Hotwire names Karyn Barr US CEO. Barr, a former Zeno and Allison senior leader, will lead Hotwire's US business as the agency continues to build out its leadership team under global CEO Grant Toups. SAN FRANCISCO - Hotwire Global has named Karyn Barr US CEO, the latest in a string of senior appointments at the agency under global CEO Grant Toups. Barr, who most recently led Zeno Group's US technology practice, will oversee Hotwire's US business and join the firm's global executive committee. She starts November 16. Barr's responsibilities wil include strengthening the agency's integrated communications and marketing offering, including earned and paid media, SEO, and generative engine optimization, supported by the firm's AI consultancy capabilities. Barr brings extensive technology communications experience to Hotwire, having spent nearly two decades at Allison Worldwide, where she held several senior positions, including president of global operations for its technology practice. She also co-founded the agency's global AI center of excellence and proprietary product suite. Toups said Barr's appointment reflects the agency's efforts to adapt to changes in the communications and marketing industry. "The industry is changing fast, and the communicators of the future need a partner already at home in what comes next, happy to take things apart and make them better," said Toups. Barr's appointment also comes amid a broader series of leadership changes at Hotwire since Toups took over as global CEO in January, succeeding Heather Kernahan. In April, Hotwire restructured its leadership team, naming Ute Hildebrandt global chief strategy officer and Will Hutchinson global chief operating officer. Laura Macdonald, previously chief growth officer, was named president of the Americas, overseeing the agency's communications business across the region. Macdonald subsequently left Hotwire to join Finn Partners in September as global technology practice leader, after more than a decade with the agency. Article tags News direct to your inbox The agency playbook. The PR industry's most comprehensive listing of firms from every region and specialty.

PRovoke Global Summit: 42% of CMOs unwilling to let PR lead major campaigns. Zeno's Clarity 2030 research reveals a disconnect between marketing leaders' recognition of reputation as a growth driver and their willingness to give communications a leading role. CHICAGO - Despite growing recognition that reputation is critical to business growth, 42% of chief marketing officers are unwilling to let communications or PR take the lead on a major campaign, according to new research presented by Zeno at the PRovoke Global Summit. The findings, drawn from Zeno's Clarity 2030 research involving 100 senior marketing leaders, revealed that just 28% of CMOs were very willing to give communications overall campaign leadership, even as 82% acknowledged that reputation plays a significant role in growth decisions. Presenting the findings, Zeno's head of brand US, Allison McClamroch questioned why communications continues to be sidelined when reputation has become increasingly central to commercial success. "When reputation, credibility, trust, or stakeholder risk is a primary growth lever, why wouldn't communications take the lead?" she asked. The disconnect extends beyond campaign leadership. According to the research, 46% of CMOs said communications is regularly involved in their organisations but largely plays a supporting role. McClamroch described this as an unfinished transition for the profession, with marketing leaders recognising communications' value without consistently involving practitioners in decisions that shape business growth. "That's kind of like a dagger to the heart to hear that supporting role," she said. The findings also suggest that CMOs are approaching reputation through a narrower commercial lens than communications professionals. While 82% recognised its importance to growth, 56% viewed reputation primarily through sales and demand generation. McClamroch argued that marketing's focus on sales and demand generation overlooks the broader factors shaping corporate reputation, including employees, investors and geopolitical developments. Communications leaders, she said, have an opportunity to bring those wider stakeholder perspectives into business decisions before campaigns are developed, rather than being brought in after the strategy has already been set. The research also exposed a significant gap between marketing leaders' expanding responsibilities and their preparedness to fulfil them. Some 92% of CMOs expect their roles to become broader, substantially different or fundamentally redefined by 2030, yet only 11% feel fully prepared. Just 24% reported having primary authority over business strategy, while 16% said the same of enterprise risk. For McClamroch, these findings present an opportunity for communications leaders to become more influential strategic partners rather than remaining downstream campaign executors. That opportunity is particularly apparent in artificial intelligence and search discoverability, where marketing leaders increasingly recognise the importance of earned credibility but have yet to align their investment accordingly. The research found that 83% of CMOs believe earned media is more effective than paid media in shaping AI-generated answers, while 70% value earned media more than they did several years ago. However, only 47% are investing in earned influence for AI and search discoverability. Meanwhile, 77% said marketing owns AI discoverability, despite more than half expressing little concern about AI misinterpreting their brands. "The risk is being found without being believed," McClamroch warned. She argued that communications must play a greater role in ensuring brands are not simply visible in AI-generated results, but represented accurately and credibly. However, she cautioned that improving collaboration between CMOs and CCOs would require more than stronger relationships. "CCOs cannot solve this just by building better relationships," she said, calling for changes to how organisations plan, measure and resource communications. Her recommendations included shared growth objectives, earlier communications involvement in strategic planning, greater investment in earned influence and common measurement frameworks linking reputation to commercial outcomes. "Growth and reputation have become inseparable, and the next advantage is not who owns growth, but who can co-own it within the organization," McClamroch concluded. Article tags News direct to your inbox The agency playbook. The PR industry's most comprehensive listing of firms from every region and specialty.