The 8 Best PR Firms Leveraging AI Technology in 2026

Two years ago, hiring a PR firm was largely about assessing media relationships and crisis management instincts. Those still matter, but an additional question now sits at the top: does this firm understand how AI systems determine which brands get recommended?

That question is worth asking because your buyers and customers have changed how they search. Gartner projected back in 2024 that traditional search volume would drop 25 percent by 2026 as AI assistants absorb the queries. We're living that shift now. When someone asks ChatGPT or Google’s AI Overviews to recommend a company in your category, the answer is generated from underlying signals and the firms on this list understand how to influence them.

We’ve ranked eight firms, including our own, and we’ve been deliberate about keeping the process transparent and grounded.

How We Ranked These Firms

We evaluated four key factors across all firms. Whether the firm builds the third-party signals AI systems actually cite, or just optimizes owned content. Whether there's proof behind the positioning: named clients, documented outcomes, Published research instead of descriptive language.Whether the AI capability is clearly defined with a proven track record, or simply a rebranding of existing services presented on a webpage.

The emphasis on earned authority isn't arbitrary. It reflects a thesis we've defended at length in our Strategic AI Visibility Framework white paper, and the independent data backs it up. We summarize that evidence below, with dated sources included in the appendix so you can verify our analysis.

What "Leveraging AI" Actually Means in PR

The phrase is often used loosely, so it helps to distinguish the four possible meanings before assessing any specific case.

Generative engine optimization (GEO). The practice of earning citations in AI-generated answers across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, and Google AI Overviews. This is the discipline closest to traditional PR, because the inputs are largely earned. Muck Rack's May 2026 analysis of more than 25 million AI citations found that earned media accounts for 84 percent of everything AI systems cite. Paid and advertorial content: 0.3 percent.

AI-powered monitoring and prediction. Sentiment tracking, narrative detection, journalist matching, as well as predictive analytics that identify reputational risk before it materializes.

Synthetic audiences. Simulating stakeholder reactions to messaging before launch, using AI personas built from research data. 

AI-assisted execution. Pitch personalization, content drafting, campaign optimization. Now expected baseline and the least meaningful differentiator.

The research consensus is striking. An August 2025 Ahrefs study of 75,000 brands found web mentions correlate with AI Overview visibility at 0.664, three times stronger than backlinks at 0.218. 

The Princeton and Georgia Tech GEO research (KDD 2024) shows that adding citations, quotations, and statistics boosted source visibility in generative engines by up to 40 percent, while keyword stuffing actively hurt it. The pattern across all three studies points the same direction: AI systems trust what credible third parties say about you more than what you say about yourself.

That happens to be the thing PR firms produce. It's why this category exists.

The 8 Firms, Compared

1. Solv Communications: Best for Canadian Organizations That Need Reputation, PR and AI Visibility

Summary. Solv is a Canadian PR and reputation firm built on a clear premise: AI visibility sits at the intersection of earned media and search, and it requires senior expertise on both sides working together under one roof.

A founder who spent 15 years as a network news anchor and journalist before building a communications and reputation management firm.. A senior PR professional whose campaign work spans major international brands. A AI/GEO expert with more than a decade inside Silicon Valley startups. Most firms have one of these three. Almost no providers deliver all of these capabilities, and the few that do generally lack the flexibility and efficiency required for direct account integration.

Pros. The only firm on this list with a published, evidence-based AI visibility framework rather than a services page. Journalism-rooted media instincts paired with genuine search depth, which is the actual skill combination GEO demands. Client range that runs from international (PR for the Consulate General of Iceland) to trusted Canadian agricultural organizations and brands, including Cereals Canada, Red River Co-op - one of the Western Canada's leading grocery, and pharmacy retailers, to leading healthcare organizations such as The Fertility Partners. Canadian media relationships and market fluency that US firms can't replicate.

Cons. Solv Communications operates with a focused delivery model, prioritizing high-impact mandates rather than large-scale, global deployments requiring extensive on-the-ground resourcing.

Proof. The Strategic AI Visibility Framework, client work spanning government, retail, healthcare, and hospitality, as well as client testimonials from organizations including Canadian Virtual Hospice, Ducks Unlimited Canada, Sevita International and Cereals Canada.

