Rob Named to PR Week AI/Dashboard 25 Four Consecutive Years
I am deeply grateful to be named to the PRWeek AI 25 (formerly Dashboard 25) list for the fourth year in a row.
I appreciate the individual acknowledgment and see it as the next paragraph in a much bigger story being written in collaboration with my colleagues at MSL. From clear vision at the top to our energizing group of early-career professionals, this recognition reflects the agency’s shared commitment to forward thinking and meaningful innovation.
As LLMs evolve and agentic behaviors become commonplace, the pathways to influencing our two audiences - humans and machines - increasingly align to the core value of PR. Our inherent skills are at the center of adaptation to AI in two distinct ways: how we deploy it to create advantage for our clients, and how we guide messaging through a gauntlet of external forces we cannot control. We must address misinformation, disinformation, hallucinations, and other emerging risks, but there are also game-changing proactive opportunities in front of us.
There’s another reason PR has more than just a seat at the table: AI success is not the same as traditional algorithmic success. AI, in all its forms, requires mastery of influence alongside technical fluency. From deep internal systems to widely used search LLMs, influence shapes how our clients show up. The power of earned voices from media headlines to casual word-of-mouth comments has never been stronger; while the dividing lines between positive and negative impact have become narrower and more precise.
Ready or not, 2026 is going to be a defining year. The first six weeks have already made that clear. The distance between brands that embrace AI and those that remain rooted in the algorithmic past grows wider each day. The same is true of agencies. This is not hyperbole. It is simply the environment we are operating in.
Congratulations to everyone named to the Class of 2026. It is an honor to be included alongside you.
Rob Guests on PR Council's "AI Loves PR" Podcast
It was a pleasure to join Kim Sample from the PR Council on an AI Loves PR podcast episode about the ways that AI is changing the way we discover and engage with information.
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Rob Guests on PR Council's "AI Loves PR" Podcast
It was a pleasure to join Kim Sample from the PR Council on an AI Loves PR podcast episode about the ways that AI is changing the way we discover and engage with information.
Rob Named to PRWeek Dashboard 25 for Third Year in a Row
Almost to the day of my third anniversary at MSL I received word of being included in PRWeek's Dashbaord 25 for the third year in a row. This year’s class once again focuses on comms tech and AI. I know it’s trite to say, but I am honored and humbled for the recognition.
Rob Guests On The Trending Communicator Podcast
In this episode of The Trending Communicator, host Dan Nestle welcomes award-winning digital innovator, public speaker, and agency executive Rob Davis, the Chief Digital Innovation Officer at MSL, for an engaging conversation on the future of communications and marketing.
MSL In Top 80 US Agencies
PRovoke Media has included MSL in the top 80 best PR agencies in the US. "Increasingly, that work is taking advantage of the massive investments Publicis is making in artificial intelligence and the intelligence with which MSL is applying it to its craft under the leadership of CEO Diana Littman and chief digital innovation officer Rob Davis. Not surprisingly, the firm has been using AI in influencer vetting, content, coding and channel activation; in its CultureIQ algorithmic trend tracking offer; in combating misinformation for clients; and in Message ShAIping and Talkability Testing.\"
PR Embraces Generative AI, but the Real Transformation Is Yet To Come
If customers can’t find it, it doesn’t exist. Clearly list and describe the services you offer. Also, be sure Twenty-two months since Chat GPT brought generative AI to the masses, there are two essential questions every brand, agency and – arguably – individual needs to ask of themselves: 1) What are we doing with AI? 2) What is AI doing to us? PRWeek’s recent AI Deciphered event in New York City provided an opportunity to hear how each of these make-or-break questions might be addressed by the agencies, tech companies and educators assembled for the day. Several moments stuck with me:
MSL Launches DBI.ia: a tool for raising digital brand influence in the AI era
Most brands only know their digital impact from internal data. They know their web traffic. They know their social media engagement. They know their SEO ranking. What they don’t see is how they appear through the lens of the prospect or customer in “digital” real life. They don't see what they are missing. And that’s where the opportunity for growth lies.
We have an answer to that need.
New Original Music: Sunset In Asbury Park
Yes, I know the risk of writing a song about Asbury Park, NJ. Some other guys have done a really good job of that. But I grew up on the Jersey Shore and it is my home turf.
Rob Named to PR Week Dashboard 25 Class of 2024 (AI Edition)
I am beyond humbled to be named to PRWeek's Dashboard 25 two years in a row. It is an honor I deeply appreciate. My fellow class members represent the future, not just of PR, but of communications as a whole.