Yann Hatchuel

Fenton Ranked Top Nonprofit PR Firm in the Nation by O’Dwyer’s

Posted on by Yann Hatchuel

For more than four decades, Fenton has been doing one thing: powering communications for organizations that are changing the world. Now, O’Dwyer’s has recognized what our clients and partners have long known, ranking Fenton the #1 PR Agency for Nonprofits in the nation.

We are humbled by this milestone. But for a team that has spent over 40 years building the discipline of social impact PR from the ground up, it also feels like a natural next chapter in a much longer story.

What It Means to Be the Top Nonprofit PR Firm

O’Dwyer’s is the industry’s most respected independent ranking of PR firms. Being named the top nonprofit PR firm in their annual rankings reflects not just the strength of our work in any single year, but the consistency and depth of our commitment to the nonprofit sector over time.

Fenton was founded as the nation’s first social impact communications agency. That wasn’t a niche play. It was a bet that nonprofits, advocacy organizations, and mission-driven institutions deserved the same caliber of strategic communications that corporations had long relied on. Four decades later, that founding conviction drives everything we do.

We work across every issue area in the nonprofit space: health, education, the environment, democracy, racial justice, economic equity, immigration, and more. And we bring a full suite of services to each engagement, from strategic communications and digital strategy to advertising, creative, crisis communications, and beyond. Our clients don’t come to us for a single tactic. They come because they need a nonprofit communications agency that can see the full picture and move at the speed their missions demand.

Built for This Moment

The communications landscape has shifted dramatically in recent years. Legacy media is fragmenting. Digital platforms are in flux. Audiences are harder to reach and harder to hold. For nonprofits operating with limited resources,urgent timelines and within a challenging political moment, the stakes of getting communications right have never been higher.

That’s exactly the environment Fenton was built for. As a mission-driven communications partner, we don’t just adapt to change. We help our clients get ahead of it. Whether it’s building a digital-first campaign strategy, navigating a reputational crisis, or launching a creative initiative that breaks through the noise, our work is grounded in one question: what does this organization need to move its mission forward?

“This recognition from O’Dwyer’s is a reflection of the extraordinary people at Fenton and the clients who trust us with their most important work,” said Fenton CEO Valarie De La Garza. “Communications is a part of an essential infrastructure for organizations doing critical work in the world. Our job is to make sure that infrastructure is as strong, as smart, and as effective as the missions it supports. That’s what we’ve been doing for over 40 years, and we’re just getting started.”

Four Decades of Leading PR for Nonprofits

Rankings matter. But what matters more is the work behind them.

Over 40 years, Fenton has partnered with hundreds of nonprofits, foundations, and advocacy organizations to shape public conversation, shift policy, and build lasting movements. We’ve helped organizations find their voice during moments of crisis and opportunity alike. We’ve built campaigns that changed how people think about issues they thought they already understood.

Being named the top nonprofit PR firm by O’Dwyer’s is validation of that track record. It’s also a reminder of what’s ahead. The challenges facing the nonprofit sector are growing more complex, and the need for strategic, high-impact communications is only accelerating.

Fenton is ready for what’s next. We always have been.

Fenton is the nation’s first social impact communications agency, offering strategic communications, digital, advertising, creative, and crisis communications services to nonprofits and mission-driven organizations nationwide. Learn more about working with us.

Designing For Trust: Creating Brands & Campaigns That Earn Credibility

Posted on by Yann Hatchuel

Public trust in institutions is eroding, and the way trust is established is being redefined. 

You can see it in every sector: authority, expertise, and institutional credibility no longer take shape the way they used to. In the U.S., trust in major institutions like government and media has fallen to near-historic lows in the United States. At the same time, the rise of social media has reshaped how credibility is formed and challenged. The role they once played in shaping public opinion has been taken over by Individuals such as creators, activists, and commentators. The traditional hierarchies of information have been flattened, and audiences have become more active, skeptical media consumers. 

Nonprofits and public interest groups once built trust through institutional signals such as formal language, polished reports, and authoritative messaging. But today, audiences increasingly look for authenticity, transparency, and a cultural competence that isn’t solicitous.

In this report, we share our insights based on years of experience and highlight recent examples of work that helped our partners build trust. 

Leading with Integrity: Your Brand Is a Promise to Your People

When a brand clearly reflects an organization’s purpose and aligns with how it operates, it becomes a powerful tool for building trust over time.

A brand is an articulation of your values and a commitment to your mission. At the same time, it must convey what you do in a practical way. When done well, brands create alignment across everything from messaging to visual identity to organizational behavior. 

We talked to current and former partners about the goals for their brands and what problems they helped to solve. 

As Ashley Johnson of the Greenlining Institute describes, the goal of rebrand is not to abandon what came before, but to evolve it with intention: 

“Leading The Greenlining Institute’s rebrand was a thought exercise in balancing new priorities with our established reputation during a politically challenging moment. With Fenton’s partnership, our team created an identity that reflected both the momentum of our advocacy work and the deep love we have for our communities, keeping us grounded in our history and our founding roots in Dr. King’s vision. Ultimately, the refresh helped us show up with greater clarity and authority about who we are, the work we do, and where we’re going. The new brand, website and overall visual design are all assets in building the credibility and trust we need to pursue our mission.”