2. Edelman: Best for Global Enterprises That Need Scale More Than Attention

Summary. A global independent PR firm has made significant investments in proprietary AI designed to address a core challenge: supporting complex, enterprise-level communications needs. 

Archie, its in-house LLM, is trained on 20+ years of Trust Barometer data. Archie AI Personas simulate stakeholder reactions before campaigns launch, and GEO sight tracks AI search visibility. Impressive machinery, designed for organizations big enough to feed it.

Pros. Real proprietary technology rather than rebranded vendor tools. The Trust Barometer gives it research authority few competitors match. Documented attribution work, including a $180M sales-impact case.

Cons. Cost and fit. Programs run well into five and six figures monthly, smaller accounts report slower pace and junior staffing, and its scale creates client-conflict exposure. Past work for fossil fuel interests has drawn sustained criticism. The machinery serves the Fortune 500; A mid-market buyer is often buying the brand, not the team behind it.

Proof. 26 years of Trust Barometer publication, Cannes Lions and SABRE recognition, synthetic-data methodology presented at the 2025 AMEC Global Summit.

3. Highwire PR: Best for Agentic AI in Enterprise Tech

Summary. Highwire wired AI across every function and then productized it. AcroAI, launched April 2026, deploys coordinated fleets of specialized AI agents trained on a client's own knowledge base, pulling from 100+ data sources for monitoring, GEO content optimization, and multichannel execution.

Pros. The most concrete agentic AI offering on this list, with a name, a launch date, and trade coverage. Strong analyst and enterprise credibility. The Highwire AI Index gives clients an actual AEO/GEO measurement instrument.

Cons. Enterprise pricing and a US-only footprint. The tech and healthcare tilt means consumer brands and smaller organizations aren't the target.

Proof. Clients include Amazon, Walmart, Deloitte, and PG&E. Recognized in PRovoke Media's Best Agencies in North America. Roughly $40M in revenue with double-digit growth.

4. 5W Public Relations: Best for Research-Backed GEO at Scale

Summary. 5W has rebranded itself "the AI Communications Firm" and built a dedicated GEO practice focused on getting brands cited across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and AI Overviews. Its self-published AI visibility indexes (legal, trade press, consumer) are genuine research assets, with the caveat that they're firm-produced.

Pros. 250+ staff, a formal GEO retainer product, named AI-practice clients, and integration between ORM, Wikipedia and knowledge-graph work, and AI citation strategy. Published pricing, which is rare.

Cons. Reputation history. In 2022, Crain's New York reported that founder Ronn Torossian had secretly owned the industry news site Everything-PR for years, using it to praise 5W and disparage competitors under fake bylines. PRSA-NY condemned the conduct and Torossian stepped down as CEO, remaining chairman. The firm has maintained continuity under co-CEOs Dara Busch and Matt Caiola since. As with any professional services provider, buyers evaluating credibility should consider the firm’s historical performance and record as part of their assessment.

Proof. Moloco, Sahara AI, and Shield AI on the AI roster; O'Dwyer's top-firm rankings; 2026 Legal AI Visibility Report.

5. SHIFT Communications: Best for Growth-Stage B2B Tech with Measurement Discipline

Summary. A 20-year Boston tech PR firm, now part of Montreal-headquartered AVENIR GLOBAL's network, running a Performance Communications framework that ties campaigns to pipeline metrics, with AEO/GEO folded in as a service line.

Pros. Strong measurement culture. A client roster that keeps adding AI-native companies (Symbotic, Signifyd, Leia in Q1 2026 alone). Track record includes four client IPOs and $1.38B in client funding since 2020. Canadian ownership affiliation through AVENIR.

Cons. The AI offering is newer and less proprietary than its peers. GEO is one capability among many rather than a built product, The firm’s own AI PR positioning page provides limited detail.

Proof. Citrix, McDonald's, Talkdesk, Included Health; documented exits and IPOs.

6. Crackle PR: Best for VC-Backed SaaS That Wants GEO-Native Earned Media

Summary. A remote-first, all-senior B2B tech shop that builds GEO into its earned media work by default: content structured for LLM ingestion, AI citation rates tracked alongside traditional coverage metrics.

