As 2024’s big year of sport is ending, we have an opportunity to reflect upon all that transpired over the summer in Paris as well as at international soccer events held in Germany and the United States.

Going into the end of the year, each week we’re seeing another brand announce a new partnership with a major governing body with an eye to the 2026 global sporting events in North America and Italy, and 2028 in the United States. For any brand looking to make a similar strategic investment – or for a brand in any stage of partnership in the world of sport – it is worthwhile to use the experiences of 2024 to glean insights for future plans.

While there were some amazing celebrations, there were also moments of crisis. Major tournaments this year were shaped by significant global factors, including geopolitical tensions, sabotage of critical infrastructure, crowd management issues, cultural controversies and misinformation. Additionally, extreme weather events such as flooding and high temperatures disrupted multiple events, highlighting the evolving challenges faced by organizers in an increasingly complex world.

And as in past years, the politics, rhetoric and policies of a host nation are on full display and the mega-tournaments and events often become an extension of the host nation’s efforts to influence international perceptions. With major tournaments being hosted in North America in 2026 and 2028, brands should take note that the United States has a long history of political protest and social commentary being infused in its sports. With the political climate continuing to be front of mind for many because of the recent U.S. elections, global brands will need to navigate how their involvement and partnerships will be interpreted across a diverse range of stakeholder groups that may be in direct or indirect opposition due to politics.

What is clear is that while major tournaments offer large rewards, they also pose unique risks. Therefore, it is necessary to start planning now as the risk environment is becoming increasingly more difficult to manage. Heading into 2025 and beyond, here’s how communicators must prepare well in advance with risk mitigation and crisis management practices:

Start planning immediately: Ensure budgets are appropriately allocated to include risk management as a core foundation and start mapping the risk landscape based on what we learned in 2024 and the risks in the years ahead, establish the workback plans and cross-enterprise governance structure necessary to protect your reputation alongside your investment.

Establish an intelligence gathering process: The social media framework many of us rely on for information gathering is becoming more fractured and closed. Ensure that the appropriate teams have identified the right set of channels and tools to keep you apprised of trends, emerging risks and realized threats and start monitoring now. It’s not too early to have an eye on the conversation that your brand is looking to enter.

Build a culture of asking hard questions: Pressure test campaigns, partnerships and plans to ensure that you’ve anticipated how your stakeholders might respond and that you’re mitigating against potential issues that could be avoided, also known as, ‘own goals.’

Create a response process and train against it: It is well established that everyday business practices are insufficient in responding to moments of crisis. Ensure that you have a response team in place as well as the necessary escalation and decision-making process. Codify those processes in a plan and train the organization against that plan, looking for opportunities to strengthen any identified vulnerabilities before kickoff.

Increasingly, as brands look to use mega-sporting events to advance their reputation, they not only have to be prepared for the typical crises that surround a major gathering, but also all the risks associated with a major brand and reputation activation in our increasingly polarized world. The simple truth is this, it is no longer enough for organizations to approach these partnerships and events with a “check the box” crisis playbook that is developed in the final months before the big day. The brands that will truly win at these events will be those that embrace ongoing reputation risk management programs, structured to identify potential threats inherent in marketing activations and in the external environment, mitigate those risks and respond to moments when they materialize. If you are having planning conversations about how you activate for some of the largest celebrations in the world, you should already be actively working to protect that investment.

“Get ready with me to…”, “Unpopular opinion:…”, “POV: you…” Consumers are sure to encounter a few of these phrases as they scroll their social feeds. Influencers have adopted a vernacular for speaking to audiences as part of the development of social trends, but with that vernacular may come high saturation and trend fatigue.

In the sea of sameness, how can a brand’s influencer content stand out? How does a brand know whether a trend is worthy of entering via its influencer partners, or if doing so will backfire?

Brands must know how to ride the trend wave without losing authenticity or instigating fatigue, especially within verticals like beauty, skincare, apparel and retail where this trend vernacular is the most prevalent. So how can brands capture their audience without prompting them to scroll? At FleishmanHillard we help brands break through the noise with creativity and precision.

Timing is everything

There is a sweet spot for hitting the right trends for your brand at the right time. Activate a trend too early and audiences aren’t ready and engaged but activate too late and it can come off as just another play with the trend already cycling its way out of the social conversation. It’s about moving at the speed of culture and activating the right trends to ensure brand relevance with the target audience.

It’s also important to note the difference between macro culture signals, which are larger movements based in cultural truths, and micro “of the moment” social trends, which are manifestations of the macro culture signals that cycle in and out of social conversation. Using tools to understand what your audience cares about from a macro level will help to uncover which related social trends are most relevant to jump into, at the right time.