 

For Locus, their brand challenge was structural. Bringing multiple programs under a single, trusted name required discipline and nuance. As VP of Brand Strategy Valerie Lee explains:

“Our rebrand included a fundamental decision: changing the name of our parent organization from “Virginia Community Capital” to “Locus,” the name of a subsidiary that already carried deep credibility in the communities we touch. The challenge was bringing the full breadth of our organization under that banner without losing the nuance of each of our unique business lines. With Fenton’s strategic guidance, we developed a new brand that could unify our work while still allowing different parts of the organization to speak with distinction and purpose. The result is a stronger, more cohesive presence that helps us communicate who we are today, build trust across the places and sectors we serve, and invite new partners to advance our collective mission.”

In both cases, branding was not about aesthetics (or, at least not aesthetics alone. We do appreciate style!). It was about making values visible and actionable. 

Campaigns: Building Trust to Change Minds 

For issue advocacy campaigns, especially those aimed at audiences who may be skeptical or opposed, credibility determines whether a message is even considered. 

Building that credibility begins with an understanding of an audience’s awareness of an issue or topic. From there, strategic audience mapping helps uncover values, motivations, and points of resistance that shape how messages are received. Messaging that feels overly polished, moralizing, or disconnected from lived experience can trigger disengagement. Campaigns that build trust prioritize relatability, specificity, and emotional truth. They reflect the language, concerns, and cultural context of the audience they are trying to reach. 

This often requires creative choices that favor credibility over control. Showing real people with real stories. Letting stories unfold without over-explaining. Allowing audiences space to draw their own conclusions. Changing minds is not about delivering a perfect argument. It is about building enough trust for someone to stay open, reconsider, and see themselves and the issue in a different perspective.

For the National Alliance to End Homelessness, the challenge was reaching audiences in a way that felt clear and grounded. Our work with them needed to make the issue easier to understand and help people to connect without feeling talked at. As Tom Murphy, VP of Communications, puts it:

“The public’s attitudes on homelessness are complex and sensitive, often blending feelings of discomfort, compassion and frustration. We knew that creative would need to be simple enough to cut through that confusion but also able to meet audiences where they were, without judgement. That’s how we start to build trust, opening the door for people to engage with the issue on a deeper level, and ultimately to support real solutions.”

Principles for Credibility 

Credibility is not built through polish alone. If perception is the key to earning trust , creative choices must be strategic. In a skeptical environment, credibility is built through alignment between message, tone, visuals, and values, and reinforced through how consistently an organization shows up. Some guidelines: 

  • Clarity over formality. Use direct, colloquial language that meets people halfway – name the problem in the same ways it’s being discussed more widely. 
  • Repetition and familiarity. Unified visuals, tone, and messaging builds recognition and compounds trust over time. Show up consistently, and familiarity and affinity will grow.  
  • Authentic representation. Depict people and perspectives in ways that feel specific, truthful, and grounded in lived experience. 

 

Looking Ahead: New Opportunities for Connecting with Audiences 

As trust continues to shift, so do the opportunities for how organizations build it. In digital spaces, audiences expect more immediacy, transparency, and participation. Content that feels responsive, human, and in dialogue with the moment outperforms content that feels static or overly produced. To build credibility with future audiences, organizations need to show up in ways that are more conversational and adaptive while still grounded in a clear point of view.

If your organization is navigating how to show impact, build credibility, or reimagine how your story is told, we would welcome the opportunity to work together. Get in touch. 

The Verdict Is In: It’s the End of Social Media (As We Know It)

Posted on by Yann Hatchuel

After nine days of deliberation, the Los Angeles jury found Meta and Google liable for creating addictive products that harmed a young woman’s mental health, despite initial difficulties in reaching a decision. This bellwether ruling stands to set legal precedent for how courts rule either in favor or against Big Tech companies building platforms to capture our attention.

But this article isn’t about the ruling, though it matters. I’m writing to share that the social media era we’ve experienced over the last two decades is fading. Too often, social media companies like Twitter/X, Facebook, and YouTube rely on enshitification (also known as platform decay) to attract audiences, hook them with highly attractive features, and then slowly and intentionally degrade the platform to maximize profits.

We’ve observed this pattern recur with a disturbing regularity: A platform emerges and feels like a revelation. It’s social, creative, and genuinely useful. Then the investors arrive, the quarterly targets get set, and the rot begins. Algorithms that once surfaced content from people you actually knew are replaced by content engineered to provoke. Feeds fill with strangers, bots, and brand content optimized for engagement. To this point, more than half of social media traffic has been found to be driven by bots, often posting politically or financially motivated disinformation.

Lawyers argued that features like infinite scroll, constant notifications, autoplaying videos, and beauty filters made apps like Instagram and YouTube equivalent to engineered addiction mechanisms. Many experts are already calling the judgment Big Tech’s “big tobacco moment,” the moment at which the tobacco industry had to accept not only that their product was harmful, but also that they had known this and tried to cover it up.

So what comes next? Users have been signaling their answer for years. Brands and organizations would be wise to pay attention and use this moment as an opportunity for direct engagement with their supporters, donors, and key stakeholders.

