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Its easy to say that the name of the advertising game has always been attention. But the level of skill, belief, strategic rigor, creative confidence, and sheer will required to win this game has never been higher or more complex.Effectively engaging with culture in this pursuit has never been more important or desired by brands and marketers than it is right now, thanks to an ever-fragmented media landscape. There is almost nothing better at attracting our attention and, importantly, keeping it. Why? Because we care. We talk to our friends and family about it. We engage in online and IRL communities about it. The brands and agencies on this years list are finding more unique and impactful ways to genuinely embed their work into culture, or make our experience with it better, more interesting, helpful, or entertaining. Thats whats really earning our attention.But there is a difference between engaging with culture and chasing it. This years honorees have kept their work from feeling late to the game or as if its capitalizing on stale trends. Every brand is seemingly into collaborations, but Liquid Death comes at its unpredictable iterations from a comedy angle. Airbnb managed to create a product extension through its own cultural intermingling, and now its Icons platform allows guests to book stays in IRL pop-cultural locales. Yetis product quality is its baseline, but it wears its heart on its sleeve with films that can defy marketing logic yet make perfect brand emotional sense. Norwegian agency NewsLab flipped our expectations for a tourism ad on its head and uses sarcasm to hilariously sell Oslo to the world.The work and companies honored this year have shown that there is no single magic bullet when it comes to utilizing culture, but you do have to know where to aim.1. Liquid DeathFor giving the brand collab new lifeIn a scene straight from the 90s, two girls fawn over a heartthrob in a teen magazine. But instead of looking like Freddie Prinze Jr., the object of their affection is covered in Gene Simmons-style black-and white face paint. Suddenly, he materializes in the room holding a coffin-shaped, heavy-metal makeup kit from E.l.f. Cosmetics and water brand Liquid Death. Launched in March 2024, the ad hit 12 billion impressions in two weeks, and the limited-edition Corpse Paint sold out in less than 45 minutes. Founded by marketing veteran Mike Cessario, who copied the language of energy drinks while bringing his heavy-metal-themed water brand to life and has internalized the absurdities of commercial culture, the company spent 2024 using its collabs and other campaigns to spoof our cultures entire relationship with advertising while still producing great creative. With ice cream brand Van Leeuwen, Liquid Death debuted a hot-fudge-sundae-flavored sparkling water last August that sold out in seven hours, cementing the questionable beverage as Amazons most successful limited-time grocery product. Alongside Depends, it launched the $75 Pit Diapera spiked pleather diaper made for moshing and avoiding dive-bar bathrooms. The product was a plug for Depends adult incontinence products, naturally. Being a strong collab partner has been good business. The company hit a record $333 million in sales in 2024, with a growth rate nine times the overall bottled water category. With its $1.4 billion valuation, the company is eyeing an IPO, retaining Goldman Sachs last summer to explore the possibility.Read more about Liquid Death, honored as No. 43 on Fast Companys list of the Worlds 50 Most Innovative Companies of 2025.2. Superconnector StudiosFor pioneering a way to make brand work genuinely entertainingIf you want to know what the future of brands infiltrating entertainment will look like, keep an eye on Superconnector Studios. Nearly two years since its 2023 launch, the company is is uniquely reshaping the relationship between brands and Hollywood. Last year, Superconnector worked with LVMH to create the luxury goods companys new entertainment arm, 22 Montaigne, to explore content possibilities and Hollywood partnerships for its 70 brands. Now, it has 30 active film and television projects with A-list entertainment partners, such as Oscar-winning producer Stacey Sher, Imagine Entertainment, and Box to Box Films, across multiple LVMH brands, including Tiffany & Co., Hennessy, Dior, Moët & Chandon, Belmond, Marc Jacobs, Bulgari, and Sephora.Beyond LVMH, the company has been working with AB InBevs Draftline Entertainment division, Box to Box Films (the studio behind Drive to Survive), Netflix, and Stella Artois on an upcoming sports documentary series focused on Wimbledon. The company has formalized its sports connections by launching Superconnector Sports, a division in partnership with 32-year Nike veteran and Nikes longest-serving global CMO, and two-time Olympic athlete, Dirk-Jan DJ van Hameren.One person excited about the new sports division is Omaha Productions founder and NFL Hall of Famer Peyton Manning, whos worked with Superconnector on a partnership between Bud Light and the next season of Omahas Netflix show Quarterback. The team over at Superconnector has been great partners, says Manning. Weve teamed up on several projects, and theyve delivered on every single one. Im