Ground social-first programming in user behavior and audience data

Combining culture-forward content and engagement strategies with search and creator trends is key, but this is made more impactful with data. Ground your influencer programming in user behavior and leverage the precision of audience data to drive the most impact. FleishmanHillard uses a proprietary methodology to ensure an influencer’s audience aligns with the target audience we’re looking to reach.

Keep creativity at the center

Brief for authenticity. Brief your partners to not fall into the trap of worrying about keeping up with what’s trending and instead have them focus on what’s authentic to them, their content and their audience. In doing so, brands should insert themselves seamlessly into an influencer’s creative without contributing to a trend that’s perpetuating product or vernacular fatigue.

If brands encounter a social trend that is related to a piece of IP that is owned by an influencer or creator, such as a dance, sound or phrase, it’s important to be sure not to capitalize on or exploit their creativity. Instead, provided the source’s audiences align with the brand’s, consider going directly to them for a partnership.

FleishmanHillard operates at the intersection of culture, behavior and platform capabilities, marrying cultural trends, audience insights and influencer best practices to drive impact. By keeping creativity at the forefront with the precision on how, where and when to activate social trends within influencer content, brands can successfully navigate how to authentically activate trends and beat the scroll.

FleishmanHillard’s Retail, Sports and Lifestyle’s Culture Unit has released “Same Shi(f)t, Different Age,” a new report that explores the evolving dynamics between generations and what brands need to know. 

In a landscape often marked by generational discord – highlighted by terms like “OK Boomer” – the report reveals that Gen Z, Millennials and older generations share more common ground than often assumed. As workplace stereotypes and age-related myths shift, the report details the shared values and interests that bridge these generational gaps.  

“Same Shi(f)t, Different Age” challenges outdated narratives and stereotypes, and offers actionable insights for brands to connect meaningfully with these diverse groups.  

Download the full report here.

When the calendars turn to October, most people in the U.S. start to think about Halloween. For many of us in the cybersecurity space, however, we think Cybersecurity Awareness Month! Though it has become a veritable “all you can eat buffet” of cybersecurity content, the U.S. government established Cybersecurity Awareness Month in 2004 as a collaborative effort between government and industry designed to ensure every American had the resources they need to stay safer and more secure online. As communicators, we can, and should, play a critical role in improving the overall security of our organizations by mitigating one of the most significant risks to any network – its users.

The need for education has never been greater. Consumer Reports found that almost 46% of American adults say they’ve encountered an online scam or cyber attack. Last year alone there were over 2.6 billion personal records compromised and trends point to this year being even worse with the number of compromises increasing by 14% already in the first half of the year. Nearly two thirds of all incidents that result in those compromised personal records are caused by human error, so doing what we can to reduce the risk around one of the most common causes of data breaches is imperative.

According to the data, education and training is having a tangible and positive impact on reducing the risk of data breaches. Studies show that the reporting rate of phishing has dramatically increased over the past few years with 20% of users reporting phishing emails in exercises studied in 2023 compared to 5% in 2016. A separate study found that 80% of U.S. adults have signed up for some form of two factor authentication, up from 76% the year prior, partially due to greater awareness of how they can combat common threats to their data. Making more users aware of the threats and what to do if they encounter suspicious activity equals safer networks and more secure data for everyone.

Cybersecurity threats have undoubtedly become more mainstream over the years with more people broadly aware of what they should be looking out for, but effective education and training clearly plays an important role as well – and there is no better time than Cybersecurity Awareness Month to focus on it. As they say – knowing you need something is only half the battle. Making sure what you’re doing to meet that need is impactful is the next step, a fact that was illustrated in a recent study that found while over 80% of people felt staying secure online was important, only 60% felt it was worth the effort.

Key considerations for communicators when planning cybersecurity training and education:

Campaigns should be multi-disciplinary and coordinated between communications, legal, technical and other key organizational security stakeholders.

Training shouldn’t stop and start with an annual, mandatory session but instead should be re-enforced and supported over time with incremental reminders and coaching.

Learning through failure can sometimes be the best teacher, whether that’s through test phishing emails or other tactics.

It’s important to strike the right balance between planning and executing a challenging exercise that helps participants learn, and designing an exercise that is overly punitive that ultimately frustrates participants.

Quality, engaging content that presents the most current and relevant information to users about the threats they should be on alert for is the foundation of any cybersecurity-focused training and education campaign.