I don’t believe people are abandoning the digital community or social media writ large. They are, however, abandoning the factory floor version of it. In the latest wave of migration, primarily to Bluesky, users are seeking an ideological alternative to increasingly corporate and algorithmically hostile platforms, stepping into a world fundamentally different in ways many are only beginning to grasp. Bluesky, Mastodon, and their federated counterparts are built on a different promise: that communities can govern themselves, set their own rules, and exist without a billionaire’s thumb on the scale. Meanwhile, platforms like Discord have built loyal, purpose-driven communities around shared interests rather than mass broadcast.

Canadian writer Cory Doctorow, who coined the term enshitification, advocates two remedies: upholding the end-to-end principle, which asserts that platforms should transmit data in response to user requests rather than algorithm-driven decisions, and guaranteeing the right of exit, enabling users to leave a platform without losing their community and connections.

That second point is where the real opportunity lives for brands and organizations thinking about where to show up next. The future of the digital community is not a single, massive platform with a single set of rules and a single advertising stack extracting value from every interaction. It is smaller, more intentional, more autonomous. It looks like a Discord server where your most engaged supporters gather, ask questions, co-create, and feel genuinely seen. It looks like a Bluesky community organized around a cause, not a content algorithm. It looks like a newsletter with a reply button that actually gets answered. These are not retreats from digital life.

For organizations and those focused on social impact, this is an invitation. The digital spaces and communities that flourish in this next era will be those built on autonomous design, trust, and accountability.

The Los Angeles jury delivered a verdict about the past. But the users who are quietly moving to smaller, more intentional corners of the internet are already building the future. The question every brand, nonprofit, and communicator will grapple with is whether they will meet audiences there, on their terms, or keep pouring budget into platforms designed to harvest their attention. The era of enshitification is ending. What replaces it will be defined by true innovators who show up with something real to offer.

Fenton Named One of the Top PR Firms of 2026 by Observer

Posted on by Yann Hatchuel

We have some big news to share: Fenton has been named one of the top PR firms in the nation on Observer’s 2026 PR Power List.

Out of hundreds of submissions from agencies across the country, Fenton earned a spot alongside the best in the business — and we got here by doing social impact work with many of the top organizations and brands changing the world.

What It Means to Be Among the Top PR Firms

Observer’s PR Power List is one of the most respected rankings in the communications industry, recognizing agencies that are not just winning awards but driving real, measurable impact. Being named to this list as a top PR firm in 2026 is a reflection of the campaigns our team has poured their hearts into, the clients who trust us to represent their missions, and the communities we’re proud to serve.

At Fenton, we’ve always believed that the most powerful PR doesn’t just shape narratives — it changes lives. This recognition affirms that belief.

The Work Behind the Recognition

Observer highlighted several of Fenton’s landmark campaigns when naming us among the top PR firms of 2026. Here’s a closer look at some of the work that got us here.

Record-Breaking Voter Turnout in New York City

Fenton helped New York City achieve its highest primary turnout in over a decade — 29.9% of registered voters — and its highest general election turnout since 1969, with more than 2 million voters casting ballots.

How? We built a first-of-its-kind audience modeling system that delivered multilingual content in Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Bengali, and Russian. In-language content delivery increased by 300%, and a randomized controlled trial confirmed that culturally relevant messaging significantly increases both trust and turnout.

Our work for the NYC Campaign Finance Board went far beyond digital ads. We met voters where they actually are — subway placements, murals, mall kiosks, ice cream trucks at Yankees games, and multicultural festivals — using research-backed strategies that specifically targeted historically hard-to-reach audiences including youth and immigrant communities.

800,000 New Voters Registered for State Voices

For State Voices, Fenton developed the “Vote for Something” campaign — a vibrant, inclusive initiative designed to cut through cynicism and inspire optimism in an era of deep distrust in the electoral process.

The results speak for themselves: 800,000 new voters registered, more than 250 million voter contacts made, and 100,000 people encouraged to plan their votes.

Explosive Growth in Fenton’s Advertising Practice

Fenton’s Advertising practice grew 60% in gross revenue, evolving into a multi-million-dollar powerhouse delivering transformative campaigns in the nation’s two largest jurisdictions — New York City and Los Angeles County. The firm maintained near-record revenue despite an off-year election cycle.

Hyundai Hope on Wheels: Turning Impact Into Engagement

Over the past year, Fenton managed 75 Handprint Ceremonies across 33 states for Hyundai Hope on Wheels — one of the nation’s largest funders of pediatric cancer research. We produced a national gala and a congressional event, uniting researchers, survivors, policymakers, and Hyundai leaders around a shared mission: ending childhood cancer.

A Culture That Sets Us Apart

Being recognized as one of the top PR firms isn’t just about campaign outcomes. It’s about how we show up — for our clients and for each other.

In a recent survey, 98% of Fenton employees rated creativity and expertise among the firm’s greatest strengths. Employee feedback captured something deeper too: “Employee wellbeing is truly prioritized… everything is very humanized, and everyone has a shared passion for mission-driven work.” And: “Diversity and representation is far greater than any other agency in the space.”

Our clients feel it too. In a recent satisfaction survey, Fenton earned a 4.86 out of 5.0 average rating, with perfect scores in 5 of 7 categories. One client called us an “incredible resource… key partners in helping our agency take new steps forward in research and strategy.”

