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Bell Yard Communications and Kysen PR, London-based firms that focus on legal market and litigation PR, are merging. The combined firm will operate as Bell Yard Kysen Communications. Bell Yard Kysen will continue to offer media relations and social media advisory, litigation PR services, regulatory and sensitive situations communications handling, crisis management, campaigning support and media training. Bell Yard founder Melanie Riley serves as managing director of the firm, while Kysen PR founder and managing director Clare Rodway is now an external adviser focusing on client relationships and business development. Bell Yard directors Louise Beeson and Sarah Peters take on the same position at the combined agency, joining Riley on the management board. “By combining forces Bell Yard Kysen has a really strong platform for growth, with the potential to offer a wider group of clients best practice in legal and litigation communications,” said Riley.
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FINN Partners launches Travel with Tastemakers, a global report that looks at more than 25 destinations through the eyes of the creatives who shape them. The report blends perspectives from such influential cultural voices as actress Octavia Spencer with those of chefs, designers, hoteliers, artists, actors and editors. Compiled by FINN Partners' global travel practice, it spotlights aspects of each destination that include its neighborhood rituals, hidden corners and the everyday rhythms that define local life. The stories throughout the report reflect a growing desire among travelers to seek meaning, inspiration and emotional connection in the places they explore. "At a moment when algorithms increasingly dictate where we go, Travel with Tastemakers offers something far more human,” said FINN Partners global travel practice leader Debbie Flynn. “These itineraries are shaped by lived experience — by memory, craft, ritual, and the nuances of local life that can't be coded into an algorithm.”
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Baker Public Relations, a woman-owned agency based in Albany with offices in Pittsburgh, PA and St. Petersburg, FL, rebrands as The Baker Agency. The new identity is meant to reflect the agency’s evolution from a traditional PR firm focused on earned media to a communications and marketing partner offering such services as media relations, social media, video production, digital marketing, design, event planning, public affairs, advertising and crisis communications. “Our new name is not a change in direction for our agency. It is a statement of who we are and today marks a significant milestone in our history,” said The Baker Agency founder and CEO Megan Baker. “It was time that our name better reflected what we do for our current clients and what we can do for prospective clients.”
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.
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.
CIVIC, a New York-based brand experience agency, acquires strategic communications consultancy Wave Kilo... Hotwire Global reaches an agreement with Morning Consult to give Hotwire Global instant access to Morning Consult’s proprietary dataset... The Public Relations Student Society of America announced its 2026–2027 International Committee... Avenue Z is named a Shopify Platinum Partner, the highest tier of Shopify’s Service Partner Program.
