APG Sideways
About our guest: Rebecca Myers
Rebecca is a Strategy Director at Citizen Relations. With over 12 years combined experience across PR and strategy practices, exclusively on agency side, Rebecca’s seen first-hand the critical role brand strategy and comms planning plays as the definition of PR evolves and becomes more integrated.
Based in Toronto, Rebecca’s role is North American, providing strategic oversight and brand strategy to clients across Citizen’s Canadian and U.S. offices. Her role focuses on ensuring teams are developing insights and strategic storytelling that maximize both creative opportunity and earned-worthy conversation potential.
In her time working across disciplines, Rebecca’s had the opportunity to work on brands that span CPG, personal finance, technology, B2B services, not-for-profit and corporate reputation management.
When she’s offline, she enjoys recipe testing for friends with low culinary standards, making cocktails for friends with high tolerances, and trying to motivate herself to go on more runs - an effort the entire city seems to be joining her in lately.
Previous Posts
Brilliant Weird Best
Planners are curious folks so we asked Rebecca to tell us the most brilliant, weirdest and best thing she’s come across recently.
Brilliant: CoorDown World Down Syndrome Day: Assume that I Can
It’s not rare as a Strategist to be delighted by seeing a different perspective for the first time. To me, the insight around the power of society’s assumptions to limit potential for folks with down syndrome was pretty eye opening. The way it comes to life in this spot is simple, compelling, keeps my attention until the end, and gave me perspective I will carry with me - what more can you ask for in 90 seconds?
Weird: Uber Carshare: Valtteri Bottas' Aussie 'Second' Car
My partner is a big F1 fan, and while I like the idea of sitting down to watch the race, I’m usually scrolling or wandering into the kitchen by lap 5. That said, this Uber ad during the Australian Grand Prix will probably be my highlight of the season. It’s entertaining, taps into Drive to Survive fans’ connection to the racers that’s supercharged mass appeal of the sport, but doesn’t rely on Bottas’s celebrity status. It’s the tone and personality that makes it memorable, whether or not you’re an Aussie.
Best: European Parliament: Use Your Vote
I love reminders of our industry’s ability to deliver meaningful messages in a critical moment as I’m trying to build insights about cheese, houseplants, etc. As we find ourselves in a year with many critical elections across the globe, this spot really stuck with me.
In 2024, we’re very quick to cast aside our oldest generation as outdated, unable to keep up, and in need of education from us younger folks to keep up in a fast-paced, technologically fueled society. There’s a misnomer that vital information can only flow one way in this dynamic. This reminder of the lessons of the precious few who lived through history we’re at risk of overlooking and then reliving, is powerful.
Top Guilty Pleasures
Not all of our consumption habits can be academic. In fact, sometimes the most random things can spur our thinking. So we asked Rebecca to give us the sources to her creativity.
TV Show: Real Housewives
Every single Real Housewives franchise. I am impervious to criticism. As I write this, Bravo is currently not airing a single franchise for the first time in history, and my world is a little less vibrant. Luckily by the time you read this, RHONJ (look it up) will be on, and that space in my heart will be filled again.
Candles: Persons of Interest Jane Doe, Apotheke Charcoal Classic and Dawe & Co Home
Lighting candles has become a weird comfort for me. Different scents cue my brain in different ways, which has become a fun way to reset my space with the change of the season, or to shift focus from work to winding down in the evening. It’s only a slightly guilty pleasure, because the candle budget has probably gotten a little out of hands.
Horoscopes: @sanctuarywrld and @chaninicholas
In any form, no matter how unhinged and random. I send it to my friends, I use it to step away from the headlines,I think it’s fun. But that’s probably just me being a Gemini.
This month on Slack
In case you haven’t been following us on Slack lately, here are some of our most recent and popular links.
Contributor: Cameron Fleming
A discussion about George Tannenbaum’s blog post ranting about how flashy campaign coverage overshadows the real issues in the ad industry, like a streaker at a sports event
“As an industry, we praise these ads. We award these ads…The trade press doesn't report on the borderless offices at Ogilvy firing yet another tranche of workers, or WPP reducing its workforce since 2017 from 200,000 to today's 105,000. Or the entire industry's failure to substantively diversify.”
Contributor: Michelle Lee
With new AI tools on the market every day, it was high time we discussed the ones that we use and have found helpful in our day to day. The standouts included Perplexity, Canva, and Hemingway.
On nostalgia and innovation, or lack thereof
Contributor: Cassio Campos
An observation on the rise of nostalgia, and some speculation on the meaning behind it. “I wonder if it is not the case to formulate the hypothesis that we, as a society, have become incapable of innovation. To what extent have we lost the capacity to think of the new, conceive novelty, and truly imagine new futures?”