Citizen Relations has hired Mark Mason as executive creative director, Canada, and Vanessa Birze as vice president of production.

Both Mason and Birze will be based out of the agency’s Toronto office, joining the creative and strategy team led by chief creative officer Josh Budd.

“This is big news for us at Citizen and a signal of the value we place on earned-first creative excellence as a differentiator for the agency,” Budd says. “[The duo] both exhibit the right mindset and energy to integrate quickly and seamlessly into the team.”

This expansion of the creative leadership team reflects the vision that CEO Nick Cowling has set for the agency as a modern PR firm and global leader.

A 2022 rebrand set the stage for a record-breaking year at Citizen. Along with being named Strategy’s PR Agency of the Year and wins at Cannes, The One Show, the LIA’s and the Webby Awards, Citizen was most recently shortlisted for Most Disruptive Agency at the 2024 Sabre Innovation awards.

Mason, most recently ECD at Grey Canada, is an award-winning creative leader whose work has been internationally recognized at Cannes, The One Show and the Webby Awards. He brings more than 20 years of creative experience and will serve as the dedicated creative leader for the agency’s Canadian clients.

Birze is a seasoned producer with experience working on such brands as Uber, Nissan Canada and Molson Coors, one of Citizen’s current Canadian clients. She comes to Citizen from Ogilvy Canada, where she was the executive producer for TD Bank, and she will work closely with Citizen’s existing Experiential team.

Citizen’s 2023 Canadian campaigns ReclaimYourName.dic with Elimin8Hate and Cheetle in Cheadle for PepsiCo Canada’s Cheetos brand dominated the industry last year, with Best in Show recognition at the Marketing and PRWeek Purpose awards, as well as a spot on Fast Company’s list of World Changing ideas. The agency added a 10th office in Cincinnati last year.

Its client roster also includes Nestle’s Kit Kat, Molson Coors and SickKids.