An effective employee education and training program won’t reduce your cybersecurity risk to zero, but it’s absolutely essential to mitigating that risk given the growing and ever evolving threats users face today.

In today’s fast-paced digital era, the role of the CIO has transformed dramatically. No longer limited to managing IT infrastructure, CIOs are now strategic leaders shaping the future of business through digital transformation, AI and innovation. At the GDS Group CIO North America Summit in September 2024, top leaders like Eric Firer, CIO North America for Kellanova, and Jean Olive, CIO for John Hancock, gathered to discuss this seismic shift and its implications for business strategy. Understanding this evolution offers PR professionals a significant opportunity to enhance how we communicate and create value for tech-forward clients. As PR professionals, our role is to not only understand this evolution but also to effectively communicate it to our clients and help them navigate the changing landscape.  

Here are the key takeaways from the summit that PR professionals should keep in mind when working with CIOs or in the innovation space:  

CIOs Are No Longer Confined to IT: They’re Strategic Business Leaders  

One of the summit’s dominant themes was CIOs’ evolving role in shaping overall business strategy. Today’s CIOs are not just tech managers, but central decision-makers involved in digital transformation, cybersecurity, data governance and customer experience. PR professionals must reflect this evolution in messaging, positioning CIOs as thought leaders who influence both their companies’ operational and innovation-driven goals. When crafting narratives, consider how technology initiatives align with business outcomes. For instance, when discussing a cybersecurity initiative, focus on how it protects the company’s reputation and customer trust. When talking about a data governance project, highlight how it improves decision-making and operational efficiency.  When crafting narratives, ensure that technology initiatives are tied to business outcomes—helping to drive ROI, efficiency and growth.  

Innovation Is About Problem-Solving, Not Technology  

CIOs at the summit emphasized that innovation is no longer just about adopting the latest technologies—it’s about solving real-world business challenges. PR teams should focus on this shift in messaging. When discussing a company’s tech solutions, concentrate on how CIOs leverage innovation to streamline operations, improve customer experiences and mitigate risks. Stories illustrating real-world problem-solving will resonate more with target audiences than generic tech updates.  

CIOs Seek Partners, Not Vendors  

The summit also highlighted that CIOs seek strategic partners, not just vendors. This presents an opportunity for PR professionals to position clients as collaborators who help CIOs achieve long-term success. Emphasize shared goals, partnerships and value-driven relationships, particularly when discussing transformative initiatives such as cloud migrations, AI integrations or cybersecurity improvements. Messaging should reflect the mutual benefits and long-term impact of these collaborations.  

CIOs Are the New Go-To Voices in Media  

With technology driving the future of business, CIOs are increasingly becoming the media’s go-to experts for commentary on innovation, cybersecurity and the digital landscape. As companies rely more heavily on technology to remain competitive, journalists turn to CIOs for their insights on how these shifts play out in real time across industries. This trend presents an invaluable opportunity for PR professionals to position CIOs as thought leaders. Whether it’s contributing to an industry publication or offering expert commentary on emerging trends, CIOs are now a voice the media wants to hear from. PR teams should actively seek out opportunities to get their clients’ voices into the conversation, positioning them as authoritative sources on technology’s role in shaping the future of business.  

Data-Driven Storytelling: A Must for CIOs  

CIOs make data-based decisions, and PR professionals must do the same when crafting stories. Data-driven storytelling is the practice of using data to inform and shape the narrative. Incorporating metrics, case studies and real-world results into your messaging will help to build credibility. Whether discussing the ROI of a new technology or showcasing the impact of a digital transformation project, always back up your narrative with concrete data that demonstrates value. This approach not only makes your story more compelling but also resonates with CIOs who are accustomed to making decisions based on data.  

Final Thoughts: Evolving PR Strategies for the Modern CIO  

The GDS Group CIO North America Summit 2024 underscored CIOs taking on more strategic roles in shaping business outcomes. For PR professionals, the lessons are clear: we need to adapt our approaches to align with how CIOs think, operate and innovate. By emphasizing partnership, leveraging data-driven storytelling and understanding the business impact of innovation, we can become trusted allies in the CIO’s journey.  

Moreover, with CIOs becoming the new front-runners in conversations around technology and business transformation, they need to be part of media discussions. PR teams have a pivotal role in amplifying these voices, ensuring that CIOs drive internal business decisions and lead public discourse on the future of business.  

This isn’t just about telling better stories—it’s about positioning clients as key players in the future of business transformation. As CIOs continue to take charge of innovation, PR professionals must be there to amplify their vision, articulate their strategy and demonstrate how they are driving real change across industries. 