What’s Next: Purpose Footprint

Looking ahead, Fenton is launching Purpose Footprint in 2026 — a proprietary framework delivering comprehensive forensic analysis across profit, people, and public dimensions. This shifts corporate impact strategy from reactive communications to proactive architecture, helping organizations build the business case for purpose investment in today’s volatile climate.

On the democracy front, Fenton is fighting for change at the midterm crossroads. Our 2026 partners include the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, Black Voters Matter, and the Election Protection Coalition. We’re mobilizing young voters, voters of color, and working-class communities through integrated campaigns — digital organizing, earned media, targeted advertising, coalition strategies, and rapid disinformation response.

Four Decades of Social Impact

Fenton was founded four decades ago as the nation’s first social impact agency. That legacy isn’t a footnote — it’s the foundation for everything we do. Every campaign, every breakthrough, every record broken is built on that original commitment: that communications done right can be a powerful force for justice.

Being named one of the top PR firms of 2026 by Observer is a recognition of that commitment. But more than anything, it’s a reminder that at Fenton, we don’t just talk about change. We make it happen.

Read the full Observer PR Power List 2026 and see why Fenton earned its spot among the top PR firms in the nation: Observer PR Power List 2026

Rallying for Care: Communications Strategies to Protect Public Health Funding

Posted on by Yann Hatchuel

Public health is under fire.

Starting 2026, the picture is sharper than it was a year ago. Not because things have stabilized, but because the direction is clear. What once felt like temporary disruption has turned into sustained disinvestment in the systems that prevent disease, protect families, and save lives.

Across the globe, funding for public health is being cut quietly and consistently. Programs tied to chronic disease prevention, vaccines, disease surveillance, and pandemic preparedness are increasingly treated as optional. The result is an erosion of decades of progress, happening in real time and often without public scrutiny.

This isn’t theoretical. Billions have been pulled from global health programs. Early warning systems in the U.S. are facing cuts even as public health threats grow more complex. In humanitarian settings, funding gaps are already translating into clinic closures and workforce losses. The message is unmistakable. Public health is expected to do more with less, indefinitely.

If those gains are going to hold, silence is no longer an option. This moment calls for clarity, public pressure, and communications that make the consequences of these decisions visible.

 

Why communications matter now

For more than 40 years, Fenton has partnered with nonprofits, NGOs, and public institutions tackling global health challenges. From the AIDS epidemic to COVID-19, we’ve seen the same truth play out again and again. Communications are not peripheral to public health. They are part of the infrastructure.

When funding is at risk, strong communications connect policy decisions to real-world consequences, build public understanding, and create accountability before damage becomes permanent.

Here are a few strategies public health organizations can use right now.

Tell human stories, not abstractions

Data builds credibility. Stories create emotional connection and urgency.

Elevating the voices of people directly affected by public health decisions makes the stakes tangible. When audiences understand what funding cuts mean for real lives, it becomes harder to look away.

We’ve used this approach to elevate nurses and frontline health workers, helping turn lived experience into media coverage, social engagement, and broader public understanding of why these roles matter.

Own the narrative early

Earned media still shapes what the public sees, what policymakers hear, and what AI systems surface. Opinion pieces, expert commentary, and proactive pitching allow organizations to frame issues before narratives harden.

We’ve applied this approach for years with the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Kids Count Data Book, helping sustain national and local conversations about child health and well-being through consistent, credible coverage.

Use paid media with intention

Paid media works best when it’s targeted and strategic. Search, social, and connected TV allow organizations to reach specific audiences with messages that address real concerns.

When we partnered with the St. Louis County Department of Health on COVID-19 vaccination efforts, targeted digital campaigns helped drive a more than 20 percent increase in vaccinations, leading the state in immunization rates.

Design moments that travel

Events should do more than fill a calendar. When designed with a clear narrative and audience in mind, they generate coverage, partnerships, and content that lasts.

We support Hyundai’s Hope On Wheels campaign through events that raise awareness, drive investment in pediatric cancer research, and create stories that extend well beyond the day itself.

 

This is the moment

Public health work saves lives, but it doesn’t defend itself. When funding is threatened, the organizations that break through are the ones that speak clearly, move early, and connect their work to what people actually care about.

That’s where communications matter most.

At Fenton, we bring strategy, storytelling, media, and paid amplification together so important work doesn’t get lost in policy noise.

If your organization is facing funding pressure, preparing for a high-stakes moment, or ready to be more visible and more assertive about its impact, we should talk.

AI Can Be a Force for Good, Not Just Content

Posted on by Yann Hatchuel

Media headlines tout corporate CEOs eager to lay off staff in the name of efficiency. But this narrow focus on technological innovations that will completely change America’s workforce leaves out the more urgent issue for those of us advancing social impact: that this emergent technology can be a force for good. In the communications field, the fixation on efficiency – writing faster or automating teams out of the process – risks blinding us to AI’s far more transformative potential.

If our only goal is to make the content hamster wheel spin faster, we will miss the opportunity to harness AI for solving deeper challenges: rebuilding trust, strengthening democratic participation, improving access to information, and elevating communities that have historically been ignored or misrepresented. 

The true value of AI emerges when it becomes a strategic partner in solving persistent communications challenges. For example, several public health organizations are now using AI-powered language analysis to pinpoint how vaccine messaging unintentionally alienates hesitant audiences. By examining tone, framing, and keyword resonance across thousands of community conversations, these tools rapidly generate insights that would take months or years to uncover through traditional research. The result will presumably be messaging that is more empathetic, culturally relevant, and grounded in lived experience – and deployed in a fraction of the time of previous efforts, potentially saving more lives. 