excited to keep working together to help tell great sports stories.3. AirbnbFor turning iconic locations like the Roman Colosseum into epic marketing and a place to sleepTwo years ago, Airbnb learned an important lesson when it rented out an IRL Barbie Dreamhouse, garnering twice as many impressions as the companys IPO announcement: People get excited about iconic, unique locations tied to pop culture and history. That insight led to Airbnb launching a permanent feature called Icons. Combining experiential and brand partnership opportunitiessuch as giving people the opportunity to rent the house from Pixars Up or the X-Men mansionit started in May with 11 experiences, with more added throughout the year.Each Icon opportunity has a countdown for when the listing goes live, and guests can request to book through the app. Guests are then picked from a drawing, and those picked get a digital golden ticket. Most Icons are free, and those that charge are priced under $100 per guest. All told, the company made 4,000 tickets available in 2024.More than a new product, Icons has fueled visitor growth for Airbnb. From May to September, there were nearly 57 million viewers of Icons on Airbnbs site and more than 1 billion social impressions. It was also a major factor in the company registering 1.7 million new customer profiles between the Icons launch in May and the end of the year.4. NewsLabFor completely and hilariously changing the vibe of what a tourism ad can beWhen it comes to tourism slogans, odds are that I wouldnt come here, to be honest would rank pretty low among marketers, but its the line at the center of the tourism campaign for the Norwegian creative studio NewsLab.Launched in June 2024, the commercial follows Halfdan, an indifferent native Oslovian as he shows a camera crew around the city, questioning whether it is even a city, and lamenting the areas walkability and beach access. He also finds fault in the citys public amenities as he sullenly gazes out at beautiful landscapes. The ad quickly went viral for its dry humor and reverse psychology, which flipped the script on the often overproduced, and frankly, corny approach thats typical for American tourism spots.The result was more than 20 million views, global news coverage, and a complete vibe shift in what a tourism ad can be. And now we all know a bit more about Oslo than it being the hometown of Edvard Munch and A-ha.5. Johannes LeonardoFor teaming with Anthony Edwards to put the swagger and fun back into basketball sneaker adsAd agency Johannes Leonardos 2024 campaign for Adidas made one thing clear: the sportswear brand has a bona fide star on its hands with Minnesota Timberwolves player Anthony Edwards. Not only does he have the skills to be a future face of the NBA, hes got a sense of humor, is a natural on camera, and talks just the right amount of trash.The campaign was strategically released only on Instagram in order to truly tap into the online communities of hoops fandom culture.The first spot had Edwards and his pal digging in a bag of other stars debut kicksJa Morant, Luka Donèiæ, and LeBronand declaring the superiority of his own new shoe.In another spot, Edwards is shooting hoops while his pal reads out receipts of people criticizing him. Edwards reacts to real comments from legend Carmelo Anthony and rapper Camron. Most brands shy away from controversy. But its exactly what Johannes Leonardo was going for. Stir the pot. Get people talking. What makes this campaign great is the brand and Edwardss willingness to name names. Having Edwards respond to critics a day after being eliminated from the NBA playoffs was a bold move. But Johannes Leonardo and Adidas used the opportunity to remind everyone, as Ant says, that this is just the beginning. The work helped propel The AE 1 to be Foot Lockers bestseller in 2024, generating 443 million impressions, and five sellout dropswithout a dollar spent on traditional advertising media like TV ads.6. McCann WorldgroupFor teaming up with Xbox to turn soccer gaming skills into an IRL jobFootball Manager is widely considered the most realistic game simulating what its like to manage a soccer team. So when it came to the launch of Football Manager 24, McCann had an incredibly ambitious idea for its Xbox client. If the game really was the closest thing to the real deal, why not make it that much closer? So McCann used the launch campaign to help the small English club Bromley FC recruit its next tactician from an untapped talent pool: gamers.The campaign invited gamers to apply for the job of a support performance tactician for the South London club. Eventually, 23-year-old Nathan Owolabi won the job, and his experience was chronicled in a three-part doc series called Everyday Tactician, which aired on TNT Sports in the U.K. Now, that wouldve been cool enough. But Owolabi used the data skills he honed while playing the game to help Bromley achieve its best season ever, getting promoted to League Two for the first time in its 132-year history. This is an incredible result. Global soccer is dominated by rich clubs that can afford to hire top coaches and analysts, so this campaign gave Bromley a massive boost. And for Microsoft, McCanns work helped Football Manager 24 become the most-played edition in the history of the game