With the NFL season underway, we’re set to see a continuation of where we left off last season – women in football shining just as bright as the athletes on the field. That expanded audience is not just tuning into games and learning what a touchback is, but is engaging with, and participating in, the spectacles that surround the games. From the pre-game fashion to the in-game viral moments, the sport has seen a transformation over the past year that’s also bringing new opportunities for brands to connect with a growing audience in new and meaningful ways.

We’ve already seen the largest above-the-line marketing campaigns go live to celebrate the start of the season, but the best is yet to come with both endemic and non-endemic brands alike vying for earned media attention, virality on TikTok and, of course, a coveted industry award or two. Here are a few trends we’re keeping an eye on while on the road to the Big Game this season, and how brands can connect with new fans in authentic ways:

Opportunistic Storytelling: The undertone to everything we’re watching this season will be the impactful use of quick-turn, creative-earned storytelling – brands capitalizing on a trending moment before it reaches virality and inserting themselves into the conversation. We saw this executed well last season when KidSuper immediately renamed the jacket Travis Kelce wore to “1989” an Easter egg for the Swifties, as Travis and Taylor confirmed they were dating. Another masterclass was the Heinz Ketchup and Seemingly Ranch execution, when Heinz quickly released a limited edition sauce after a fan account spotted Taylor Swift eating chicken tenders and “seemingly ranch” at a Chiefs game.

Takeaway: Earned-focused creatives can continue to help brands make immediate impacts – if brands are ready to capitalize when the moment presents itself.

Thinking Beyond the Tunnel Walk: First, we saw athletes turn a quick walk from their car to the locker room into a runway, spotlighting their own individualism via fashion. Then, we quickly saw brands take it over to launch new products and limited-edition merch, turning the photos into coveted social impressions with high-followed social accounts like BlitzFits, ProTrending and LeagueFits.

Takeaway: While the brand takeover of the tunnel walk will continue to grow in popularity, we’ll see more and more brands tapping into other football traditions – from the tailgate to the touchdown celebration.

Tapping New Talent: With a broader audience tuning into football on TV and across social, there’s an opportunity to expand brand partnerships beyond NFL (and college) athletes. Sure, Tom Brady will always drive clicks, but the women of the league – like Kristin Juszczyk, Claire Kittle and Olivia Culpo – can more authentically connect with the broadening audience that has football-adjacent interests.

Takeaway: If the start of the season is any indication, we’ll continue to see brands partner authentically with women in/around football to reach new audiences.

All Eyes on Flag: With Flag Football scheduled to make its debut at the 2028 summer games in Los Angeles, brands are well underway prepping for what’s slated to be the next big sport globally. While a healthy dialogue is already happening around whether NFL stars will be tapped for the 2028 summer roster, teams, leagues and brands are helping to grow the game’s visibility, from grants and equipment donations to working with Flag athletes like Diana Flores and Darrell Doucette.

Takeaway: Non-endemic sports brands should evaluate Flag Football as a strong potential avenue for authentic storytelling as the sport gains popularity rapidly in the U.S. and globally.

Wherever this season takes us, we know that more fans will be tuning in and ready to engage with brands that are creatively and authentically inserting themselves into the football cultural zeitgeist.

As a people leader, your relationships with team members and across your organization always are critical to fostering workplace culture, overcoming challenges, supporting employees and driving business continuity. More so during times of division.

And to do those things in what has been – and will continue to be – a disruptive 2024, you will benefit from not only taking a thoughtful and nuanced approach to sharing information but also listening.

As employees look to you for guidance, here are three recommendations to help ensure you harness the power of listening to navigate potential workplace division and maintain business continuity.

Also, check out our full guidance for people leaders, including actionable tips and real-life scenarios you may encounter, to help you effectively manage your teams throughout this divisive year.

#1: Sharpen Your Active Listening Skills

Right now, it’s essential that you work to understand what and how your team members are thinking and feeling by proactively checking in with them and asking what support they need.

Also, as a people leader, a worse offense than failing to check in with employees is failing to pay attention when you do, so be sure you show your people you care and are actively supporting them.  

#2: Be Prepared and Be Agile

While it’s important that you better understand how your team is thinking and feeling, it’s equally important you understand how to maintain control of conversations.

To help navigate difficult conversations, savvy communicators do the following:

Address the negative

Redirect the sensitive

Halt the inappropriate

While off-limits topics will depend on the organization’s policies, team culture, personal relationships and other factors, it’s generally safe to say people leaders should not engage in combative conversations about contentious political topics or allow those discussions to continue when observed.