Another long-standing challenge for communicators is personalization at scale. Traditional segmentation often paints audiences with broad strokes that flatten nuance and diversity of experience. But AI-based audience clustering can create greater psychographic and behavioral awareness of what moves people, enabling communications experts to gain a more nuanced understanding not only of who their audiences are but also of why they care. With these deeper insights, communicators can craft messages that directly resonate with audiences, an essential skill in an era when conversations about climate, for example, have become sharply polarized.

One of the most urgent communications challenges of our time is the rise of misinformation and disinformation, particularly during crises and elections. AI can play a critical role in detection, rapid response, and building communications long-term resiliency for potential crises. Several pro-democracy organizations are now using AI to map misinformation networks, track harmful narratives as they emerge, and develop counter-messaging strategies in hours rather than weeks, potentially mitigating the damage. AI helps teams understand not just what misinformation is spreading but how it travels across platforms and communities, allowing communicators to intervene before lies take root in people’s minds.

AI also presents an opportunity to democratize creative production. Grassroots organizations with small teams are using AI to generate multilingual versions of their materials, expand their storytelling capacity, and experiment with formats that were previously out of reach due to cost or technical barriers. Artists and activists are using AI to rapidly prototype concepts, freeing them to focus on authenticity, originality, and narrative power. This is not about replacing people. It is about expanding access to creative tools that were once reserved for organizations with significant resources.

AI innovations can help us solve social challenges and make communicators more effective at our craft, but they are still only tools. And these tools hold their greatest potential when wielded effectively by people with the communications savvy to pair them with the expertise of trusted messengers and local leaders. AI can reveal broad patterns, but only people can provide the cultural context and relational trust needed to act on them.

With all this potential, communicators have an important responsibility. We serve as a bridge between technology and public understanding, so we must be the ones asking hard questions about how AI is used. Whose data is included? Which voices are amplified or silenced? What assumptions or biases might be embedded in the model? Who benefits from the technology and who might be harmed? Are we strengthening trust or taking shortcuts?

If we avoid these questions, efficiency will become the default incentive, and the people most likely to be harmed will be those with the least institutional power. Our task is to ensure that AI is used to reinforce and enhance equity, transparency, and community agency.

At Fenton, the answer is clear. AI is not a tool to cut corners or labor.  It is a tool that can address communications challenges and enhance the expertise we bring to our clients. Used responsibly and with thoughtful aims, it will help us amplify truth, elevate community voices, and strengthen the movements working for a more just world. As communicators committed to social impact, we have the power and responsibility to lead the way in realizing AI’s transformative potential.

Beyond Buzzwords: GEO is the Next Frontier

Posted on by Yann Hatchuel

AI chatbots and AI-generated summaries are changing the way we get information. As of October 2025, ChatGPT is the fifth most-visited website in the world. Social media like Instagram and X have integrated AI chatbot features. Google is including AI Overviews in the results of over 50% of searches. And, as a result, websites are losing traffic. In a time when more and more people are turning to AI chatbots and AI-generated summaries for answers to their questions, how can organizations drive traffic to their websites? One answer is GEO.

What is GEO?

GEO, or generative engine optimization, is the practice of building a website and its digital content to maximize its visibility and inclusion in generative AI answers specifically. Like traditional search engine optimization (SEO), which aims to ensure your website is ranked in search engine results, GEO aims to ensure your website is linked to or referenced in AI-generated responses. In simple terms, GEO is SEO for ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs).

How is GEO different from SEO?

Rather than acting as a replacement, GEO builds on a strong SEO foundation to enhance authority, trust and visibility in new channels. Although the two practices complement each other, there are key differences between optimizing for search and optimizing for AI. 

  • While traditional SEO emphasizes keywords related to queries, GEO focuses more on easily extractable statements and direct answers to questions, with structured data markup and rich metadata that provides machine-readable context. For example, an SEO approach would adjust a webpage’s content for keywords related to the search query “best ways to raise donations.” A GEO approach goes further by including a clear statement like “Providing donors with transparent impact reports and personalized updates increases repeat contributions,” along with structured data that labels the statement so AI tools can recognize and surface it directly.
  • AI generates answers through ingestion and knowledge extraction, rather than crawling and indexing, as search engines do. 
  • When generating answers, AI values credibility, relevance, accuracy, engagement and recency. AI prioritizes high-quality, trustworthy content with user-focused information that’s easy to follow and updated regularly—going beyond matching keywords to understand meaning and relevance.

Why is GEO critical to understand and harness in today’s communications landscape? 

With AI rapidly growing in the marketing, PR, and communications industry, PR professionals and digital strategists need to understand the vital role of GEO and why it’s critical to our work. AI isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. At a glance, here are several key statistics on generative AI’s growth: 

As GEO continues to influence and shape the future of public relations, PR agencies need to proactively educate themselves on it so they can better understand how to integrate it into their workflows smartly. GEO helps boost brands’ awareness and visibility, and inserts them into the conversation. GEO also allows mission-driven organizations to redefine brand growth and competitive strategies. 

