Explore St. Louis and Greater St. Louis, Inc. select BerlinRosen as shared agency of record
A coordinated communications move linking tourism promotion and economic development
Explore St. Louis and Greater St. Louis, Inc. have selected BerlinRosen as the agency of record for both organizations, formalizing a shared public relations strategy intended to elevate St. Louis’ visibility with national media. The announcement was released Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026.
The arrangement aligns the region’s lead destination marketing organization with its primary economic development group around a single external communications partner. Both organizations said the aim is to strengthen message coordination across tourism promotion, talent attraction and business recruitment—areas that often intersect in how metropolitan regions present themselves to site selectors, meeting planners, visitors and prospective residents.
What each organization does—and why messaging overlaps
Explore St. Louis operates as the public-facing destination marketing organization responsible for selling St. Louis City and St. Louis County as a convention, meeting and leisure destination, and it operates the America’s Center Convention Complex. The organization collaborates with hundreds of regional partners across hospitality and visitor-facing sectors.
Greater St. Louis, Inc., founded Jan. 1, 2021, consolidated five legacy civic and business organizations to unify regional economic development strategy across a 15-county, bi-state footprint. Its work includes business attraction and regional growth initiatives.
The shared selection of a public relations firm reflects a strategic premise both organizations emphasized in their statements: that economic development and destination marketing narratives can reinforce one another when cadence and positioning are coordinated.
How the shared-agency model is structured
Under the new partnership, each organization will maintain its own BerlinRosen team, with dedicated specialists supporting distinct priorities. The model also includes regular coordination between the two organizations, including monthly cross-team alignment meetings intended to synchronize messaging and identify joint opportunities.
One agency of record serving two separate organizations with different missions.
Dedicated teams for each organization, paired with routine coordination to avoid conflicting outreach.
A stated focus on proactive media engagement and national-level storytelling.
What changes—and what does not
The announcement centers on communications strategy rather than a formal operational merger. Explore St. Louis and Greater St. Louis, Inc. remain separate entities with different governance structures, funding streams and mandates. The shift is in how the region’s leading tourism and economic development institutions plan to package and advance St. Louis-related stories through earned media and broader strategic communications.
The organizations described the move as an effort to deliver a clearer, more coordinated regional narrative and to increase competitiveness in national conversations that influence investment, tourism and talent decisions.
The decision comes as cities and regions increasingly compete for meetings, events, corporate investment and workforce relocation—areas where perceptions shaped through media coverage, marketing and stakeholder messaging can affect outcomes over time.