franchise.7. Wieden+KennedyFor helping to launch Caitlin Clarks WNBA eraWieden+Kennedy continued to prove this past year that it knows how to help huge brands show up in big ways, in big moments. The agency in 2024 continued to flip the script on how McDonalds shows up in culture by actually celebrating something that it didnt create. For years, many famous manga books, anime films, and shows have featured references to WcDonalds, a fictional chain with upside-down golden arches. W+K decided to collaborate with big names in anime and manga to re-create WcDonalds IRL across more than 30 different markets with manga-inspired packaging, a special sauce, and anime episodes. A near perfect execution of a brand celebrating and collaborating over co-opting pop culture. The agency also helped McDonalds ride an unexpected wave of newfound Grimace popularity. When Grimace threw the first pitch at a Mets game in June, it kicked off a seven-game win streak for the team, and a beautifuland brandedrelationship was born. As the team kept winning, W+K kept hyping the connectionacross social media and IRL by turning the Empire State Building purple, and sending Grimace on the 7 train ahead of a playoff game. The Mets didnt win the World Series, but the Grimace work got 9.6 billion impressions across social and earned media.For longtime client Nike, W+K effectively tapped into the incredible waves of hype surrounding Caitlin Clarks final season of NCAA basketball. The You Break It, You Own It and This Was Never a Long Shot work around Caitlin Clarks record-breaking college season generated more than 21 million impressions and views across Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram.8. SauconyFor replacing screen time with running timeWhat does a running shoe brand have to do with the ongoing discussion around the impacts of screen time? This was a question Saucony answered with the Marathumb Challenge. It created the worlds first branded experience that measured the distance you scroll on your phone, and then compared it to the distance you move in real time. The goal was to gamify the idea of replacing at least some of your screen time with a run. Within the platform, users could track their daily and weekly progress, check out past wins, and motivate others by sharing completed challenges on their social media channels. Each week, if consumers moved their feet more than they scrolled through their feed, they were driven directly to the Saucony site and rewarded with exclusive swag.The risk of such a project is that it will come across less as a utility for a healthier life balance and more like a corporate scolding. But Saucony threaded the needle perfectly. Participants in the Marathumb Challenge collectively ran more than 739,431 miles, and the app boasted an impressive 75% retention rate, completely eclipsing the average of 35%. The entire effort garnered over 1 billion earned impressions, including more than $11 million in advertising value.9. New York LibertyFor making its mascot the MVP of the marketing teamShe rocks the pregame tunnel, is one of the most popular members of the WNBA champion New York Liberty, and is widely considered one of the most marketable sports stars in the Big Apple. With apologies to Sabrina Ionescu, the real star has been a 10-foot pachyderm named Ellie. The Liberty increased the number of sponsors by more than 60% year over year this season, which just happens to coincide with the teams mascot Ellie the Elephant becoming a key part of the teams partnership marketing efforts for the first time.Since being introduced in 2021, Ellie has established herself as a key part of the WNBA franchises brad and business model. The Liberty have cultivated her as the ultimate sports celebrityone that never ages, sells a lot of merch, never demands a trade, and never misses a shot. Her performances go far beyond the home-court crowd, with more than 150,000 Instagram followers and 178,000 on TikTok. Ellie is a distinct star in a sea of mascots, thanks to her celebrity styling and fashion sense. What other mascot wears Nikes and carries a Telfar bag? Vogue chronicled her getting ready for game two of the WNBA finals. That distinction has allowed the Liberty to not only unlock new sponsors but give them more ways to engage with fans. Ellie has been in the starting lineup for marketing campaigns for Xbox, Bumble, and Hero Cosmetics.10. YetiFor crafting branded content that is also a stand-alone piece of artThe accessories and gear brand has long produced short films that tell compelling stories tied to the outdoors, but last year it managed to evolve that genre in an inspiring way. It takes a careful eye to spot the brand opportunity in a 34-minute portrait of Jimmy Buffett and his group of friends in Key West, Florida, back in the late 1960s and 70s.But with All That Is Sacred, directed by Scott Ballew, Yeti saw a spiritual connection between the people who use its gear in the outdoors and the shared fishing obsession of writers like Tom McGuane, Jim Harrison, Guy de la Valdéne, and Richard Brautigan.The combination of interviews with those of the group still living, shot over the past few years, and footage from a little-seen 1973 doc called Tarpon, by de la Valdéne and Christian Odasso, is a magical portrait of a specific