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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.
Especially in the healthcare and financial sectors, it has become impossible to draw a clear line indicating where one sector ends and the other begins.
Because of that, tech innovations and developments must be tailored around an increasingly broad spectrum of uses and priorities. A healthcare app has to consider a range of patient and HCP issues that expand tech’s boundaries. The same principle applies in the financial sector—or really in any other sector.
Despite a slight dip in fees (1.3 percent) from 2024 to 2025 for O'Dwyer's ranking of the top technology PR firms, the seven tech executives we talked to for this roundup see opportunities looking ahead. Here, they share what their strategies were for coping with the changes in 2025 and have put together a roadmap for where they see the tech sector heading through the rest of this year.
A Catalyst for Reinvention
“At Ruder Finn, we approach AI not as a bolt-on solution, but as a catalyst for reinvention,” said CEO Kathy Bloomgarden, “embedding it across workflows from insight development to content creation and optimization.”
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| Kathy Bloomgarden |
The agency’s TechLab has long explored emerging technologies. Bloomgarden says that Ruder Finn (#4 on our list, up 7.8 percent to $42.9M in fees) is continuing that work through its new AI Accelerator, which gives it the opportunity to pilot and embed innovations such as search-driven content strategies, deep audience insights and persona creation, micro-influencer vetting, and synthetic media.
“We support clients in building adaptive, curious cultures that embrace AI and encourage the adoption of new mindsets and workflows,” Bloomgarden adds.
In addition to presenting opportunities, the influence of AI is also “a call for responsibility.” Meeting those responsibilities will require “strong governance, high-quality data, and, most importantly, people who are prepared to adapt.” To help that process along, Ruder Finn has invested in upskilling and building a culture that rewards curiosity and continuous learning, because “adaptability is now a core business strategy.”
“The human is never going to be replaced,” Bloomgarden says, “but the human is going to do more. Our role is to ensure that as these technologies scale, that we deepen connections, strengthen understanding, and create lasting value.”
If You’re in Tech PR, Buckle Up
A hike of 26.7 percent in fees to $38.4M took The Hoffman Agency to the #5 spot on our list.
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| Lou Hoffman |
“Reflecting on the tech PR sector last year,” says The Hoffman Agency CEO Lou Hoffman, “I’m reminded of the three keys to success in real estate — location, location and location.
“What are the three defining forces in tech PR? Exactly — AI, AI and AI.”
For Hoffman, AI is a must-have for keeping up. “To not earn an AI moniker is to be relegated to the scrap heap, a ‘has-been.’” And with AI’s effect going beyond the traditional tech vendors, such non-tech companies as McDonald's, Nike and John Deere are leaning into AI narratives. “No question, this dynamic will continue throughout this year and beyond,” Hoffman says.
Because of that, every company needs technical talent. “Check out the number of open technical roles on the McDonald’s career site,” he notes. “That's an opportunity for tech PR.”
He also points out the effects of media fragmentation. “Between Substacks, YouTube and podcasts, there’s more opportunities than ever to deliver earned media.”
| This article is featured in O'Dwyer's May '26 PR Firm Rankings Magazine |
Hoffman also notes the changes impacting the business side of tech PR. “WPP engaging Goldman Sachs to unload Burson didn’t surprise me. What did surprise me was WPP’s decision to dismantle its tech brand, Axicom, and blend the parts into Burson. I also expect that some of the more established independent tech PR agencies will decide to exit this year.”
But as established players exit, a new wave of consultancies will come on the scene to build a digital presence for generative AI, he says. “Whether you call it AIO or GEO, the idea is simple. Help brands show up, accurately and favorably, in AI-generated answers.”
All of which points to a bigger truth, Hoffman told us.
“We’ve entered a transformative period that makes the dot-com era look downright quaint.”
A Spotlight on Human Judgment
“AI is wired across every function of the firm,” says Highwire co-founder and president Carol Carrubba, “with human judgment at the heart.” Highwire, with $37.4M in fees—a 1.7 percent rise—holds the #6 spot on the list.
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| Carol Carrubba |
Carrubba adds that Highwire has “embedded AI into every dimension of how we run the firm from how we hire, develop and deploy talent to how we amplify the strategic counselors that deliver for our clients and in how we build and govern client experiences.”
In adopting AI, she says, a major danger is “the temptation to automate judgment out of the process. In communications, human oversight is the value proposition. Organizations whose AI understands their standards, their workflows and their definitiion of quality at every level will have the advantage. “
Carrubba also addresses the fears that AI could decimate the communications workforce. “Whether AI will replace jobs is the wrong frame,” she says. “Firms that get this right will redesign roles around judgment, direction and quality control. The risk that remains across the industry is leaving teams undertrained while expecting tools that weren’t built for the world of marketing and communications to produce senior-level thinking.”
Outside the domain of AI, Carrubba sees advanced measurement as the most consequential shift that Highwire will be tracking. She adds that most comms techs are underestimating its importance. “Measurement has been an age-old issue, of course, but the convergence of AEO and GEO with content strategy, earned and paid media into unified performance measurement is changing how teams prove value and how agencies get compensated.”
