Wawner Strategies Relaunches as The Category

Award-winning Charleston area public relations firm rebrands around the positioning thesis that built it

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C., Aug. 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Wawner Strategies, the boutique public relations and communications firm founded by Kat Wawner in 2022, today announced its relaunch as The Category, a public relations firm. The rebrand includes a new name, a complete visual identity designed by Winston Studio, and a new home at thecategory.com.

The name is drawn from the positioning philosophy the firm applies to every client engagement: some brands enter a category, the right one becomes it.

"Our clients were never meant to compete for attention in a crowded market. They were meant to be the reason people walk in," said Kat Wawner, Founder and CEO of The Category. "For four years we have held client brands to that standard. The new name holds us to it too."

Since its founding, the firm has secured national placements for clients in outlets including Forbes, Vogue, CNN, People, Southern Living, Garden & Gun, and Travel + Leisure, and has produced some of the Charleston area's most talked-about brand launches and events. The firm was named 2025 Innovator of the Year by the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce and PR Agency of the Year at the Small Business Awards, and was a PR News Boutique Agency of the Year finalist.

Before founding the firm, Kat Wawner spent two decades inside the biggest rooms in communications, leading work for Comcast, Johnson & Johnson, Samsung, the Preakness Stakes, the FDA, and the giants of global CPG across Australia and New Zealand. She founded the agency that became The Category on a simple conviction: growing brands deserve big-agency strategy without the big-agency distance.

All client engagements, contracts, and team assignments continue uninterrupted under the new name.

About The Category
The Category (formerly Wawner Strategies) is a public relations firm based in the Charleston, South Carolina area. The firm builds brands around what makes them unrepeatable, pairing national media relationships with founder-level strategy. Learn more at thecategory.com.

Media:
Elizabeth O'Halloran
Publicist at The Category
[email protected]

SOURCE The Category