting sleep experts (not just for our kids!), all the way to design choices and super premium products and supplements that promise to enhance sleep quality. 
2. Sleep quality is becoming a serious public health concern: an estimated 50 to 70 million Americans have chronic, or ongoing, sleep disorders, and nearly one in five adults in the U.K. are not getting enough sleep. This is indicative of the ongoing, long term stressors we’re facing as a culture.

Looking at the reasons for a widespread desire for better sleep among adults, and the behaviours consumers are adopting in response reminds us that serving folks (particularly Millennial and Gen X) by recognizing their need for rest and providing ways to assist in that can help build an emotional connection, where brands can play a genuine role.

One Isn’t The Loneliest Number Anymore

It’s said the journey and the company are much more important than the destination. But when it comes to travel, it seems the destination is taking precedence over the company. While solo travel isn’t a novel new idea, there’s been a tremendous rise in solo trips in the last year. Research shows an increase in ‘independent travelers’ who would rather “go it alone” than travel with someone else. 

And the reason is simple; despite being out of the pandemic for a considerable while, fear of the world unexpectedly shutting down is still well and alive. Travelers don’t have the patience to wait for the perfect travel companion – or the perfect time – anymore. They want to see the world and they want to see it their way. 

While this sense of urgency may settle down, it’s not the only reason people are leaning towards solo travel. With the increase in loneliness becoming a major concern, people are turning to travel to meet strangers and develop new connections. According to Hostelworld, 66% of their guests “travel solo to meet people.”

The first ones to take note of this trend have been small group tour operators, who are tailoring their offerings to accommodate solo travelers with similar interests. From hiking trips to food tours, the more personalized and niche the experience, the better. 

But the solo travel trend isn’t just relevant to brands within the travel and hospitality space. There’s an opportunity brands have to curate experiences and offerings specifically for the solo traveler. Reading Rhythms, for example, holds reading parties where strangers gather to read their favourite book and meet new, like-minded people. An experience like that, while on a solo trip, would be the ideal setting for a book lover to make deeper connections, while bringing the brand facilitating it to the forefront. 

The rise in solo travel is indicative of a general preference towards personalization and tailored experiences – where people want to do things on their own terms, including travel, and meet people similar to them. 

Why Coolcations Are The Hottest Trend

According to several news outlets and travel publications including Conde Nast, Axios, Enterprise News, MSN, and more ‘coolcations’ are leading the way in travel trends. This new ‘cool’ trend is exactly how it sounds. Travelers are now opting for lower temperatures when booking vacations. Most say climate change is to blame. CBS News reported that 2023 was officially recorded as the hottest year on record and anyone who lived through last year can likely attest. 

Traditional summer getaways to hot spots like the Caribbean, southern United States, and southern Europe may soon become less popular. Instead, cooler destinations such as Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland are gaining traction for 2024. Early adopters of travel trends hope to find less crowded spaces and more adventurous opportunities. Luxury and travel brands have adjusted their strategies to target these cool-seeking travelers, recognizing their willingness to travel further to avoid wildfires and heat waves. While luxury polar cruises began in 2019, the pandemic temporarily paused this trend. 

Now, with the travel industry returning to normalcy, such vacations are on the rise once again.

Traveling The Great Divide

“We have wanderlust and we’re not afraid to admit it.” Citizen’s parent network, Plus Company, shares this sentiment and others in their recently released “Traveling The Great Divide” Trends Report. They certainly aren’t the only ones. From female solo travel, to group trips, and short vs. long vacations, the report breaks down the latest and greatest ways those looking for adventure are doing it in 2024. Citizen weighed in on the trend of slow travel, defined as a way adventurers are taking longer and more sustainable trips. 

Managing Partner, Erin Georgieff, shared Citizen’s contribution to the trend through the work with client Rocky Mountaineer. This luxury train ride is a safe way for travelers to take in the scenic views of the north west United States and Canada while enjoying the culture of the region. A vacation likely overlooked in previous years is now trending towards the top of the list with these recent switches in vacation style. 

Plus Co. shared how brands can adapt to these changes and capitalize on this new found way of exploration. The shifts in the industry are pretty drastic in comparison to how consumers traveled pre-pandemic, but it opens a new and exciting way for brands both in and out of the travel sector directly to engage with them and create new points of connection. Check out the full report here.