time and place. Its also a clear evolution of Yetis ambitions with film as well as a signal that brands can push themselves artistically with the right amount of creative courage. Yeti produced the film and launched it for free on YouTube last July across its digital channels. When McGaune was asked what he thought of the film being produced and promoted by a brand, he said, Given that its such a lovely piece of work, I hope it isnt dismissed as a commercial. No chance.11. FCBFor racing the past versus the present with F1 and Michelob UltraThe key to any great brand partnership is to create work that people actually want to watch or experience. In April, FCB worked with Michelob Ultra and F1s Williams Racing to create an incredibly unique sports TV special called Lap of Legends, the first-ever real-versus-virtual F1 race. Current F1 driver Logan Sargeant raced against the virtual avatars of Williams Racing legends like Mario Andretti, Alain Prost, and Jacques Villeneuve.The one-hour film used AR, AI machine learning and telemetry, as well as research from more than 720 races, 1,260 hours of footage, and 144,000 miles of racing to mimic the speed, style, technique, and strategy of the drivers and their cars. It was seen across 28 countries, scoring 4.5 billion impressions and 19 million views across all platforms. For FCBs Michelob Ultra client, it boosted month-over-month growth in organic search by 1,650%, and 23% growth in month-over-month social reach.Meanwhile, for Dramamine the agency created The Last Barf Bag, a delightful short film about the airplane sickness bag through the perspectives of enthusiast collectors, offering a fun, kooky approach to an incredibly tough product category.12. The Martin AgencyFor orchestrating distinct celebrity collabs, even for a pitchman as ubiquitous as SnoopIt all started in late 2023, but continued well into last year. The social post heard round the world, when Snoop Dogg announced he was giving up smoke, lit the internet on fire. For one of the planets most notorious weed smokers to even hint at giving it up was actually enough to get covered on the news. The agencys work for Solo Stove smokeless fire pits eventually attracted 19.5 billion media impressions, more than 10,000 media placements across 68 countries, generating $100 million in earned media while boosting unaided brand awareness by 2.5 times. The brand saw a 500% spike in organic search, a 70% increase in revenue, a 20% higher average order value, a 22% reduction in customer acquisition costs, and its best four weeks of firepit sales. This was an epic pop-culture troll that managed to do two things: First, it found a unique way to utilize Snoop as a brand spokesperson, even though he is arguably the most overexposed celebrity in advertising. And second, it did it in a way that actually boosted results for the brand immediately, and in the long term.That wasnt the Martin Agencys only pop-culture play last year. The agency worked with Wyclef Jean for its client TIAA on a sponsored anthem on financial literacy for Black Americans. While it doesnt immediately sound like fodder for a pop hit, the song was available on Amazon Music, and generated $100K in donations to First Generation Investors within a week, lifted TIAAs brand awareness by 63%, and website visits by more than four times.13. Nutter ButterFor making unhinged a long-term social brand strategyA cookie appears dripping over a playground thats on fire, like a Salvador Dalí clock. A young woman asks, Nutter Butter, are you guys okay? and two Nutter Butter cookies with composite faces move up and down in tandem with a rainbow Yes dancing above them. This is the mystical universe of absurdist oddities and inside jokes that Mondelez International-owned Nutter Butter has crafted for itself across social since 2023, but really took off this past year. To the uninitiated, a visit to Nutter Butter TikTok may feel like The Annoying Orange made by a rogue marketer on acid. But at a time when many marketers are covered in fear-induced flop sweats over the potential to make a mistake or offend, the cookie brands calculated shift to the unhinged shows that a distinct vision and commitment to it can yield impressive results. The 10 videos posted to Nutter Butters TikTok page in September had more than 87 million views, and the brand more than doubled its follower count in 2024. The numbers also added up beyond social. According to Stackline, an AI-enabled retail intelligence and activation platform, Nutter Butter sales on Amazon alone grew as much as 190% in 2024.14. TBWA\WorldwideFor harnessing AI tools to solve the needs of brandsLast June, the global ad agency announced its CollectiveAI platform, a suite of tools that leverage its insights and lessons from more than 11,000 creative minds in over 40 countries. Its not the only agency to develop in-house AI tools, but it is one of the most comprehensive and active over this past year. Featured in the suite is a tool that scales cultural research done through almost a decade of daily uploads. Brands can analyze certain cultural trends with a particular audience or product category, then generate ideas that can capitalize on that information. Another tool focuses on social media, trained on detailed case studies and data to provde