#3: Look for the Best   

Being able to thoughtfully and appropriately respond to the situations described in our full guidance can drive business continuity and team cohesion throughout rocky periods. But you must not forget to also actively listen and search for opportunities to reinforce the things that are going well and the need for continued collaboration, respect and support among your team.

Most importantly, if you want to drive positive change among your team: walk the talk, lead by example and model the behaviors you want to see in others. View our guidance on how to best lead your team through a turbulent year, here.

FleishmanHillard’s Talent + Transformation team delivers business outcomes at the intersection of business and communications strategy. For more than three decades, we have helped industry-leading organizations align their employees behind their most essential business needs, including strategy, culture, transformation, and critical business and functional initiatives.

As the influencer marketing industry has more than doubled since 2019, influencer rates are increasing too, and new ways of monetizing influence continue to make it a lucrative business. While the influencer marketing industry is not immune to inflation, we must ask ourselves what value are we getting in return for higher rates? If demand is driving influencer rates up, is the investment proportionally driving higher business impact?

Here are three ways to determine an appropriate investment in influencer marketing. Start with data. Do the math. Incentivize performance.

1. Always start with the data

Utilize audience data and historical performance insights to evaluate the potential impact of an influencer partnership, rather than starting from vanity metrics or media kits.

There is no universal model for calculating influencer rates, which means rates shared in media kits are often based on what an influencer thinks a brand will pay. We know what one brand constitutes as value may differ to another. Therefore, there is no one-size-fits-all to sponsored rates.

What is most valuable to you? Is it the influencer’s reach or their audience’s propensity to hear your message? Is it the influencer’s likeness or their connection to their audience?

Think about your objective and evaluate potential impact based on universal KPIs. If your objective is consideration, utilize engagement rate and view-thru-rate KPIs to evaluate which influencers will provide the most value. Is their engagement rate above or below average? Do their Reel video views surpass their follow count? If an influencer exceeds your benchmarks, they will provide more value, which warrants a higher rate than those who do not. Conversely, if an influencer’s performance metrics are below benchmark, consider that when determining what rate is appropriate.

2) Do the math.

There is no single measure of impact. To fully assess the tangible return on your influencer investment, you must look at the full funnel and consider your objectives.

That means in addition to performance metrics like reach rate, view-thru-rate and engagement rate, evaluate impact by incorporating cost-pers (cost per thousand impressions, cost per video view and cost per engagement). When you pair performance metrics like engagement rate with impact metrics like cost-per-engagement it helps contextualize the campaign performance and tell a story that maps back to the business objective. Cost-pers help stakeholders understand the impact of influence within the full marketing mix.

However, influencer cost-per metrics shouldn’t be evaluated alone or compared directly to paid advertising cost-pers. The influencer’s reach is more valuable based on their trust and credibility with followers, so create unique influencer benchmarks rather than forcing their analysis against advertising cost-pers.

Beyond measuring campaign impact, these metrics are also helpful in identifying optimizations and opportunities to adjust your influencer marketing approach to drive impact effectively and efficiently.

3) Incentivize performance.

Don’t rely on sponsored rates alone to compensate your influencer partners. Affiliate marketing is a great way for brands to track and ensure ROI, while also ensuring influencer compensation is aligned with the business impact the influencer drives, not just their deliverables. However, affiliate is not the only answer.

Just as influencer rates are not one-size-fits-all, neither are compensation models. Each campaign and influencer partnership deserves a unique value exchange.

Paid Amplification Pay Out: Make compensation for paid usage rights dependent on content performance and use. In lieu of paying upfront for paid usage, wait until the content is live to determine if it should be leveraged in paid or not based on organic performance and content quality. Only if the content is utilized in paid will the influencer be paid the incremental usage fee.

Earned Media Pay Out: Similar to above, in lieu of paying the influencer upfront for name and likeness use, negotiate an incremental dollar amount the influencer will receive based on the number of interviews completed to support earned media.

Product Collaboration: When working with a brand ambassador on a product collaboration, ensure the compensation model is hybrid and partially dependent on the collaboration’s success. A partial amount of the influencer’s payment can be determined based on sales or conversion.

KPI Affiliate Model: Don’t limit affiliate to e-commerce. Consider using an affiliate model to pay influencers based on a range of KPIs including, but not limited to, website visitors, lead generation or other measurable actions.

The influencer landscape will continue to evolve, and rates will likely continue to increase. While industry growth provides more opportunities for brands and influencers alike, it also requires brands to be more intentional with their investments. Ensure your investment generates impact with audience-first, data-driven strategy and intelligence. Always start with data. Do the math. Incentivize performance.