“Work hard, play hard” is a term heard often in work culture descriptions since the 20th century. But how has that evolved and what is meant by ‘play’ in today’s post-pandemic, hybrid work environment? In the fast-paced world of communications, a level of excellence, hard work, and successful outcomes is required, but employers and employees alike are looking for the workplace to have a sense of belonging, fulfillment, and connection. Juggling both can sometimes prove to be difficult, especially when appealing to employees across generations, spanning different interests, and coming from different backgrounds. 

Citizen President, Canada (Ontario & West), Jenn Duggan, shared how Citizen has been able to keep above average retention rates and engaged employees pre, during, and post pandemic with the members of the Canadian Public Relations Society and now she is sharing that success here. For helpful tips on retaining employees, building workplace connection, and creating a culture of belonging, download this guideline:

Download here: The Great Retention – Key Takeaways

The Challenge:

As a partner of the Taste of Iceland events in Toronto, Icelandair wanted to create a street level experiential program at Toronto Harbourfront Centre to promote the airlines’ flight routes from Toronto to various European destinations.

What We Did:

The Taste of Iceland is an annual Nordic-style festival hosted in various cities throughout North America. To engage festival goers during the Toronto edition, the Citizen Experiential team designed the Icelandair food truck experience, transporting attendees to Scandinavia by serving up curated Nordic dishes; from Icelandic hot dogs, to Swedish meatballs and apple danishes. Attendees queued up receiving selected food items representing one of the key Nordic destinations Icelandair flies to in Europe. Attendees then had the chance to “pick their seat” on an Icelandair flight, through an interactive digital seat map, for a chance to win vouchers and free trips for their next flight on Icelandair!

Last week, the PRWeek US Awards celebrated 25 years in the business, where Citizen Relations took home an Honorable Mention for their “I Buy My Own Batteries” campaign for Duracell. 

This year’s awards celebrated the trailblazers of the PR industry, along with campaigns that have made a mark in the last year. Citizen’s campaign for Duracell, in partnership with Vayner Media & EssenceMediacom, featuring reality star, Ariana Madix, won Honorable Mention in the Best Content category. The category awards honors strategic, creative and innovative content that drives business, bottom line and brand objectives. 

“Lightning in a bottle doesn’t strike often – but when it does, not only does it make some noise, but makes for some serious fun at work,” said Aly Sturm, SVP at Citizen Relations who led the campaign for the agency. “To see this work featured amongst such heavyweights truly is an honor.”

The campaign has also been recently shortlisted at the Innovation SABRE Awards and previously won the top prize at the Ragan PRDaily Media Relations Awards. 

Citizen continues their explosive growth path in 2024 by earning Top 10 spots on two prestigious Creative lists in Canada – the Institute of Canadian Agencies’ Creative Power List and Strategy Magazine’s Creative Report Card.

Ranked #8 on the Creative Power List, a 14 spot jump from the previous year, Citizen is now the #1 ranked PR agency across Canada. The list ranks agencies based on their performance in creative shows across the industry, including Cannes Lions, ADCC Awards, CLIOs, The One Show and D&AD – to name a few.

Citizen lept an impressive 17 spots to #8 on Strategy’s Creative Report Card, once again the top ranked PR agency across the country. Eleven individual Citizens also made the Report Card, with six in the Top 20, including Chief Creative Officer, Josh Budd, #11 on the CCO list, and Strategy SVP, Lindsay Page at #9 on the Planners list. Others in the Top 20 include:

• Shirley Xu Wang (#9) & Mike Lo Nam (#12) on the Art Directors list
• Marly Dichter (#13) & Abeer Verma (#18) on the Copywriters list

Other Citizens featured on the Report Card include Justina Elias & Gigi Rice (Copywriters), Malav Naik (Planner) and MyoNaing Illidge (Designer) for the second straight year. Our newest Citizen, Mark Mason (Executive Creative Director) was also featured on the Creative Director and Art Directors list. Included on the Brands list were two of Citizen’s clients:

• Elimin8Hate, for their ReclaimYourName.dic campaign that has won numerous industry accolades, including PRWeek Purpose Awards’ Most Purposeful Campaign
• Coast Capital, for their Talk Money To Me campaign, which took home a Silver & Bronze award at the CMA’s and was most recently shortlisted at the PRovoke Innovation SABRE Awards 

“Love to see our agency and our teammates’ names up among the absolute best in the business, Canada or otherwise,” said CCO Budd. “We’ve been hard at work at the agency elevating our product and while things like this aren’t the be all and end all, we appreciate the acknowledgment as evidence the industry is taking notice.”