pointed, expert solutions in research, strategy, and planning. It all sounds nice in theory, but TBWA has also been putting these tools into practice. For Moderna, the agency used these tools to build a Virtual Pharmacist to combat vaccine misinformation. For McDonalds, it built a Fan Truth Bot trained on more than 15,000 guest experiences in 29 countries. The bot identifies themes, suggests variations on existing fan truths, and generates new ones, helping the agency see fans in more creative ways and discover new ideas faster. Speaking of creative new ideas, the agency also created scented billboards in the Netherlands that didnt feature any outward branding except McDonalds red and the distinct aroma of the chains famous french fries.15. Uncommon Creative StudioFor grabbing New Yorkers attentionby putting rats under their feetAmid a fight for consumer attention, brand work can often veer into stunt products that dont fit in with a companys ethos or celebrity for celebritys sake. But Uncommons past year has seen it smartly deploy both tactics.Shortly after the London-based company opened its New York City office, it found a cunning way to capture locals attention and demonstrate its work. In February 2024, it put model and self-proclaimed rodent lover Jenny Assaf in its Ratboota custom pair of black leather knee-high boots, each with a taxidermied rat in the platform. Garnering more than 100 million views online in less than 48 hours, the boots went up for auction, with proceeds benefiting Mainly Rats Rescue, a nonprofit that finds homes for rehabilitated rats.Uncommon was equally creative in its work for clients. To celebrate mobile game developer Supercells first global launch in five years, Uncommon created a star-studded short film for the new game Squad Busters. Chris Hemsworth, Christina Ricci, Ken Jeong, Will Arnett, and Aulii Cravalho play game characters who follow one innocent man around his day, trying to convince him to join the game. At five minutes long, it risked resembling an overcooked SNL sketch. Instead, its a hilarious introduction to the games universe, while getting Nickelbacks How You Remind Me stuck in your head. It also helped Squad Busters become the fastest-ever mobile game to reach 40 million preregistrations.The companys work helped it grow its revenue 40% year over year in 2024.Explore the full 2025 list of Fast Companys Most Innovative Companies, 609 organizations that are reshaping industries and culture. Weve selected the companies making the biggest impact across 58 categories, including advertising, applied AI, biotech, retail, sustainability, and more.
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Have you ever finished off your last pickle spear and, craving a little more of that vinegary punch, taken a couple of sips of brine straight from the jar? Or maybe youre more open about your pickle juice habits and like to mix up a pickle martini in the light of day, rather than hunched over your fridge light at 2 a.m. Whatever you prefer, now theres a product designed for exactly those kinds of moments. Claussen, the Chicago-based pickle purveyor, has picked up on the TikTok trend of using pickle brine as a mixer for everything from Diet Coke to pickle cereal, and theyre meeting customers where theyre at with a new drink called Just the Brine. As the name suggests, Just the Brine is an eight-ounce bottle of juice-sans-pickle. The limited-edition product comes in a six-pack, and it debuted for a short time on GoPuff over the weekend in honor of St. Patricks Day (for those who missed out, it’s now available to win on Claussens website while supplies last.) Just the Brine is the latest evolution of a pickle craze that started back in 2022 (remember Sonics pickle slushie?) and has shown a shockingly strong staying power in the cultural zeitgeist. [Photo: Claussen] Care for some pickles with that brine? Since 2022, weve gone from pickle pizza and potato chips to Grillos pickle toothpasteand, judging by TikToks ongoing pickle obsession, it seems like the trend has yet to run its course. Users are finding ways to use the preserved vegetables that even the most ardent pickle fans never couldve imagined, like a pickle fountain or a fried pickle board. The next evolution of the trend, it seems, is to just lose the pickles altogether. Last October, Dua Lipas viral TikTok video mixing Diet Coke with pickle juice sparked a cultural moment, amassing over 12 million views, says Caroline Sheehey, Claussens brand manager. Inspired by her mixture, Claussen responded by seeding a product concept, Just The Brine, on Instagram. The post received nearly 70,000 likes and thousands of comments from fans sharing how they already love Claussens beloved brine and use it in a variety of ways such as after a sports workout, as a brine for their chicken, to help with dehydration as a morning after cure, cocktail mixer, and more. After seeing the fan response, Sheehy says, the team knew they had to make Just the Brine a reality. Claussen is marketing its brine bottles as a kind of dual-purpose product: a mixer to pregame your night out, and an electrolyte beverage for your inevitable hangover the next day. One serving size is two ounces, which contains 630 mg of sodium (about half the sodium content of a standard instant ramen pack.) [Just the Brine] is perfect for pickling at night and using as a mixer in your cocktails or soda, and perfect for unpickling the next morning as a refreshing electrolyte boost, Sheehy says. Its a strange marketing tactic, given that curing your pickle-induced hangover with more pickles seems like the quickest way to never want to set eyes on the color green again. But, lets be honest, the chances that Claussen ever actually adds this stunt product to its permanent line-up are slim to noneso the lucky few who get their hands on it might as well enjoy it via a pickle-fueled rager while it lasts.
