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| Ollie Burgoyne, Duncan McCaslin |
Stagwell acquires Sidekick, a group of specialist agencies focused on experiential, digital storytelling and branded content. Sidekick will join Allison, the global marketing and communications consultancy within Stagwell. Sidekick co-founders Duncan McCaslin and Ollie Burgoyne will remain as managing directors of their respective teams and both will join Allison’s European management team. Directors William Howe and Stephen Bradley will also move across in their current roles. No other staffing changes are planned. The addition of Sidekick will further expand Allison’s footprint, supplementing its existing core competencies of strategic communications, influencer marketing, digital, performance marketing and data analytics. “Having seen our collective teams work successfully together over the last year or so, we knew that joining with Allison and Stagwell was the logical next step,” said McCaslin. Sidekick is Stagwell’s second acquisition of the year, following the purchase of Team Epiphany, a culturalist creative agency connecting brands to multicultural consumers, in January.
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Watermark Strategies, a corporate affairs consulting firm designed to deploy the latest data and technology in support of comprehensive stakeholder advisory and engagement services, is founded by industry veterans Zack Condry and Erik Hotmire. Condry founded corporate digital firm Echo and is a veteran of digital campaigns at Brunswick Group and Edelman. Hotmire has counseled senior executives and boards on business-critical issues for the past 13 years as a partner at Brunswick Group, senior managing director at Teneo, and partner at FGS Global. Watermark's service offerings include corporate positioning, special situations, digital advisory and execution, and research and insights. “Using predictive analytics, we guide our clients’ communications and public affairs efforts with precision, equipping them to productively engage a diverse set of stakeholders,” said Condry.
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Markets EQ, which fuses voice tones with language in a generative AI platform for corporate communications, launches an AI-generated scorecard based entirely on voice analysis. EQ MarketScore has the ability to discern 58 unique emotions, scoring speakers on tone, confidence, clarity, and the intricacy of their messages. Among the features included are bottom line up front (a brief summary of the conversation); emotional sentiment (a description of the overall tone of the speaker and message) and clarity rank: (a measure of how difficult it was to follow the conversation). "With Markets EQ's new scorecard feature, we're turning the art of communication into a science, cutting time substantially and providing a reliable output to train and improve your spokespeople,” said Markets EQ CEO Sean Austin.
Wawner Strategies, which was founded by former APCO director/VP Kat Wawner in 2022, relaunches as The Category... Metro Transportation Management & Design, a Washington, DC-based transportation planning and operations management services firm, and Relentless Awareness, a communications and creative strategy firm, form a strategic alliance... Luna PR, a Dubai-based communications and marketing agency that specializes in emerging and disruptive technologies, expands its U.S. footprint.
Matter relaunches its local marketing services, which will focus on providing approachable, agency-caliber marketing programs to help smaller-scale businesses grow in the age of AI... Publicis Sports, the sport and culture marketing arm of Publicis Group, is collaborating with Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs and 3 Arts Sports on the launch of TEKTA, a Name, Image and Likeness consulting and activation offering... The 23rd Annual International Business Awards announces its Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners for 2026.
The Pollack Group launches its Brand Visibility Index, a research series that examines how brands are represented, ranked and cited by generative AI platforms... PARC Solutions, a New York- and London-based advisory firm, forms a strategic collaboration with Guillot Consulting, a provider of lobbying, government relations, political advocacy, and business development services... SalterMitchell PR, a Tallahassee, FL-based firm, wins two 2026 Florida Public Relations Association Golden Image Awards.
Page launches the Polansky Future Leaders Fund, which was established through a gift from 2025 Page Hall of Fame inductee and former Weber Shandwick Global CEO Andy Polansky... Ruder Finn reintroduces its website, ruderfinn.com, which will now feature a large language model (LLM) as its primary user interface... Higher Plane Media is launched by former Sloane & Company CEO Darren Brandt.
Champion, which specializes in restaurant, franchise and consumer brands, opens a Miami office, adding to its operations in Dallas and Los Angeles... Violet PR, a Montclair, NJ-based firm that focuses on economic development, commercial real estate and place branding, opens a second office on Park Avenue South in New York... Inflection Point, a founder-led, senior growth systems partner for startups and growth-stage businesses, launches... PRSA announces the recipients of its inaugural Women of Impact Awards. Honorees honorees were recognized during the PRSA Women of Impact Summit & Awards at the Union League Club of Chicago.