Citizen’s position as top PR agency on both lists is an outcome of a stellar 2023  – the first full year after a 2022 agency rebrand. Along with being named Strategy’s PR Agency of the Year and wins at Cannes, The One Show, the LIA’s and the Webby Awards, Citizen most recently took home the most hardware at Strategy’s Atomic Awards, with 16 wins that included Public Service Grand Prix, in addition to being shortlisted for Campaign’s North American Agency of the Year. At the 2024 Innovation SABRE Awards Citizen is currently shortlisted for Disruptive Agency of the Year alongside 13 shortlists for client work and a spot on the Creative Individual of the Year shortlist for CCO Budd.

Earlier this year Citizen bolstered its creative leadership team with the addition of industry heavyweights Mark Mason as Executive Creative Director, Canada, and Vanessa Birze as VP, Production. This expansion of the creative leadership team reflects the vision CEO Nick Cowling has set for the agency as a modern PR agency, built to help clients achieve stronger, stickier, life long conversations with their most important audiences.

Strategy Magazine’s Atomic Awards 2024 were held in Toronto, Canada, last night where Citizen Relations took home 16 award wins, including the Public Service Grand Prix for ReclaimYourName.dic. The Atomic Awards celebrate breakthrough achievements and status quo disruptors in advertising, media creativity, technology and content across Canada.

In partnership with Elimin8Hate, a Vancouver-based non-profit combating Asian hate, Citizen created a dictionary plug-in of 8,000 Asian names. The plug-in, which has been incorporated by Microsoft, removes the red underline under non-Anglicized names that mark them as ‘incorrect.’ The ReclaimYourName.dic campaign has gone on to receive accolades at the Webby Awards, Cannes Lions, PRWeek Purpose Awards, the LIA’s, amongst others, and was featured on Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas list. Along with the Public Service Grand Prix award, ReclaimYourName.dic also took home 3 Golds and 4 Silvers for:

• Atomic IP – Gold
• Atomic Diversity – Gold
• Atomic Tech – Gold
• Atomic ROI – Silver
• Niche Targeting – Silver
• Atomic PR – Silver
• Atomic Idea – Silver

“It’s incredibly encouraging to see inclusivity be acknowledged at the highest level by our industry,” said Citizen’s Creative Director, Abeer Verma. “The recognition reflects the impact the work continues to have in the real world.”

The agency’s Cheetle in Cheadle campaign, for PepsiCo Canada, has been making waves at industry shows such as Cannes Lions and the Canadian Marketing Awards, and even took home Strategy’s PR Campaign of the Year. Last night was no different as the campaign won 4 Gold, 2 Silvers and a Bronze award for:

• Atomic Social – Gold
• Atomic PR – Gold
• Atomic Engagement – Gold
• Best Print/Out-of-Home – Gold
• Best Digital Engagement – Silver
• Best Experiential Engagement – Silver
• Atomic Idea – Bronze

To round off the wins, Citizen’s Asshole Activists campaign for TUSHY also took home a Gold award for Atomic Sustainability. The campaign encourages consumers to consider TUSHY’s bidet for their bathrooms in a ‘cheeky’ way.

Following another momentous year of double-digit growth, global communications agency Citizen Relations has hired Mark Mason as Executive Creative Director, Canada, and Vanessa Birze as Vice President, Production. Both Mason and Birze will be based out of the agency’s Toronto office, joining the creative & strategy team led by Chief Creative Officer, Josh Budd.