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Her voice cracking with emotion as she stood under the fluorescent lights, Janice Blanock asked her local legislators in southwestern Pennsylvania to take a moment and leaf through the photos of her son that shed handed them. Theres really nothing different that I can say to you that I havent said already over the last several months, she told supervisors for the tiny township of Cecil outside Pittsburgh. I can, however, share these photographs. These are just a few of the many pictures we have of our son Luke, from the time he became ill until before he died. The supervisors were gathered to vote on a zoning ordinance amendment that would greatly increase the required buffer zone between oil and gas drilling operations and homes and schools. The proposed rule mandating a setback of 2,500 feetfive times the distance of the current lawhad originally been proposed as a statewide requirement by Governor Josh Shapiro when he was Pennsylvanias attorney general. A bill based on that recommendation later stalled out when introduced in the state House of Representatives. Blanock, a 30-year resident of Cecil, had a reason to take the issue seriously. Her son waged a three-year battle with a rare type of bone cancer known as Ewings sarcoma and died in 2016 at age 19. Many believe, though theres yet to be demonstrable proof, that his cancer could be tied to oil and gas drillings many carcinogenic pollutants, some that are radioactive. In 2019, a cluster of Ewings sarcoma cases was identified in Washington County, where Cecil is located. Cecils school district was hit particularly hard. The county is home to more than 2,000 natural gas wells and was the 2004 birthplace of the states fracking industry. (Fracking is a process in which sand, water, and chemicals are blasted into the earth to free fossil fuel.) A growing body of peer-reviewed research has linked living near natural gas drilling operations to cancers and respiratory, reproductive, and neurological damage. In 2023, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and the state Department of Health linked fracking exposure in the region encompassing Cecil to increased risk of asthma and lymphoma. Will you look at the damn picture, Darlene, Blanock urged one supervisor after handing her a photo of Luke. Around an hour later, the zoning ordinance passed and the room erupted with applause. With that, Cecila town of just 15,000 residents and no outsize political powerbecame the first jurisdiction in Pennsylvania to adopt such a restrictive measure, even as similar efforts at the state level have failed. But already it is facing legal challenges from two natural gas companies active in the areaTexas-based fracking company Range Resources, and Colorado-based gas pipeline company MarkWest Liberty Midstream. The Cecil Township Board of Supervisors meets monthly at the towns Municipal Building. [Photo: Audrey Carleton] Under current requirements, natural gas wells in Pennsylvania must be at least 500 feet from buildings and water wells, which environmentalists and medical experts say is not far enough. In 2023, a bill that would have required all new natural gas wells in the state to be located at least 2,500 feetnearly half a milefrom buildings and water wells was slated for a committee vote, but was abruptly killed at the request of Democratic leadership in the state House of Representatives. Three years before that, then-Attorney General Josh Shapiro released a grand jury report calling for a statewide 2,500-foot buffer between human activity and natural gas production. There is one point that is impossible to deny, the grand jury report stated. The closer people happen to live to a massive, industrial drilling complex, the worse it is likely to be for them. While that plea failed to get political traction, environmental groups continue to urge action. For their part, natural gas industry groups have minimized concerns about health risks associated with fracking exposure and have resisted proposals for setbacks or no-drill zones. But despite industry efforts, Cecil has gone its own way. The townships updated oil and gas ordinance prohibits new oil and gas wells from being drilled within 2,500 feet of protected structures, which includes homes, businesses, and religious institutions, and within 5,000 feet of schools and hospitals. Though the ordinance does not call for an outright ban on new drilling, Range Resources contends it would limit fracking in Cecil in such a way that it violates state law. The township argues otherwise: Wells located outside Cecil can still be drilled under the town. The ordinance also imposes additional