Let us all remember the purpose of Memorial Day — to honor all the courageous men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation -- Robert Dilenschneider, The Dilenschneider Group odwpr.us/4tRoPiJ

Clients in the professional svcs. sector may be subject to the same overarching concerns facing everyone in the business world (i.e., AI), but in '25, comms firms who wanted to successfully work with them had to take a detailed look at the specific needs of each client odwpr.us/3Pjt5tb

Today’s digital media landscape has reshaped influence and information discovery, which requires PR programs to adapt by changing their approach to perception and brand visibility -- Amanda Munroe, SHIFT Communications odwpr.us/3RpjSA7

While AI may have made the basics of generating content easier and more efficient, it has also made it more difficult for a brand to stand out from an ever-growing crowd of voices and platforms, according to a report from Public Relations Global Network and Greenough Communications odwpr.us/4nGFBi

Your buyers are asking AI about you. And what AI says about your brand depends on what you’ve earned -- Lauren Hill, PAN odwpr.us/4dCbPHE

Communicators today face a challenge of ensuring that brands are discoverable in the zero-click digital ecosystem where consumers now find information -- Shannon Coyne & Deja Preuitt, Hemsworth odwpr.us/4ukfT6j

Some clients benefit from working with Big PR, while others find a better match with boutique firms. Which type of PR firm is right for you? -- Ian McCaleb & Maria Stagliano, Blue Highway Advisory odwpr.us/4tJ5mAq

The traditional press had already lost much of its status as a gatekeeper of information before AI came on the scene—and now its position is even more tenuous. In this brave new world, brands and communicators increasingly need to tell their own stories -- Ronn Torossian, 5W PR odwpr.us/49sSpnp

The instinct behind every great pitch is the same needed to win the AI answer box -- Sierra L’Altrelli, Coyne PR odwpr.us/3PxxCIr

The way PR creates value has fundamentally changed. Here's how -- Daisy Cabrera odwpr.us/49zihOe

If the work that once built foundational skills—creating content—is automated, where does the next generation of communicators develop judgment about what effective content looks like? -- Katarina Garner, Montieth & Co. odwpr.us/4tHNNRw

Why discovering the truth is always our first priority -- Jim Lukaszewski odwpr.us/4wvEWVx

Why narrative is an organization’s operating system -- Steve Halsey, G&S Integrated Marketing Communications Group odwpr.us/4wv5AxQ

Sal Melilli, Managing Partner of the @kpmgus.bsky.social New York City Office, discusses the firm's success and what it takes to be named one of the @fortune.com 100 Best Companies to Work For® 2026 odwpr.us/4nDEJeX

Why scalability has increasingly become the deciding variable in PR M&A -- Rich Jachetti, The Stevens/Jachetti Group odwpr.us/48YDnW8

There’s no established playbook for AI in communications yet, but expectations are already changing, and the biggest shift isn’t the tools, it’s what counts as value -- Max Spielman, RuderFinn odwpr.us/3PFrQV4

Why CEO visibility is no longer optional as a communications tactic -- Jean Serra, V2 odwpr.us/4txWBcB

Deepfakes have crossed a critical threshold from an emerging concern to an effective tool, where any public figure is now a target for AI-enabled reputational manipulation. Here’s what PR pros need to know -- Evan Nierman, Red Banyan odwpr.us/48SbPl8

The “waiting period” that was once set aside for CEOs to develop their strategies before facing media scrutiny may be better used for corporate comms leaders get to know their CEO and what his or her short-term priorities will be -- Andy Tannen, Tannen Corporate Communications odwpr.us/4dgQpzB

How risks and opportunities have evolved for communicators in the second Trump administration -- Felicia Pullam, APCO odwpr.us/4tnWRL9

Why CEOs need their CFOs and CCOs on the same page -- Anton Nicholas, ICR odwpr.us/48MlNVf

The AI revolution has transformed how PR agencies work and deliver value to clients. But it’s also changed how buyers value those firms, and understanding AI’s influence on valuation is essential for agency owners planning on selling in the future -- Rick Gould, Gould+Partners odwpr.us/3R4tRdL

See how earned media is shaping nonprofit authority in an AI-driven world, and why third-party validation, consistent coverage, and strategic storytelling are critical to building trust, increasing visibility, and driving long-term growth -- Chris Rosica, Rosica PR odwpr.us/42iiFwD

O’Dwyer’s interviewed financial communications professionals at some of the top-ranked agencies representing the financial services sector to hear what factors influenced their performance in 2025 and what trends they see on the horizon after coming off a historically volatile year odwpr.us/42KPSRo

Only 15 percent of the CEOs polled in a new survey from Boathouse think that their CMO merits an “A” for job performance, as opposed to the 53 percent who rank their CMO as “average" odwpr.us/4n950l5

The mantra “every company is a tech company” has been circulating for at least the past 10 years, but with the takeover of AI, that was truer than ever in 2025 odwpr.us/4cFKjIw

AI will change most industries, but given the uniquely human nature of comms, it will affect our field a little differently than others -- RJ Bardsley, Wireside Communications odwpr.us/3OXdAGW