An Emphasis on Integration
PAN president and CEO Phil Nardone says that the big question about AI has shifted from whether or not firms should adopt it to how they should integrate it into their workflows.
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| Phil Nardone |
“There's a version of this moment where agencies bolt AI onto existing workflows, call it transformation, and move on,” Nardone said. He told us that PAN (up 12.4 percent to $27.9M in fees, coming in at #8) is moving “toward something that functions more like an operating system than a toolset. Capabilities that connect intelligence, content and market insight in ways that actually change how our teams deliver for clients.”
As a result, “our people aren't spending their days on analysis and reporting. They're spending them on strategy and counsel, with better information than they've ever had.”
“I've watched this industry navigate a lot of change, the rise of digital, social media, the shrinking of traditional media and the shift to integrated marketing. Each time, the agencies that thrived were the ones that got ahead of the curve without losing sight of what clients actually need.”
Laying the Groundwork for AI
Hotwire Americas president Laura Macdonald says that while “2025 marked the year AI entered the landscape,” Hotwire, our #2 firm with a 3.6 percent jump to $53M in fees, had been prioritizing and building toward that since 2024, “when we introduced our first AI visibility tool."
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| Laura Macdonald |
Last year the agency launched its Global AI Lab, which develops and scales proprietary capabilities that help clients understand how they are represented inside AI answer engines, optimize for AI search, query potential customer reactions through synthetic personas and build custom solutions to meet evolving client needs.
Looking ahead, Macdonald says that AI will move past being an assistant to “systems that increasingly inform decisions and, in some cases, act autonomously.” According to Hotwire’s research nearly 70 percent of workers feel more empowered using AI, while 21 percent already view it as a colleague, 14 percent as a decision-maker—and 43 percent would be comfortable being managed by AI.
Hotwire is bullish about what the rest of 2026 has in store, citing its “unparalleled momentum, clarity, and a clear competitive advantage.”
“With new global leadership in place and a clear vision for the future, we are focused onbuilding an agentic organization from the inside out,” said Macdonald. “Our model combines our longstanding expertise in technology communications with a modern, integrated approach to AI, intelligence, and executive counsel to help our clients navigate what’s next with confidence and make an impact.”
Sharpening Thinking, Not Replacing It
Fahlgren Mortine president Marty McDonald says the agency is focused on using AI “to sharpen human thinking, not replace it.”
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| Marty McDonald |
She says that Fahlgren Mortine, which was down 4.5 percent to $8.9M in fees (#17 on the list), implemented structure in how it handled AI from early on, “with clear policies, responsible-use guidelines, access to tools like Claude, and training to help people build real fluency. The goal isn’t just experimentation. It’s helping our teams use these tools in ways that improve the work and drive influence.
She says that rather than emphasizing content generation, AI will make its biggest impact over the next year through the way agencies use it “to make better decisions through more precise targeting and faster optimizing.”
In terms of AI’s financial impact, she says that increased efficiency will definitely be a plus side, but “the real opportunity is to take that efficiency and reinvest it into better thinking: stronger insights, sharper strategy, and more useful recommendations.
“That’s especially true with tech clients because they’re not just looking for cost savings. They expect us to help them see what’s coming.”
When it comes to headcount concerns, she sees that “less as a headcount shift and more as a talent shift. Some tasks will become more efficient, but the need for judgment, creativity, and strategic thinking is only growing. Roles are more likely to evolve than disappear.”
In addition, the importance of prioritizing the human factor will extend past staff concerns to the client side. “As the industry races to adopt AI,” McDonald says, “a lot of agencies are losing sight of the client relationship. The conversation has shifted to tools, consolidation, and scale, and the human side of partnership can get lost.”
Getting Proactive
“Proactive storytelling is no longer optional,” says Bo Park, managing partner and global head of technology at ICR, “Public perception of AI remains skeptical at best and hostile at worst—companies that develop or deploy it can't afford to let the narrative write itself.” ICR, which stayed at #9 on the list, took in $27.2M in fees, a slight 0.07 percent drop.
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| Bo Park |
Park says that “frontier AI companies can no longer rely on marquee IP, founder mystique or blue-chip VCs to carry the story. Investors, analysts and media want scalability, a credible path to profit and a business model built to last.”
In addition, she notes that “the IPO window is open—but it's not wide. The capital markets environment has improved, but mega-valuations in a fast-moving AI landscape mean IPO hopefuls have one shot to get their equity story right.”
She also stresses that tech companies have to make sure they control the narrative. “AI governance is now a valuation issue,” Park says, “Regulation, geopolitics and labor displacement are no longer footnotes— they're material risks. Strategic communications has to take the driver's seat before someone else does.”
PR has moved mostly to the agency side where extensive special practice areas have built up over the past 30 years. For example, O’Dwyer’s currently has 79 ranked firms in healthcare and 64 in technology based on 2025 fees. Only O’Dwyer’s does such rankings which are usually at or near the top in Google searches for those categories.
PR firms that are thinking of joining O'Dwyer's rankings should consider the benefit of third party endoresement. This is the bedrock principle of PR -- others recognize you. The O’Dwyer Co. has been doing PR firm rankings for 57 years and its name is well known in the business world. Our rankings measure counseling and media contact services, not advertising or production expenses.
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