restrictions on the industry that have generated less debate: It prohibits retention ponds for water used in the fracking process, places new noise restrictions on drilling, and limits work hours on well pads. I was not sure for the longest time that this was going to go this way, said Sarah Martik, a Cecil resident and executive director of the Center for Coalfield Justice, a southwestern Pennsylvania-based nonprofit environmental justice organization. This one thing is as far as weve ever gone, as far as regulating this industry in a way that is protective of our communities. But the road to this outcome was fraught. Documents obtained by Capital & Main through right-to-know requests reveal an up-close look at life in the shale fields, with citizens largely fed up with living alongside the natural gas industry. Noise, bright lights, and shaking at all hours were among the complaints emailed to supervisors in the months ahead of the vote. Here I am once again trying to prepare for another sleepless night, one resident wrote to the supervisors in May. My whole house shakes, my children are disturbed from sleep, my pets are afraid to be out in the yardcan you please help us. “I have SUFFERED from vertigo for years, another resident wrote in June, referring to vibrations from drilling at a nearby well pad that she felt in her home. You know in some places they torture people with this kind of low res hum and vibration. Torturebecause that is what it is. Documents also offer a look at the playbook the industry followed to curry favor among Cecil residents. Over the five years before the ordinance was adopted in 2024, Range Resources, the townships only active natural gas well operator with 34 active wells per state records, donated nearly to $300,000 to the community. The money was disbursed throughout the township, the encompassing school district, and local volunteer first responder organizations, and it was spent on festivals, childrens sports teams, a science fair, and CPR training sessions, according to a spreadsheet obtained by Capital & Main through a right-to-know request. Range Resources did not immediately respond to Capital & Mains request for comment. At least one township supervisor has financial ties to Range Resources. Records show Supervisor Darlene Barni has, for many years, maintained an oil and gas lease with the company; she ultimately recused herself from the final ordinance vote but participated in earlier stages of its development and routinely shares pro-oil and gas posts on Facebook. The company also weighed in at multiple stages during the drafting of the ordinance, using experts to testify against existing science that ties fracking to poor environmental and health outcomes and urging town leaders to refrain from enacting a setback as large as 2,500 feet. At least 92% of Cecil Townships surface property would be excluded from future oil and gas development, an attorney for Range Resources told supervisors in a letter. This would have the effect of limiting residents oil and gas royalty payments, he wrote. The attorney said the setbacks were exceedingly restrictive and inconsistent. Though the company currently has no permits under consideration for new well pads, Range Resources is challenging the ordinance with the townships Zoning Hearing Board. This process could take months, and the challenge is opposed by the township, residents, and several local environmental groups. At issue is whether Cecils ordinance is legal. Its a very, very specific question, said Kara Shirdon, who chairs the Cecil Zoning Hearing Board but recused herself for Range Resources legal challenge to eliminate the appearance of bias (Shirdon has been publicly supportive of the setback ordinance.) Though she said shes confident the ordinance will survive, she believes it will strain the townships resources. I think, honestly, the whole entire thing is because theyre pissed and they want to drain as much money as possible out of the township as punishment for not letting them do what they want to do. * * * Michelle Stonemark moved to Cecil township in 2012 after her parents bought around 30 acres there with the intent of housing their children and grandchildren. Her parents, sister, and family friends all built homes next to one another, in succession. And then it was my turn, Stonemark told Capital & Main. Just as I had gotten the drawing . . . we find out that Range Resources had applied to put a well pad in right behind my new house. With around 30 days notice, she recalled, Stonemark and her family found legal help and learned everything we could about fracking, in order to oppose the project. But their effort failed. We didnt have enough time. We were starting from nothing, she said. Drilling at the pad began in 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 lockdown, as Stonemark, her husband and three children were stuck at home. Today, the well pad, known as Augustine George, sits just over 500 feet from her home, she said, and routinely rattles the walls and windows and sends fumes into the air. She said she and members of her family often experience headaches, nausea, nosebleeds, and earaches. They can feel vibrations from the well pad in their chests, she said. Flaring would go off at any and all times, during the day, at