Three steps to leverage GEO in your workflows

To harness the power of GEO, communications strategists can expand their existing SEO workflows and integrate new processes, incorporating a dignified content approach and metrics tracking. Built upon contemporary understanding of how generative AI engines function and display content, the steps below can be leveraged to improve organizational visibility and authority.

  • Assess your current GEO performance using subscription-based websites like Otterly.Ai and Rankscale.Ai. These services provide a comprehensive picture of your organization’s inclusion in results from ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity, and identify areas for improvement. Qualitative searches for information in GenAI platforms are also helpful to assess whether prompts are yielding your desired results. 
  • Optimize new and existing content for AI platforms, ensuring that content leads to conversational searches, demonstrates EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness), and appears where AI platforms pull information. Consider prioritizing website content with: 
    • Concise copy written in a natural and conversational tone
    • Q&A or FAQ sections 
    • Quotes or testimonials with credible references
    • Rich metadata, clear titles and descriptions
  • Expand community engagement efforts to enhance brand authority and create multichannel chatter about your organization. AI platforms value high-quality backlinks and mentions across websites and social media channels, particularly Reddit, Quora, Wikipedia, and LinkedIn. 

In addition to the steps above, brands must continue to expand their knowledge on the functionality and rapidly evolving landscape of generative AI platforms. Setting benchmarks for GEO-specific key performance indicators (KPIs), including AI response inclusion rate, citation frequency, content extraction accuracy, and traffic from AI platforms, can help organizations navigate changes and adjust their GEO strategies as needed.  

It’s important to note that the ever-changing nature of GEO warrants a flexible approach, grounded in evidence-backed foundations. While some strategies may work for some LLMs, the same may not work for others due to functional differences and their evolution with new versions. Therefore, our guidance is structured as a high-level starting point from which organizations can expand upon to meet their specific objectives.  

Our team of digital experts is committed to helping your organization stay ahead in today’s volatile and ever-shifting landscape. We partner with a diverse ecosystem of companies, nonprofits and advocacy organizations to drive social impact for today’s most pressing challenges. 

Continue the conversation on our social media channels (LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook) or send us a message. 

Aleah Jarin, Logan Nesson, and Travis Wolf are members of Fenton’s West Coast Digital team where they utilize their expertise in digital campaigns and issue-driven communications to implement action-oriented strategies with clients that advance human rights, global health, and social change.

Hyundai Hope on Wheels: Fenton Joins the Fight Against Pediatric Cancer

Posted on by Yann Hatchuel

September marks National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month—shining a light on the roughly 15,000 children and adolescents in the U.S. who are diagnosed with cancer each year. 

Every child deserves the chance to grow up cancer-free and live a healthy life where they can play sports, make friends, graduate from high school, and find their place in the world. Fenton is deeply proud to be part of the fight against childhood cancer alongside our client, Hyundai Hope on Wheels. 

 

Hyundai Hope on Wheels: 27 Years of Hope

Hyundai Hope on Wheels is one of the longest-running philanthropic initiatives in the U.S. automotive industry. Since 1998, it has awarded more than $277 million in research grants to tackle pediatric cancer, funding early-stage, high-risk research. Hyundai Hope on Wheels works in partnership with Hyundai Motor America and its U.S. dealers to turn purchases into scientific progress: For every new Hyundai vehicle sold, Hyundai and its 850 dealers nationwide contribute to these lifesaving grant awards. 

Over the last 27 years, Hope on Wheels has awarded more than 1,400 childhood cancer research grants to physician scientists and over 175 hospitals and research institutions across the U.S., leading to clinical trials, new therapies, drug development, and lives saved. Fenton has partnered closely with Hope on Wheels for years to coordinate and execute events commemorating these vital research grants, culminating in a week in September of high-profile gatherings in Washington, D.C. 

 

Handprint Ceremonies

This year, these events began with the Fenton team leading outreach, planning and logistics for 75 Handprint Ceremonies across 33 states. These special gatherings unite Hyundai leaders and local dealers, pediatric cancer survivors and families, care providers, and researchers to present research grant checks to physicians that will fund innovation, translational research, and clinical care. 

The capstone of each event is the beloved “Handprint Ceremony” that captures each child’s handprint in paint on a white Hyundai car, a symbol of children past and present affected by pediatric cancer. 

 

Anniversary Gala

The Fenton team also worked alongside Innocean and an array of partner agencies to lead the planning and execution of the 27th Annual DC Days Anniversary Gala, a massive celebration of progress and hope. Among the 300 guests gathered at the iconic Washington National Cathedral were Hyundai Motor Company President and CEO José Muñoz; Hyundai and Genesis Motor America CEO Randy Parker; a bipartisan group of elected officials; and other policymakers, influencers, and executives. Fenton collaborated with vendors to conceptualize an overall event strategy and managed details such as hotels, transportation, seating, and guest registration for an inspiring evening.  

An emotional highlight of the evening was an appearance by Hope on Wheels’ National Youth Ambassadors. Pediatric cancer survivors Emmy Cole, 12, and Jackson Trinh, 10, shared their personal experiences battling cancer through an original song, “Hope is a Light in the Dark,” composed in collaboration with the nonprofit Musicians on Call. 

