Hawaii Works to Lock Up PR Partner
Fri., Apr. 17, 2026
By Kevin McCauley
Hawaii’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is looking for a firm to provide strategic communications and marketing services.
Hawaii’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is looking for a firm to provide strategic communications and marketing services.
QVC Group is using Joele Frank for strategic communications as the TV home shopping pioneer declares Chapter 11.
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Clockwise: Lou Hoffman, Joe Anthony, Curtis Sparrer, Jean Serra, Samara Morman, Chris Rosica, Ryan Cohn & Stephanie Graves 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. |
Commentary
Reed Hastings, the genius behind Netflix's DVD-by-mail strategy, steps down. If O'Dwyer's had a Corporate Hall of Fame, Reed would be in it... Donald Trump's revenge tour rolls on as his team strips $11M from Catholic Charities that is used to run shelters for migrant children who have entered the US alone... Crusader Pete Hegseth should lay off the biblical stuff for a while, or at least until the world has moved on from his boss’ depiction of himself as Jesus.
MACCO Group, a national business restructuring and financial advisory firm, launches a dedicated crisis communications and special situations practice... Anomaly, a Stagwell unit with 600 staff across its talent hubs in Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, London, Berlin and Shanghai, launches a Paris office... ASTRSK PR opens applications for its 8th Annual Pro Bono Contest. The contest awards one early-stage startup, founded by a woman, BIPOC, AAPI and/or LGBTQIA+ entrepreneur, with a full year of PR services valued at over $200K.
Stagwell brings on David Olesnevich as chief growth officer, owned media and Drew Schutte as chief revenue officer, owned media... Spectrum Science names Lisa Talbot president of Spectrum Science Communications. Talbot was most recently chief client officer at MSL, where she oversaw healthcare, consumer and corporate practices... IHS, a global information provider, names Stephanie Buscemi as SVP and CMO, a newly created role....Red Shoes Inc., a woman-owned, marketing firm in Appleton, WI, promotes Reagan Fritts, Mia Hermansen, Katie Much, Jennifer Thurlow and Carly Tiedt to new roles.
Ireland is looking for a firm to handle a $2.5M national marketing services campaign to support its sport horse sector.
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.
Newsrooms and TV producers are increasingly incorporating AI into their work. Unfortunately, most brands haven’t caught up.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is being bought by the Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, a nonprofit that is the parent organization of the Baltimore Banner... The British Broadcasting Corporation is axing approximately 2,000 jobs, about 10 percent of its work force... Snap, the company behind Snapchat, is also succumbing to layoff fever, announcing plans to lay off 16 percent of its employees, about 1,000 people.
Highwire launches AcroAI, an agentic AI platform... FGS Global introduces a new brand identity... Coyne Public Relations puts an inclusive spin on Take Your Child to Work Day with its new “Take Your VIP to Work Day”... Marino SVP Jordan Isenstadt is elected to the board of directors of the National Cannabis Industry Association.
Firecracker PR is selected as official agency of record for Liner AI, an evidence-first AI research platform... Spoken Voice PR is engaged to lead public relations and communications strategy for San Francisco-based technology company nubrain... Sparq Designs is named official preferred marketing partner for Content Recovery Specialists, a contents restoration franchise... Moxie Communications Group is named agency of record for Gimme Seaweed, which makes organic, roasted seaweed snacks.
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