night, she said. Flaring, which involves burning off excess methane, has been linked to asthma and other respiratory conditions. In response, Stonemark launched a Facebook page she uses to serve as an industry watchdog: She posts photos, videos, and documents relevant to the oil and gas industrys indiscretions, and publicly mourns the future she once envisioned for herself in Cecil. As I stand outside on this beautiful morning I cannot enjoy the day, she wrote in one post in May. A foul odor lingers in the air, and the constant low noises pulsate through my ears and head. Stonemark and her husband are also now attempting to intervene legally ad become a formal party against Range Resources challenge to the setback ordinance. Shirdon said she first caught wind of Range Resources plans for a well pad in 2017, less than a year after moving into her home. Since then, she said shes experienced headaches, sinus and respiratory issues, difficulty concentrating and sleeping, and irritability. The part that people underestimate, I think, is how much anxiety it causes, Shirdon said. Every time you feel the rumble, or every time you get stopped on the road, you start to worry, Are my kids being adversely affected by whats going on here? Merle Lesko has lived in his house nearby for nearly 30 years. Lesko said he and Stonemark often jokingly spar over who lives closer to the Augustine George pad. Salmon pink sound walls, dozens of feet high, poke through a line of trees behind his property. Lesko first urged the township to adopt a new buffer ordinance in early 2024, after regularly recording the decibel level emitted by the Augustine George pad at different locations in his house. He moved his bed and the desk where he works based on the lowest noise reading he found in his residencehis basementjust to escape the vibrations that would rattle his house. The noise was so bad, you could hear or feel the noise over a running lawnmower, he said. Theyve taken so many summers from me.” Though it took months of often impassioned debate, the adoption of Cecils ordinance has added fuel to a fight at the state level, where climate justice organizations are urging environmental regulators to increase the statewide oil and setback of 500 feet. In October, the Protective Buffers Pennsylvania campaign filed a petition with the states Environmental Quality Board, pushing for the adoption of an executive rule that would require a 3,281-foot buffer between fracking wells and buildings and water wellsa setback nearly 1,000 feet wider than in Cecils ordinance. There should be a baseline floor of protection for everybody in the commonwealth, said Lisa Hallowell, senior attorney at the Environmental Integrity Project, an environmental nonprofit that helped author the petition. More than 10% of Pennsylvanians lived within a half mile of an active oil and gas well as of 2022, the petition notes. Many share medical symptomsrashes, cancers, sleep disordersand have seen their water supplies affected by fracking, the petition states. Protective Buffers Pennsylvania has been involved in previous attempts to pass tougher statewide setback rules, including the 2023 bill that died in committee, Hallowell said. These efforts never got far. The Legislature has not had an appetite for that, she noted. Indeed, around the time that the 2023 setback bill was circulating through the Legislature, state Senator Gene Yaw of Williamsport, Republican chair of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, questioned the need for the measure at all, saying in a public hearing that he had not heard of any links between fracking and cardiovascular, reproductive, or nervous system damage. Yaw has, separately, disclosed personal income from oil and gas companies EQT and Equinor, and won his reelection to the senate in November after accepting thousands of dollars in campaign donations from the oil and gas industry. A group of Democratic senators has announced that they soon plan to reintroduce the 2,500-foot setback proposal. But that bill will face an uphill battle in a divided Legislature. Janice Blanock at home [Photo: Audrey Carleton] After helping cement the setback proposal as law in Cecil, Blanock now wants to see other communities protected. Were hoping this movement goes far and wide, Blanock said the day after the ordinance passed. I think, just the fact that that happened last night, people will learn about it [and think], If they can do it, why cant we? Several months later, as legal challenges threaten Cecils hard-won victory, Blanock remains resolute. She still chokes back tears when she talks about Luke, and still resents having had her concerns about health risks associated with fracking exposure denied by the industry. Its not just about Luke, she said. This is about my other children, my grandchildren, my community, my family, friends, neighbors. Blanock shares photos and mementos of her son Luke. [Photo: Audrey Carleton] They can appeal it, she said of the natural gas companies challenging the ordinance. And then we can appeal it. Were as strong in our resolve to win this as they are. This piece was originally published by Capital & Main, which reports from California o economic, political, and social issues.
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