 

Survivorship Summit

In addition to these marquee events, Fenton facilitated Hyundai Hope on Wheels’ third annual Survivorship Summit to further shape the organization’s investment in the health of pediatric cancer survivors. The Survivorship Summit brought together 27 of the nation’s leading pediatric cancer survivorship experts tackling the unmet challenges survivors face after beating cancer. Fenton planned and coordinated the event designed to help ensure that pediatric patients not only survive, but thrive.  

 

Congressional Exhibit

The week concluded with lawmakers, physicians, survivors and Hyundai leaders coming together at the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill for an exhibit of photos showcasing 27 years of Hyundai Hope on Wheels’ impact—also facilitated and staffed by Fenton in close collaboration with partner agencies. Some 50 guests attended to discuss the importance of continued federal funding for pediatric cancer research, including 12 members of Congress.  

In the words of a Hope on Wheels grant winner: “It’s always amazing to see how Hyundai Hope on Wheels is able to top the previous year’s events. We appreciate getting to meet the team that works behind the scenes to make everything happen.”

This work builds futures. Every child whose treatment is advanced by Hyundai Hope on Wheels-funded research is a reminder that investing in hope can change—and save—lives.

Visit hyundaihopeonwheels.org to learn more about Hyundai Hope on Wheels and join the fight against pediatric cancer.

Honoring Disability Pride Month: How My Disability Changed My Life for the Better

Posted on by Yann Hatchuel

People often think of disabilities as an impediment, but what if they are actually the thing that changes a person’s life for the better? Had someone asked me this question six years ago before my diagnosis I would have likely scoffed or dismissed it as completely out of the question. But today, years after my disability diagnosis, I can proudly say that this was the case for me. 

For a long time, I did not acknowledge my disability and worked hard to make it unnoticeable to others, to look healthy. Before my diagnosis, I loved being outside, taking in the crisp smell of Washington’s evergreen trees and spending quality time with friends and family at the lake or on the beaches in California. To everyone around me, I seemed healthy, but I was quickly realizing that something was very wrong. From endless nights studying for exams to overworking myself in a toxic internship, the old adage rang true: the body keeps the score. 

Just like that, my seemingly “healthy” life quickly snowballed into days on end of sickness. Visiting  doctors’ offices became second nature – routine and necessary for survival. After my diagnosis in 2019, I resented the fact that my life would never be the same. Up until I was rushed to the emergency room from neglecting my health, I believed that my disability was holding me back. Now, I understand accepting my disability is what I desperately needed to help live more fully, authentically and more healthfully. Today, I’m proud to have my disability because it showed me how to truly listen to my body.

Since 2015, the United States has marked July as Disability Pride Month to honor the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on July 26, 1990. Today, we are seeing the federal and state governments across the country attempt to roll back essential policies and programs for disabled people. We have survived these types of attacks before and will do so again, but we must start by sharing our stories to give others hope, build community and fight back. 

I firmly believe that we must use storytelling to help others see disabilities as a gift, something that makes a person stronger. This is why I am grateful to be at Fenton Communications – which has done transformative work in the disability space by partnering with leaders like YAI: Seeing Beyond Disability whose vision is to serve and eliminate stigmas of children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). We are also fighting tooth and nail against these calamitous efforts to defund and dismantle programs and policies in support of disabled people.

I also want to remind anyone who is reading this, disability or not, to remember there are always ways to prioritize your physical, emotional and mental wellbeing regardless of the outside noise and stress that surrounds us in today’s world. Some tips that help me the most are also the simplest: going for a walk before work, setting aside time – even if it’s five minutes – to check in with myself and journal, getting a full night of sleep, and yes, turning off my social media notifications. 

This is not to say that some days aren’t still difficult. They most certainly are. But I also can say I am a much kinder, happier and stronger version of the person I used to be because I embrace my disability. This awareness allows me to get up every day and fight for what I know is right and just, advocate for my peers, friends, family and any person with a disability, and maintain my joy and health. My hope with sharing my disability story is I empower others to reframe how they see their disabilities as features to be embraced, not ignored, and live more authentically, more fully, and with more self compassion.

Telling Stories That Shift Systems in the South 

Posted on by Yann Hatchuel

The South is home to vibrant cultures, powerful movements and resilient communities. But entrenched policies and systemic injustice — ranging from economic disinvestment to environmental degradation to voter suppression — continue to limit opportunity and deepen inequities across the region.

At Fenton, we believe that building a more just nation requires deep, sustained investment in the South. We have partnered with change agents across the region to elevate community voice, drive policy change and spark movements.

Why Nonprofits, Foundations and Advocacy Organizations in the South Choose Fenton

We are not just a marketing and communications agency. We are strategists for social change. 

  • Equity focused: Our diverse team brings deep roots in the South, cultural fluency and lived experience to every campaign.

  • Strategic and creative: From message development to digital mobilization, we blend insight with innovation to meet your goals.

  • Impact driven: We don’t just raise awareness—we help move resources, shape policy and shift narratives that drive systemic change.