A 2022 rebrand for the agency set the stage for a record-breaking year at Citizen. Along with being named Strategy’s PR Agency of the Year and wins at Cannes, The One Show, the LIA’s and the Webby Awards, to name a few, Citizen was most recently shortlisted for Disruptive Agency of the Year at the 2024 Innovation SABRE Awards. The wins from the past year just earned Citizen a top ten spot on the Institute of Canadian Agencies’ Creative Power List 2024, the highest ranked PR firm amongst creative heavyweights. This expansion of the creative leadership team reflects the vision CEO Nick Cowling has set for the agency as a modern PR firm and global leader, built to help clients achieve stronger, stickier, life long conversations with their most important audiences.

“This is big news for us at Citizen and a signal of the value we place on earned-first creative excellence as a differentiator for the agency,” said Budd. “Vanessa and Mark both exhibit the right mindset and energy to integrate quickly and seamlessly into the team – and I expect their value will be immediately felt.”

Mason, most recently ECD at Grey Canada, is an award-winning creative leader whose  work has been internationally recognized at Cannes, The One Show, Webby Awards and more. He brings 20+ years of creative experience and will serve as the dedicated creative leader for the agency’s Canadian clients. 

“Citizen is rich with talented, passionate people and I am thrilled to join an agency that truly believes in collaboration and the power of storytelling,” Mason comments.

Birze is a seasoned producer with experience with some of the biggest brands in North America, such as Uber, Nissan Canada and Molson Coors, one of Citizen’s current Canadian clients. She comes to Citizen from Ogilvy Canada, where she was the Executive Producer for TD Bank, and will be working closely with Citizen’s existing Experiential team.

“I find the opportunity to help the agency hone their in-house production capabilities and work with the broader North American team incredibly motivating,” she said about her decision to join the agency. “It’s a great time to be joining Citizen, you can feel the momentum and energy and I’m excited to be a part of it.”

Citizen’s 2023 Canadian campaigns ReclaimYourName.dic with Elimin8Hate and Cheetle in Cheadle for PepsiCo Canada dominated the industry last year, with Best in Show recognition at the Marketing and PRWeek Purpose Awards and a spot on Fast Company’s list of World Changing Ideas.  The agency added a tenth office in Cincinnati last year in addition to earning a spot on PRWeek’s Best Places to work list for the second straight year. 

In the age of rapid technological innovation, our ability to connect goes far beyond the physical realm. However, I feel like a strong majority of companies lean completely into digital connection channels, preventing them from creating a balanced and more meaningful connection with the audiences they care about. Physical experiences and connections are highly desired across all generations and audiences segments today –  making them paramount if you actually want to align with these important groups. In fact, according to a study we did at Citizen late last year, a staggering 78% still prefer face-to-face interaction, reminding us that the human touch remains irreplaceable and sadly more than 50% felt like they had less IRL social connection than years prior.

What might be expected, specifically among younger generations, is that digital interaction is becoming an increasingly preferred avenue for social connection. It’s easy, and has become a much safer way to express yourself (or the persona you want to express) from behind a screen.  As we navigate the complexities of the Digital Age, the infusion of innovative technology into our communication practices is as crucial as the need to allow our audiences to participate in the intersection of culture and technology. But moreover, we have a huge opportunity in front of us  – as brands, as individuals, as communicators, we need to leverage a new wave of strategies to bridge the gap in social engagement and address the epidemic of loneliness. Let’s harness the spirit of innovation and apply it to how we interact, engage, and ultimately support each other – in the digital AND physical spaces. Digital connection is important – particularly to find niche communities that share specific interests. But, as humans, we desperately need the IRL connections and conversation. The balance is an investment in the life long conversations and connections you want to create with your key audiences, but it’s also an investment in societal resilience.

With the rise of AI,  new social media channels, talk of gen alpha, and the changing use of X, we’re seeing constant evolution in the digital landscape. With such rapid change, it can be hard for marketers to distill what’s coming up next and how to adapt brand plans. 

Global communications agency Citizen Relations’ dComm3 team is ever immersed in the world of digital transformation and they’re sharing what they’re currently watching to help – they include: 

1) A Rediscovery Of The Middle

After decades of investing in big, top of funnel brand acts, brand equity campaigns and splashy product launches–the last five years of marketing has focused on laser-targeted, bottom-funnel marketing and personalization. But brands have forgotten about the middle. That part of the funnel where customers are nurtured, valued, where we put effort into building consideration through search, content and new audience building. Where we make sure our dollars spent on brand acts aren’t wasted, because we have an amazing brand intimacy journey that greets humans and keeps them in our brand envelope.

