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Ways Marketing Solutions, a Riyadh-based marketing and communications group, teams up with former Hill & Knowlton managing director for corporate affairs James Drewer and Mike Mathieson, founder and former CEO of creative agency Cake, to launch Ways Global Communications. Headquartered jointly in London and Riyadh, WGC provides corporate PR, reputation advisory, executive training and coaching. The firm specializes in working with Saudi and Gulf clients to build global reach and credibility, while helping Western companies to position themselves effectively in Saudi Arabia and the wider Gulf. “As Saudi organisations expand internationally, the demand for world-class communications and reputation management is accelerating. Ways Global Communications enables us to partner with trusted, senior experts in London to help businesses on both sides build lasting impact," said Ways Marketing Solutions chairman Abdullah Al Kassem.
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UNICEPTA, a media intelligence provider within Stagwell’s The Marketing Cloud, launches an integration with Microsoft 365 Copilot. The move is intended to make UNICEPTA’s reputation and media intelligence capabilities directly accessible within Copilot, allowing communications and reputation leaders to access, analyze and act on real-time insights without leaving their core Microsoft environment. Access can be configured for specific user groups, and the agent can be embedded directly within Teams, Word, or PowerPoint. Through the integration, UNICEPTA’s AI Agent connects securely to its proprietary, LLM-powered data layer via Microsoft connectors within the client’s environment. Clients maintain control over how the integration between the agent and connector is deployed across their organization—no information is shared with Microsoft. “This integration enables communicators to move from static reporting to real-time, AI-powered reputation management — right where their work happens,” said Microsoft 365 Copilot director of product management Chantrelle Nielsen.
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| Mike DuHaime |
MAD Global CEO Mike DuHaime has been named to New Jersey Governor-Elect Mikie Sherrill’s transition team. DuHaime will be part of the Making Energy More Affordable and Reliable policy action team. Action teams work with stakeholders and meet regularly to make recommendations to the incoming administration about how to make New Jersey more affordable. Making energy more affordable is one of the Governor-elect’s top priorities. MAD Global, a bipartisan public affairs firm with national, state and local experience, works in sectors including politics, press, public affairs and winning competitive campaigns.
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.
FleishmanHillard is shuttering its 20-member Dublin office as Omnicom Public Relations reorganizes its global operations... Vested acquires Watermark, a D.C.-based public affairs and special situations firm.... Matter earns two Pinnacle Awards 2026 Marketing & Communications honors for its clients.
Quad/Graphics launches Direct, a Quad Agency to help marketers create, execute and measure direct marketing campaigns in one connected offering... InnoVision Marketing Group SVP/senior creative director Giselle Campos and SVP/general manager Alanna Markey are among the first-ever winners of the San Diego Business Journal’s Indispensables Awards, which recognizes professionals who make the greatest impact within their organizations and across the San Diego business community... Park Place Technologies, an IT infrastructure services firm that works with Feintuch Communications, releases the second episode of its “The Savvy CIO” podcast. 
Ripley PR is named a silver winner in the TITAN American Business Awards’ Outstanding PR Campaign category... Excellera, a corporate-advisory firm, came in at number one in deal count, as well as fourth in deal value, in Mergermarket’s list of top EMEA firms... Thunderly is telling the stories of military veterans who transferred the discipline, organization and leadership skills developed in service to their country into successful post-military careers as franchise business owners, as part of its year-long "American Dreamers: The Stories of Franchising" effort.
