Contributor · Everything-PR
Ronn Torossian is Founder and Chairman of 5W, one of the largest independently owned public relations and digital marketing firms in the United States. Under his leadership, 5W is the AI Communications Firm — building the category around generative engine optimization (GEO), AI search visibility, and how brands earn presence inside ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews.
Torossian founded 5W in 2003 and has scaled it across consumer, technology, financial services, healthcare, beauty, gaming, and crisis communications practices. 5W's research franchise — the AI Visibility Index Series, The GEO Reckoning, and The Missing Rung Report — has become the industry reference for measuring brand visibility inside AI-generated answers.
He is one of the country's foremost crisis communications experts and the author of For Immediate Release: Shape Minds, Build Brands, and Deliver Results With Game-Changing Public Relations.
5wpr.com | 5W Research | ronntorossian.com
5W is the AI Communications Firm, building brand authority across the platforms where decisions now happen — ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews — alongside earned media, digital, GEO, and influencer channels. www.5wpr.com
Examining current headlines, 5W CEO Ronn Torossian points out how public relations plays a huge role for the events and for the people who shape our times. Jimmy Wales to Vladimir Putin, the news we hear resounds of PR might, or the lack thereof.
Lately there has been a lot of talk in the public relations business about Cannes, France. What with the Golden Lions, the film festival and various celebrity sightings. As one who has vacationed in Cannes regularly with family, I can say first hand that indeed Cannes is a city which has benefited from PR.
I had the pleasure of meeting actor James Gandolfini on a number of occasions and he will be sorely missed. For me, I will always remember being with him one day on the set of "The Sopranos.”
There are so many sectors where people invest to build their brand – consumer goods, entertainment, technology. A sector where there’s a dearth of major brands considering that it is one of the largest sectors in the world? Real estate. Quick – how many brands can you name in the real estate world? Donald Trump – great. Who else?
Worldwide, crisis communications attracts more attention, as a leading Australian University, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) is offering a new class to address current thinking in crisis communications, as part of the PR Master Class series. Let’s hope the trend of increased attention and awareness on our industry continues – can only help all of us.
The 2011 book, “Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle” took the technology world by storm as it “addresses the trillion dollar question: How is it that Israel-- a country of 7.1 million, only 60 years old, surrounded by enemies, in a constant state of war since its founding, with no natural resources-- produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada and the UK?” And indeed, the book discussed the resilience, aggressiveness and risk-taking of Israeli companies as they grow and succeed in worldwide markets.
With Angelina Jolie being lauded as a hero worldwide for her valiant effort to have a preventative double mastectomy, there’s also the BRAND and PR story of Angelina Jolie. Even previous to this, Jolie’s brand has shined - Best-selling PR Book “For Immediate Release: Shape Minds, Build Brands, and Deliver Results with Game-Changing Public Relations” by CEO of 5W Ronn Torossian had a section on Jolie.
While the American government has a master of public relations President Obama at its helm, the Internal Revenue Service has handled its PR crisis in a terrible manner this week when it came to handling the media.
I am flabbergasted as to why more people in our industry aren’t utilizing Op-eds and blog posts more as Google Rankings continue to reward websites and authors who produce high-quality content regularly. One would think that anyone employed at a PR Firm should be jumping for joy, as unique content placed properly can help rapidly move relevant search rankings – yet very few in our industry write often. Perhaps I should be happy as it benefits my company – but it is just amazing that PR pros don’t spend more time writing as it can have major impact on search engine activity.
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