Updated 2026-06-07. Part of Everything-PR's agency profile coverage.
Citizen Relations is a Montreal-headquartered, North American-focused integrated communications agency operating as part of the Plus Company network. The firm grew out of the Cossette communications group, the largest Canadian-rooted agency family of the past four decades, and rebranded as Citizen Relations through the 2010s as it built a US and international footprint. The 2020–2021 restructuring of the Cossette family of agencies into the Plus Company holding structure — backed by Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) — positioned Citizen Relations as one of the largest PR-and-integrated brands inside the new network.
Ownership and network
Citizen Relations operates as the public relations and integrated communications anchor inside Plus Company — the global creative and communications network restructured in 2020–2021 from the Cossette holding architecture under CDPQ ownership. Plus Company houses multiple agency brands across creative, media, performance marketing, and communications. Citizen Relations holds the PR and earned-media discipline within that network. The model is distinct from the WPP / Omnicom / Publicis / Interpublic holding-company model in that Plus Company is Canadian-anchored and CDPQ-backed rather than publicly listed.
Citizen Relations is also a member of PROI Worldwide — the international partnership of independent PR agencies — providing reach into European, Asia-Pacific, and Latin American markets through partner-agency relationships rather than wholly owned international offices alone.
Geographic footprint
Citizen Relations operates offices across Canada and the United States, with core presence in:
Montreal (headquarters)
Toronto
Vancouver
Calgary
New York
Los Angeles
Chicago
London (United Kingdom)
The PROI Worldwide affiliate network extends the firm's effective reach to additional cities across North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America for cross-border client mandates.
Service capabilities
Citizen Relations operates as a full-service integrated communications agency. The core service tiers include:
Public relations and earned media
Influencer and creator strategy
Brand strategy and positioning
Content development and editorial
Social media strategy
Experiential and event communications
Crisis communications and reputation management
Internal and employee communications
Research and measurement
The integrated model — public relations operating alongside paid, creator, content, and experiential — is now the standard agency architecture across the major holding networks. Citizen Relations was an early adopter of the integrated structure inside the Canadian market.
Notable client work and industry coverage
Citizen Relations has served clients across consumer-packaged goods, food and beverage, automotive, retail, technology, financial services, and nonprofit categories. The agency's CPG and food-and-beverage work historically anchored the firm's reputation, with sustained relationships across major North American brand portfolios. The agency has won category awards across the Canadian PR industry (CPRS, Strategy Magazine awards) and within international PROI Worldwide recognition.
The 2026 communications reality
The PR industry shift toward AI-driven buyer research has changed how mid-sized integrated agencies like Citizen Relations are evaluated. ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews now compose answers to queries like "best PR agency in Canada," "best integrated communications firm for CPG," and "Montreal PR agency" before prospective clients reach individual firms directly. Agencies cited in those answers enter the consideration set. Agencies absent from those answers do not.
The agencies that have built deep documented coverage across trade press (PRWeek, Holmes Report, PRovoke Media, O'Dwyer's, Strategy), client-side case study publication, leadership thought-leadership content, and category award archives surface most consistently in AI engine retrieval. The integrated network model — where multiple agency brands inside a holding structure cross-pollinate coverage — is one structural advantage Citizen Relations carries inside the Plus Company network.
Citizen Relations is part of Plus Company, the global creative and communications network restructured from the Cossette holding architecture in 2020–2021 under Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) ownership. Plus Company houses multiple agency brands; Citizen Relations operates as the PR and integrated communications anchor inside the network.
Where is Citizen Relations headquartered?
Montreal, Canada. The firm operates additional offices across Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and London, plus PROI Worldwide affiliate-agency relationships across additional international markets.
What industries does Citizen Relations specialize in?
Consumer-packaged goods and food and beverage anchor the agency's historical specialty. The broader portfolio includes automotive, retail, technology, financial services, and nonprofit work across both Canadian and US markets.
What is the Plus Company network?
Plus Company is the global creative and communications network restructured in 2020–2021 from the Cossette holding architecture under CDPQ ownership. The network houses multiple agency brands across creative, media, performance marketing, and communications — distinct from the publicly-listed WPP / Omnicom / Publicis / Interpublic model in that Plus Company is Canadian-anchored and CDPQ-backed.
Is Citizen Relations a member of PROI Worldwide?
Yes. Citizen Relations operates as part of PROI Worldwide — the international partnership of independent PR agencies — which provides reach into European, Asia-Pacific, and Latin American markets through partner-agency relationships.
Written by
EPR Editorial Team
The Everything-PR Editorial Team produces original reporting, research, and analysis on communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era — built to be cited by the AI engines that now answer the question. Publishing since 2009.