Across industries, innovation storytelling has shifted from a niche focus to a standard expectation. CEO Lou Hoffman shares how this shift shapes the work we do via @odwyerpr.bsky.social. https://bit.ly/4sNcpHX

A growing sense of fragmentation when it comes to health issues is leading to greater distrust of both the healthcare industry and the media that reports on it, according to the newly released 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer odwpr.us/4mQlSwW

Economic uncertainty, rising costs and a challenging political environment hit the healthcare PR sector hard in 2025 as the top 50 firms ranked by O'Dwyer's combined for a 1.6 percent decline in fee income to $757,393,014 odwpr.us/4sLg9db

The philanthropy sector appears to be losing its position on the moral high ground, according to Global Situation Room's Global Risk Advisory Council Reputation Risk Index for Q1 2026 odwpr.us/4u5rqGk

April is National Minority Health Month, spotlighting the urgency to improve health outcomes in communities of color -- Daisy Cabrera odwpr.us/4sLmmWn

In a recent conversation about the evolving media landscape, Doug Simon, CEO of D S Simon Media, spoke with Campbell O’Connor, Group Director, Media & Engagement at Real Chemistry, about how AI is influencing media relations and healthcare communications odwpr.us/41OkGAq

Newsrooms and TV producers are increasingly incorporating AI into their work. Unfortunately, most brands haven’t caught up -- Doug Simon, D S Simon Media odwpr.us/4tVvkBn

The U.S. sports betting and online gaming industries spent $3.9B on marketing in 2025. Two point three percent of that went to earned media and PR. Here's where the rest went—and what it did and didn't build -- Ronn Torossian, 5W PR odwpr.us/3O98Vl3

Last year was a good one for the majority of those taking part in O'Dwyer's ranking of top PR firms for 2026 with 43 out of 140 showing double-digit gains, ranging from 10.1 percent to 66.7 percent. Another 49 showed single-digit gains, six were flat and 41 posted losses odwpr.us/48o2NMH

X recently suspended my account for “violating our rules against inauthentic behaviors.” That was the entirety of the explanation. X cited no specific post, identified no pattern of misconduct and offered no definition of what it considered inauthentic -- Paul Oestreicher odwpr.us/42bT884

Doug Simon, CEO of D S Simon Media, and Adeena Fried, Executive Vice President of Health & Wellness at HAVAS Red, discussed how AI search, large language models, and evolving newsroom workflows are changing the value, and the lifecycle, of earned media odwpr.us/3Qip5ZO

In communications, where trust is earned and lost in moments, human judgment, experience and responsibility will define the future far more than artificial intelligence ever can -- Gil Bashe, FINN Partners odwpr.us/4u3Qfm3

This year, the O’Dwyer’s rankings for top PR firms took a jump from 133 to 140 entries—a number that includes 21 firms that were not in the rankings last year odwpr.us/4dBnyYz

Younger employees are more likely to receive AI training in the workplace as well as guidance for using AI tools, according to Institute for Public Relations' “From Gen Z to Boomers: How Age Influences Employee Engagement, Advocacy, and AI Mindset” study odwpr.us/4t0g8Tp

Too many executives view public affairs as a technical task. They think that if their policy is strong, their facts are correct, and their lawyers are ready, the outcome will naturally follow. That’s a dangerous misconception -- Matthew Klink, Klink Campaigns, Inc. odwpr.us/4ceytoH

For decades, visibility has been a game the largest brands have won by default. Today, as AI search increasingly serves as the Internet’s front door, those rules of discovery are being rewritten, presenting a rare and significant opportunity for comms pros -- Erik Carlson, Notified odwpr.us/3O2wkEB

Public relations firms recorded a 3.8 percent increase in combined 2025 fee income to $4.8B, according to the 140 independent firms ranked by O’Dwyer’s odwpr.us/4cckqjo

Many O’Dwyer PR readers may have been fired by a PR client, but what do you do if you think the client is not working out for your agency? -- Andrew Blum, AJB Communications odwpr.us/41PJGal

Why trusted and experienced public relations counselors can never be replaced by artificial intelligence -- Fraser Seitel odwpr.us/4vco6u3

In a recent “PR’s Top Pros Talk…” podcast episode, Doug Simon, CEO of D S Simon Media, and Julianna Sheridan, Vice President of PR at Scratch Marketing + Media, explored how communications professionals can effectively navigate high-pressure situations odwpr.us/4c9dPGA

Artificial intelligence, combined with experienced human judgement, has severed the link between time spent and value delivered -- Chris Donahoe, Stillpoint Global Advisors odwpr.us/4sYdrll

When it comes to AI-generated search responses, many of the sources that produce significant visibility aren’t the traditional “top-tier” outlets PR teams prioritize. Instead, they’re blogs, community forums and smaller publications -- Katelyn Holbrook, V2 Communications odwpr.us/4v5jW7p

Continuing a trend that began last year, purpose-driven messaging is falling out of favor among comms pros working in our politically polarized environment, with many now also anticipating fewer future corp. investments in DEI, sustainability and other CSR initiatives odwpr.us/4teVMWb