Bulleit Group Wins 2025 Innovation SABRE for Start-Up Marketing: A Playbook for High-Stakes AI Comms
The Bulleit Group won the 2025 Innovation SABRE Award in the Start-Up Marketing category for its work with Civitai, the open-source platform for AI-generated images. Recognized by PRovoke Media, the campaign "From Correction to Celebration: How Civitai Overcame Scrutiny in the AI Image Revolution" was honored for a clear, transparent response to public scrutiny.
The team's multi-layered framework reinforced Civitai's leadership on generative AI safety, platform governance, and creator empowerment. For PR and communications leaders working near sensitive technologies, this is a clean example of how to stabilize narrative, build trust, and turn pressure into momentum.
What PR teams can learn
- Lead with evidence: publish transparency reports and document safety practices in plain language.
- Make executives visible: consistent, accountable leadership calms speculation and signals control.
- Align comms and product: ship safety improvements while telling the story behind them.
- Name the approach: codify a framework (like Civitai's SPINE) so policies become repeatable operations.
- Invest in community: programs and events build credibility that headlines can't shake.
- Measure what matters: track sentiment shifts and user growth, not vanity metrics.
The response playbook behind the win
When misleading allegations questioned Civitai's content moderation, The Bulleit Group led a phased response across executive communications, press engagement, product storytelling, and community trust-building. The team launched a public Safety Center, introduced transparency reporting, and formalized SPINE-a platform-wide approach to surfacing, preventing, and neutralizing harmful outputs.
This wasn't handled as a one-off fix. It was built as a system: clear policies, visible leadership, and product updates that matched the message.
Results that stick
Within a year, Civitai reduced negative media sentiment by 94% and doubled its creator community to more than six million monthly users. The brand also extended its cultural footprint with initiatives like the Project Odyssey Film Competition and its first in-person AI creator gala.
The campaign reframed Civitai as both a technical leader and a steward of ethical, creative AI expression. The outcome: a reset narrative backed by measurable impact.
Why it worked
From the outset, communications, product, and leadership moved in sync. Every decision was anchored in factual context and long-term positioning, so the response was durable-not reactive. That consistency under pressure is what turns scrutiny into credibility.
Quote
"Companies that sit at the center of emerging technology require clarity and accountability," said Katie Helander, Director at The Bulleit Group and account lead for Civitai. "Our work with Civitai showcases how narrative systems, consistent executive visibility, and clear safety storytelling can reset public perception and restore trust during the highest-stakes moments."
Put this into practice
- Publish a safety hub with policies, process, and reporting in one place.
- Stand up an incident and response framework that assigns owners, timelines, and escalation paths.
- Brief executives weekly with message maps, FAQs, and media guardrails.
- Announce product safety updates with third-party validation where possible.
- Track sentiment weekly by outlet, author, and topic cluster; share wins and gaps internally.
About The Bulleit Group
The Bulleit Group is a public relations and narrative systems consultancy that builds communications infrastructure for high-stakes technology companies. In 2025, the firm was named one of PRovoke Media's Agencies of the Year and earned five SABRE category wins: Startup Marketing, Executive Visibility, Entertainment, LinkedIn Strategy, and Transportation & Logistics.
The agency partners with venture-backed startups, growth-stage companies, venture capital firms, and global enterprises on positioning frameworks, media strategy, thought leadership, content, social, crisis communications, and AI-optimized visibility reporting. Sector experience includes artificial intelligence, aerospace, defense, climate tech, logistics, creator infrastructure, and fintech, with clients such as Google, LinkedIn, Airbus, Bloomberg, Procter & Gamble, Zoox, Civitai, LVK, and Impulse Space. Learn more at bulleitgroup.com.
Media Contact
info@bulleitgroup.com
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