Heron Agency: Chicago Lifestyle and Hospitality PR Profile

Originally published December 2020. Updated October 14, 2026.

What is Heron Agency?

Heron Agency is a Chicago lifestyle and hospitality communications firm founded in 2000 by Noreen Heron, who launched it as a one-woman shop. The independent, founder-led agency says it has planned and executed more than 1,500 campaigns for events, restaurants, theaters, franchises and consumer brands, and it marked its 25th anniversary in 2025.

Who founded and leads Heron Agency?

Noreen Heron founded Heron Agency in 2000 and leads it as founder. In a Ragan Communications interview, she said she had been PR director at Hyatt Regency Chicago for five years when a Hyatt marketing executive asked whether she would represent half of the chain's domestic portfolio, which became her anchor client. The same piece says she never worked at an agency before launching her own, that her first job was representing the musical "Nunsense" for Chicago's Forum Theatre, and that she has managed communications for six Broadway national tours.

What does Heron Agency do?

Heron Agency provides lifestyle and franchise PR, social and influencer outreach, and restaurant and hospitality campaigns, according to its description on EPR's earlier profile and the firm's Clutch listing. Its reported services include media training, video production, crisis communications, press conferences and cross-promotional partnerships. EPR's hospitality PR, food and beverage PR and entertainment and media PR sections cover the surrounding categories, and its crisis PR hub covers one of its offered disciplines.

Which clients has Heron Agency worked with?

Heron Agency's Clutch profile names events including the Taste of Chicago, the Race to Mackinac, the Jeff Awards, the Grand Chefs Gala, the Randolph Street Market and the One of a Kind Show, and corporate clients including Paper Source, Jet's Pizza, BV Wines, Wow Bao, Smirnoff, Orangetheory Fitness, Massage Envy and the Chicago Wolves. It also lists nonprofits such as the National Hellenic Museum, Alliance Francaise Chicago and the American Writers Museum. A Ragan profile adds Procter & Gamble and Hyatt. EPR's earlier profile cited a Paper Source campaign with 189 million impressions, a firm-supplied figure that was not independently verified and has been removed.

What recognition has Heron Agency received?

Heron Agency says it has won PR News Agency Elite Awards and BESPOKE Communication Awards, per its Clutch description, though the years and categories were not confirmed. EPR's earlier profile listed a Ragan Top Women in Communication honor for 2020, a 2019 National Customer Service Association award, a 2018 Maven Award and a 2017 Irish Professional Women of Chicago award; those individual honors were not re-verified.

How does Heron Agency compare with other Chicago PR firms?

Heron Agency is a small Chicago boutique, and EPR's Chicago PR firms directory and the PR agency profiles directory show how it sits among local agencies. For a much larger Chicago B2B agency, see the Walker Sands profile, and for another founder-led independent with hospitality clients see Durée & Company.

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Related: PR agency profiles, Chicago PR firms, Hospitality PR, Food and beverage PR, Entertainment and media PR