What’s Changing in PR Right Now — Insights from Heddy DeMaria

There are conversations that stay with you because they help you make sense of what you are seeing in real time. My follow-up with Heddy DeMaria, Chief Insights and Strategy Officer at HUNTER, was one of those.

Heddy has a way of cutting through noise without oversimplifying what is actually happening. She is thoughtful, grounded and very clear about what matters right now for communicators who are trying to lead through a moment that feels anything but steady.

I began by asking her what surprised her coming out of Q1.

Her answer was telling. “It feels like a bit of a punt to say there’s not a heck of a lot of surprises, but there isn’t,” she said. And the reason behind that is what matters. Heddy and her team are not chasing short-term signals. They are studying the external forces shaping behavior, and those forces have not changed. If anything, they have intensified.

“We’re still in the same kind of environment,” she told me. “Unstable, mistrusting, not sure what’s going to hit us next.”

That context is everything. It means the trends HUNTER identified are not passing moments. “These are very much going to become part of the fabric of consumer behavior,” she said. “For the next three to five years.”

That kind of clarity is rare, and it is incredibly useful.

When we moved into the question of the gap between what consumers say and what they actually do, Heddy brought a sense of realism that I think many of us needed to hear. People aspire to be better. They want to eat well, live well and make smart choices. But real life gets in the way.

“The reality is, as much as people would like to do that type of stuff, when push comes to shove, what they say versus what they do can be very different,” she said.

Then she paused and shifted the lens in a way that really landed with me.

“The problem is less about consumers and probably more about brands.”

That is the tension communicators are navigating right now. Consumers may forgive themselves for inconsistency. They do not forgive it in companies.

That leads directly into what brands are still getting wrong.

Heddy did not hesitate. “We’re just in such a synthetic world right now where nobody knows what’s true, what’s not true,” she said. “People really need authenticity today.”

One of the strongest points she made is that leaning into AI for the sake of it can backfire when it pulls a brand away from its core truth. “When a brand embraces AI as a lead in their storytelling, they’re pulling us back from any type of authenticity, and that is not landing well.”

She shared two examples from the same category that could not have been more different. One brand leaned into AI-driven creative in a way that felt disconnected from its promise of human connection. The reaction was immediate and negative. Another brand focused on real people, real friendships and unscripted moments. It felt true to who they are, and it worked.

That contrast says more than any theory could.

When we talked about trust, Heddy’s perspective was both simple and demanding. “It’s no longer acceptable to talk the talk. You need to walk the talk. Proof points. Show us.”

What struck me is how operational her definition of trust is. This is not about messaging. It is about behavior. It is about knowing who you are as an organization and living that consistently across every audience.

“A lot of brands have values that are just words on a wall somewhere,” she said. “They have to live it.”

She also pointed out something that is easy to overlook. Audiences are no longer separate. Employees, partners, consumers and investors are all watching the same signals. “They cross-connect now,” she said. “They need to really live into who they want to be.”

We spent time on content and what is actually breaking through, and here again, Heddy reframed the question in a way that matters.

It is not that different topics are suddenly winning. It is how people are engaging with them.

“It’s not about what people are interested in. That hasn’t changed,” she said. “It’s about how they engage with it and how they dig deeper.”

She pointed to the continued growth of podcasts and subscription-based platforms as part of a broader shift toward what HUNTER calls knowledge nourishment. People are taking the time to understand what they are consuming. They are looking for depth, context and credibility.

“We don’t know anymore unless we spend the time with it,” she said. That line stayed with me.

As we started to close, I asked what communicators should be doing differently over the next 90 days.

Heddy did not offer a long list. She offered something more useful.

“Really understanding what your core DNA is,” she said. “What your perspective is, and then being true to that across all your actions.”

She was equally clear about what not to do. Do not oscillate based on perceived public opinion. Do not chase every shift in sentiment. Stay anchored.

Because the environment we are in is not stabilizing anytime soon.

“The real feels trend is not going away,” she said, pointing to the role AI and a more synthetic information environment continue to play. And until some of the broader pressures ease, economic, geopolitical and social, these patterns will hold.

“I can almost guarantee it,” she said.

That level of conviction comes from doing the work, looking at the data and understanding what is actually driving behavior beneath the surface.

If I had to take one idea from this conversation, it is this.

We are no longer operating in a world where communications can shape a narrative and move on. Every narrative is being tested in real time against what people see, experience and believe.

Heddy DeMaria understands that shift deeply. And she is helping HUNTER’s clients and the rest of us see it more clearly.