March is here and we came with a full plate.
We've been heads down building, and this edition is the first place you'll see what that's looked like. We're introducing the Inner Circle, The PRGM Post’s paid membership tier, and if you've been with us for a while, we think you're going to love what it means for the depth and quality of what lands in your inbox going forward.
Beyond the milestone, this is an edition we're genuinely proud of. We're getting into what it actually means when brands stop advertising and start becoming someone, and pulling apart two of the most strategically interesting brand moments we've been watching closely. We're also spotlighting a community member doing remarkable work at the intersection of music, marketing, and community building that we think you need to know about.
Welcome to March. Let's get into it!
🎯 In This Edition:
The rise of the personality brand and what happens when companies stop running campaigns and start becoming “someone”
A February recap: our best moments and the reads that had us thinking
A community member redefining music marketing in 2026
Women at Work → March 11th, NYC
🔒 What Anthropic's Pentagon decision teaches us about brand purpose and principled communications
🔒 Inside Adidas' Superstar: The Original → when casting becomes communications
🔒 Your exclusive Women at Work registration link + full panelist lineup
🔒 Who's Hiring
FEBRUARY IN REVIEW:
ICYMI
We had a full month. Here's a look back at what resonated most with our community:
From the Feed:
Bad Bunny’s SuperBowl Performance: A Lesson in Cultural Understanding
How the rise of analog signals a fundamental shift in what audiences value from brand experiences
What the collapse of public trust in journalism means for everyone working in communications
Reading List:
Every edition, we’ll share the articles, essays, and industry reads that have been living in our heads lately
It’s a Deal: Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery Unveil $111 Billion Megamerger (Hollywood Reporter)
INTRODUCING THE INNER CIRCLE
PRGM has always been built around one idea: that PR and communications professionals deserve better resources, sharper analysis, and a community that takes the work seriously. The Inner Circle is how we plan on delivering on that fully!
Starting with this edition, every issue of The PRGM Post will have two layers. Free content that's worth your time, and Inner Circle content that goes deeper: complete case studies, cultural analysis, strategic frameworks, in depth conversations with industry leaders, feature opportunities and first access to everything PRGM builds next.
The Inner Circle is $8/month. And this edition is a good place to see exactly what that gets you.
The Personality Brand:
What It Means and Why It Matters Now
This past week, our very own Fatou joined Michelle Garrett of PR Explored for an extended conversation on personality brands — the structural shift in how companies define themselves — and what happens when brands start thinking like media companies. Here's a glimpse at some of the conversation and takeaways.
For most of brand history, the model was simple: identify a target audience, develop messaging, run a campaign, move on. What we're seeing now is fundamentally different. Brands are building continuity. Recurring voices. Recognizable collaborators. Long-term narrative arcs that extend well beyond a single launch window.
A personality brand is one where you can clearly articulate not just what a company sells, but what it believes, how it thinks, and who consistently represents it in culture. It's identity over messaging. And it's a response to something real: attention is fragmented, trust in institutions is declining, and cultural relevance moves fast.
So instead of asking "How do we advertise?" brands are now asking "How do we become someone people choose to spend time with?"
That's a relational posture. It's ongoing. And it requires intention.
What this looks like in practice:
Gap's recent announcement of a Chief Entertainment Officer role is a useful signal. The title generated significant media coverage, but what made it notable wasn't the novelty. It was the formalization of something that's already been happening structurally across the industry. Entertainment is no longer campaign support, it’s executive-level infrastructure.
But if we’re being honest, this has been happening for years, just not as definitive. Nike has operated like a studio for years, building athlete-driven storytelling that functions as cultural narrative. Red Bull built an entire media house producing films, events, and global content, a clear nod to IP development. Dick's Sporting Goods launched Cookie Jar & A Dream Studios, an in-house production studio creating original programming rooted in sport and community. Skims consistently treats celebrity collaborations as episodic programming, each drop a chapter in a larger story rather than a standalone product moment.
The through-line across all of it: brands don't want to rent attention through traditional media buys. They want to own audience relationships, own intellectual property, and build recurring cultural presence.
What this means for PR and communications professionals:
When brands start thinking like media companies, our role expands. We're no longer just managing the message around a campaign, we're helping shape the narrative infrastructure that makes a brand legible over time. That means understanding content strategy, talent relationships, platform dynamics, and long-form storytelling in ways that entertainment and lifestyle PR has long mastered, but the broader industry is only now beginning to prioritize
The brands doing this well aren't treating communications as a support function. They're treating it as a core driver of how the brand shows up in culture. That's the conversation we should be inserting ourselves into, early, and with a point of view.
COMMUNITY CORNER
Each edition, we spotlight a member of the PRGM community doing work worth knowing about: from agency founders to in-house leaders, independents, and everyone in between. If you'd like to nominate someone (or yourself), send us a note at [email protected].