2) The Spotlight Shift From Authenticity To Utility

Early days of social media turned advertising from brands talking at their customers to brands talking with their customers. Now, with advancing digital technologies and ease of content and digital experience creations, there is a growing expectation from customers that brands do even more to gain their preference. In 2024, brands will need to deliver real utility to consumers, in relevant ways that aid the lifestyle of the individual. This added value will work to differentiate brands from the onslaught of content available every time an app  or browser is opened.

3) The Next Phase Of Social Search

TikTok is setting the standard for social search at the moment, with keywords in both captions and comments being searchable. Gone are the days where the only way to discover content was via a hashtag. With platforms like Google already delivering snippets of YouTube video content as search results, we could see formalized partnerships between social channels and search engines in 2024.

4) The Human Layer Of AI

Platforms and applications leveraging AI are proliferating, revolutionizing how digital content is produced. However, this technological advancement is not a standalone solution but part of a broader “solution stack.” A lot of people think AI is just a commodity where you integrate and automate some models and you’re good to go. But no—there needs to be a full alignment of people, processes and technology for the operationalization of content to be successful.

5) The Rise Of Niche Community Creators

Brands are recognizing the pivotal role of niche creators, and AI-generated content is no longer just a futuristic concept—it’s happening now. In 2024, one thing becomes crystal clear: brands will increasingly need niche creators and a fresh sense of originality to stand out. The days of obsessing over follower counts are on the decline. Instead, credibility and relatability within niche communities will be a must for brands.

For more information on Citizen’s digital services and dComm3 read here.

As Valentine’s Day approaches, the landscape of modern dating takes on a nuanced hue. Traditionally a day filled with romantic surprises and declarations of love, this year’s Valentine’s Day seems to be viewed through a different lens. 

Unlike previous years where Valentine’s Day may have been marked by grand gestures and elaborate plans, many individuals are approaching it with a newfound sense of simplicity in 2024. The emphasis seems to be less on extravagant displays of affection and more on real interactions, whether romantic or platonic. In a world where meaningful interactions are increasingly valued and the crisis of connection holds firm, undivided attention and thoughtfulness are prized above all else.

As for Generation Z, the cohort renowned for its digital savvy and penchant for keeping it real, their approach to Valentine’s Day reflects their broader attitude towards relationships. While some may embrace the traditional aspects of the holiday, others may eschew it in favor of more unconventional expressions of love and appreciation. For Gen Z, authenticity reigns supreme, and Valentine’s Day is no exception.

Against this backdrop, Tinder’s latest campaign, ‘It Starts With A Swipe,’ takes on added significance. In their campaign, Tinder is challenging the assumption that they only facilitate surface-level connections by showcasing a broader approach to modern dating. Launched on Dating Sunday, the busiest time of the year in online dating, the campaign focuses on the different ways Gen-Z builds connections through small but formative moments. 

The creative messaging and visuals employed by Tinder in this campaign underscore the idea that each swipe has the potential to initiate a meaningful match. By shifting the focus from mere visual assessments to a more comprehensive understanding of individuals, Tinder seeks to break down barriers and cultivate deeper connections among users.

Tinder isn’t the only dating app that’s tackling the crisis of connection we’re facing globally, one that’s perhaps felt the most in modern dating. Last year, Hinge partnered with the Foundation for Social Connection, an organization that works on fostering social connection in society, to release a Distraction-Free Dating Guide aimed at promoting dating with intentionality.

Encouraging users to engage in genuine conversations, the guide steers them away from superficial interactions, creating an environment conducive to creating deeper ties. By prioritizing thoughtful communication, Hinge aims to make the dating experience more meaningful and fulfilling for its users.

As we celebrate Valentine’s Day in this evolving landscape of modern romance, it’s clear that the quest for meaningful relationships remains paramount. Whether swiping on Tinder or engaging in distraction-free conversations on Hinge, today’s daters are navigating the complexities of love and connection with a renewed sense of purpose.