Some of our most inspiring clients in the South include: 

  • HOPE Credit Union: Fenton helped the nation’s leading Black and women-owned financial institution amplify a $92.6 million investment from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Emergency Capital Investment Program (ECIP) to support more than 150,000 people across five Southern states — Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. Fenton developed a media relations plan, messaging, communications trainings, an advertising campaign and a radio music tour to markedly increase awareness of HOPE among potential members and partners. As a result of our efforts, we garnered significant coverage in the Associated Press, Essence, American Banker, Arkansas Business, Birmingham Business Journal, Business Alabama, Memphis Business Journal, Mississippi Business Journal, Montgomery Business Journal and New Orleans CityBusiness.The ECIP radio media tour resulted in 1,534 broadcasts and 4,670,640 audience impressions. The White House also invited HOPE CEO Bill Bynum to participate in an event with Vice President Kamala Harris, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Janet L. Yellen, Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) and Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA). 
  • State Voices: Fenton worked with State Voices to amplify the urgent local issues of reproductive health, human rights and voter engagement across Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee and Florida. In partnership with State Voices’ national network of grassroots coalitions, we developed civic engagement campaigns rooted in joy, belonging and voter empowerment across the Deep South. We prepared tailored earned media plans for each state, media training and prep sessions ahead of every interview and tailored messages designed to resonate with voters. Through our earned media efforts, Fenton secured more than 50 stories in national and local press in outlets including The New York Times, Associated Press, NPR, MSNBC, WSVN Miami and WJCT. Fenton also spearheaded State Voices’ first-ever letter to the editor (LTE) strategy, spotlighting the voices of queer and trans individuals across Florida to defend trans rights from harmful legislation. We secured LTEs in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Tampa Bay Weekly and The Florida Times-Union.

  • W.K. Kellogg Foundation: Fenton supported the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s bold vision for racial equity and community-led change in Louisiana and Mississippi. Fenton designed and implemented a comprehensive, nine-month training program for 70 Kellogg grantees. The organizations participated in a monthly training series focusing on strategy, message development, digital communications, rapid and crisis response, communicating with funders and other topics to enable them to be better communicators. Additionally, Fenton held weekly office hours to provide additional one-on-one support. Following each training, Fenton distributed a survey to solicit feedback on the training and understand how to enhance future trainings. In the surveys, grantees indicated that they implemented what they learned and made immediate changes to their communications strategies. 
    • “I am constantly thinking about how I can tell our organization’s story, or how I can better communicate what we do through stories to help connect the message of our organization with the public. I am more strategic with the ways I use different mediums.” – WKKF Grantee
    • “The media training was invaluable to our organization in the middle of a national formula crisis. It is likely the single most important thing that happened to our org in 2022. It was wonderful to be prepared and for our members to be prepared.” – WKKF Grantee

  • Pace Center for Girls: Fenton worked with Pace Center for Girls to rebrand and reposition the Florida-based organization to better reflect its transformational work of helping girls and young women thrive. Fenton increased awareness of the organization nationally, as well as strengthened the organization’s position as a thought leader in juvenile justice, mental health and education. Fenton also assisted Pace in the development of its digital and print Impact Reports and positioned Pace’s then CEO, Mary Marx, as a critical thought leader, landing coverage in national outlets such as Philanthropy News Digest, Ms. Magazine and a profile in Scripps Media’s The Race, which aired on 61 television stations in 41 markets. Fenton also took on a key role in Pace’s digital strategy work, advising on a website refresh, national and local social media channels and contributing to Pace’s Insights Blog. 
  • Latino Victory Fund: Fenton supported the Latino Victory Fund’s “Vote Like a Madre” campaign through an integrated voter mobilization effort and event in Miami, FL which was focused on Latina mothers ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. Spearheaded by the most recognizable Latino moms from across music, television, film, and business — including Eva Longoria, Zoe Saldana, Jessica Alba, Jordana Brewster — #VoteLikeAMadre urged moms to fight for their kids’ futures by electing leaders with aggressive plans to fight climate change. Our work generated a robust slate of earned media coverage for the campaign, which resulted in increased visibility and awareness of Vote Like a Madre’s Get-Out-the-Vote (GOTV) efforts. We secured earned media hits in national outlets such as Telemundo, Univision, Vogue, People, People! En Español, La Oferta, PopSugar, and Yahoo! Entertainment — as well as local outlets such as Florida Politics and NBC 6 South Florida (broadcast). Voters elected climate-positive candidates to the Senate in all of the states where Vote Like a Madre led GOTV efforts, and the contributions of the Latinx electorate were widely recognized as contributing to these successes. 
  • Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice: Fenton developed a comprehensive earned media plan to showcase the opening of the Pauli Murray Center in Durham, NC and build understanding of Rev. Dr. Murray’s legacy. Through local, trade and national media engagement, The Pauli Murray Center grand opening broadened awareness of Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray’s legacy and their work to advance contemporary social justice. Fenton successfully secured placements in 20 unique national and local broadcast and print outlets with 30+ pickups in total. Specifically, our efforts led to placements in national affiliated broadcast media and print outlets covering travel, religion and Black culture, such as Black Information Network, Discover Durham, WUNC, WGHP-TV (FOX), CBS 17, and ABC 11 Eyewitness News, which reached 1.86M viewers alone. 

Let’s Work Together

If you’re a nonprofit communicator, foundation leader or advocate in the South looking for a partner who combines on-the-ground knowledge with national strategy, let’s connect. Whether you need help launching a campaign, refining your message or breaking through media noise — we are here to help you build power and tell your story.

Learn more about our social and economic justice work in the South here and send us a message to explore how Fenton can support your mission.

Let’s talk