Pros. No junior bench. Unusual pricing transparency, including a published $24,500 median monthly retainer in one vertical. Analyst relations tied directly to AI authority building.

Cons. Narrow. B2B and VC-backed tech only, and most public proof is the firm's own benchmark research rather than named client case studies. No Canadian presence.

Proof. Claimed placements across TechCrunch, Bloomberg, WSJ, and 200+ outlets; annual GEO benchmark with disclosed methodology.

7. Avenue Z: Best for Brands That Want PR and Paid Advertising Under One Roof

Summary. Founded in 2023 by Jeffrey Herzog (who built iCrossing and sold it to Hearst for roughly $450M), Avenue Z merges PR, performance-driven paid campaigns, and AI optimization. Its AI Visibility Index runs 100+ LLM prompts against a proprietary Z-score.

Pros. Genuinely AI-first DNA and strong zero-click visibility thinking. Herzog made AdWeek's AI Power 50 in 2026. Integrated paid-plus-earned is the right shape for some DTC and fintech buyers.

Cons. Young, assembled through acquisitions, with more performance-marketing DNA than earned-media depth. It publishes self-referential rankings with limited methodology transparency.

Proof. Acorns, April, and Better as named clients; extensive published AI-search research.

8. Proper Propaganda: Best for Consumer Tech Launching into North America

Summary. A Montreal boutique run by Jackson Wightman, author of The Tech PR Playbook, with one of the most developed GEO measurement vocabularies anywhere: Share of Answer, Brand Citation Rate, Prompt Coverage, Narrative Drift Index.

Pros. Real GEO practice with proprietary metrics and a documented self-test (zero AI visibility to ranking alongside global agencies across hundreds of tracked prompts). Published pricing. Canadian HQ with bilingual market access.

Cons. Consumer-tech focus, US-market orientation, and USD pricing mean it fits hardware and gadget brands far better than Canadian corporate, regulated, or B2B buyers.

Proof. HOVERAir, Keychron, Velotric, norda; 130+ tier-1 media meetings and 500+ placements at CES 2026.

What to Look for When Hiring (the Short Version)

A full guide on hiring a PR firm deserves its own article. For AI visibility specifically, five filters will eliminate most of the field:

• Ask what they'd measure. If the answer is impressions and AVE, walk. You want AI citation rates, share of answer, branded search lift.
• Ask for named tools and named clients. "We use AI extensively" is an adjective, not a capability.
• Ask where earned media sits in their model. The data says 84 percent of AI citations come from earned coverage. A firm leading with schema markup and content production has the pyramid upside down.
• Ask who does the work. AI strategy designed by a senior partner and executed by juniors produces junior results.
• Ask for their take on your AI presence today. A good firm will run prompt audits before quoting you.

Appendix: Methodology and Sources

Methodology. Firms were evaluated on earned-authority approach, proof of work, depth of named AI capability, and fit for Canadian organizations. Capability claims were drawn from firm websites, trade press, and published research between May and June 2026. We did not contact the firms. Self-reported performance claims (Edelman's Archie accuracy figures, Avenue Z's Z-score, Proper Propaganda's metrics) are reported as positioning, not verified outcomes.

Disclosure. Solv Communications authored this ranking and is included within it. To address potential conflicts, we have disclosed the criteria, applied them consistently, included limitations within our own profile, and provided sources for independent review.

Key sources, dated. Muck Rack / Generative Pulse, "What Is AI Reading?", May 2026 (25M+ citations; earned media 84%). Ahrefs, AI Overview brand visibility study, August 2025 (75,000 brands; mentions 0.664 vs. backlinks 0.218). Aggarwal et al., "GEO: Generative Engine Optimization," KDD 2024 (visibility gains up to 40%). Gartner press release, February 2024 (25% search volume decline by 2026). Statistics Canada, AI use by businesses, Q2 2025 (adoption doubled year over year to 12.2%, led by information, professional services, and finance). Crain's New York Business, 2022 (Everything-PR ownership). Full framework and citations: Solv's Strategic AI Visibility white paper.

Solv Communications is a Canadian Public Relations, Reputation Management and AI Visibility firm. We begin with an audit to assess how AI systems currently represent your organization. Get in touch.