LPA adds digital strategy leader Sallie Poggi as Vice President. SACRAMENTO - Lucas Public Affairs (LPA), one of Sacramento's most respected public affairs firms, announced the addition of Sallie Poggi to the leadership team as Vice President. Poggi joins LPA with over two decades of strategic communications experience spanning higher education, brand positioning, corporate communication and crisis management. In this role, Poggi will lead the firm's digital strategy practice and will take senior responsibility for the firm's market positioning and thought leadership. Poggi's hire reflects LPA's commitment to expanding its strategic capabilities at a moment when digital fluency and an understanding of cultural forces shaping public opinion have become essential to winning on policy and issues. Poggi's unique combination of senior level media instincts and honed expertise in emerging platforms, creative content and audience insights adds depth to LPA's capabilities to reach constituents in new and influential ways. "LPA is known for our deep relationships and traditional media savvy," said Donna Lucas, CEO and Founder. "The addition of Sallie to our bench of strategists ensures that LPA is thoughtfully growing to meet our clients' new and complex communications challenges with creativity and deep understanding of the digital landscape." Poggi was a trailblazer in social media strategy before it was a recognized discipline in public affairs - drawn to the platforms not because they were trendy, but because she was genuinely curious about how people form opinions, build communities and shape influence online. Her fascination with human behavior in digital spaces became the foundation of a practice that has since informed work for global executives, major commercial brands and for issues facing California's most complex stakeholder groups. Her work has spanned brand strategy, executive positioning, extensive crisis communications response and audience insight work across complex stakeholder environments. Most recently, Poggi served as Chief Communications Officer at the University of the Pacific. She also served as Executive Director of Strategic Communications at the University of California, Davis, where she directed communications strategy during periods of institutional change and led the university's brand and leadership digital and social media presence to national recognition. Prior to UC Davis, Poggi worked at APCO Worldwide and at FleishmanHillard, two of the world's leading strategic communications firms, building digital strategies for California businesses and Fortune 500 companies. "I've spent two decades watching and learning from Sallie as she is both student and master of the digital landscape and how audiences respond and behave," said Cassandra Pye, President of LPA. "This blend of LPA's proven strategic capabilities with new age know-how positions us well to provide our clients with thoughtful and effective strategies."

"The Real Unreal" from Icelandair wins Platinum at EMEA SABREs. "The Real Unreal," a campaign that challenged to the growing influence of AI-generated images in the travel and tourism sector, took home Platinum at our EMEA region SABRE Awards dinner. Paul Holmes 22 May 2026 // 4:19AM GMT LONDON - "The Real Unreal," a campaign that challenged to the growing influence of AI-generated images in the travel and tourism sector, took home the Platinum SABRE Award for Best in Show at our EMEA region SABRE Awards dinner, which took place at The Brewery in London last night. "The Real Unreal," created by Icelandair in partnership with FleishmanHillard, was a response to growing social media speculation that Iceland "wasn't real." As people became increasingly aware of AI-generated images of travel destinations around the world, many assumed that the striking photographs of Iceland's unique landscape must be fake. The nation's flagship airline, assisted by Omnicom-owned agency FleishmanHillard, was built around a promise of authenticity, a manifesto and an open letter to AI developers, activities spanning earned, social, and paid media, positioning Icelandair as a champion of unfiltered, undoctored visual imagery. The campaign drove both increased web traffic and a significant increase in brand consideration across markets where the campaign was implemented, "The Real Unreal" beat out four other finalists for the Platinum SABRE Award. They were: #2: GonoRebrand, a campaign to educate young people in Norway about the dangers of sexually transmitted disease - SIO with TRY #3: The Light Holds On, a crisis campaign for a Ukrainian energy company responding to the destruction of infrastructure - DTEK #4: Share The First, a purpose-driven campaign encouraging young people not to obsess over "perfect" social media images - Dove/Unilever with Edelman #5: 12/15, a campaign drawing attention to the prevalence of suicide among young men in Poland - Era of New Women Foundation with SEC Newgate CEE A complete list of all the winners can be found here, but several agencies stood out for the overall quality of their creative work. There were five EMEA SABREs for UK creative shop The Romans, and four each for global independent Edelman, Norwegian firm TRY, and the UK's Hope&Glory. South Africa's Clockwork, Omnicom-owned Golin, Grey Denmark, WPP's Ogilvy, and Team Lansons all took home three SABRE Awards. Article tags News direct to your inbox The agency playbook. The PR industry's most comprehensive listing of firms from every region and specialty.