Services
We Are Committed to
Being Our Clients’ Partners
AKCG offers comprehensive strategic communication solutions to elevate your brand and drive impactful results. Our team excels in crisis communications for organizations across a wide breadth of industries, including independent schools, higher education, and senior living.
We specialize in crafting thought leadership campaigns that position your brand as an industry authority, fostering trust and credibility with your target audiences. With our targeted media relations approach, we secure meaningful media coverage and build valuable relationships with journalists, amplifying your message and increasing brand visibility.
Whether you need assistance in crisis management, thought leadership strategy, media engagement, or other PR needs, we are dedicated to delivering tailored strategies that align with your unique goals, drive success and improve your bottom line.
Crisis Preparedness
While crises cannot always be prevented, they can be anticipated. Effective planning and training can go a long way toward ameliorating, or even avoiding, the potential damage to public perception a crisis can cause. A reliable crisis communication partner understands the organization’s culture, audiences, and voice, offering customized strategies to create positive outcomes among diverse audience segments. Regularly reviewing and updating crisis preparedness plans, and considering organizational changes, ensures the relevance and effectiveness of your strategy and allows your organization to be well-prepared for any potential challenges.
Our process includes an audit where we assess any current vulnerabilities, identify potential issues, and think ahead about possible crisis scenarios so that we may develop both honest and actionable plans that align with your brand’s voice and company values.
Media Relations
Media relations is a powerful tool for building brand trust, increasing visibility, and achieving business objectives, making it relevant for a variety of organizations seeking to gain credibility and generate additional visibility. AKCG specializes in providing exceptional media relations services, offering forward-thinking pitches, securing meaningful media placements, and building relationships with key influencers. Our team develops targeted strategies to amplify our clients’ voices and drive brand awareness through strategic media placements across various platforms.
Working with a media relations expert like AKCG offers several benefits, including specialized knowledge of your industry, expertise in crafting compelling stories, and strong relationships with journalists and editors.
Reputation Management
As your strategic partner, the AKCG team aligns closely with your internal communication strategy, selecting reputation management tactics that fit your goals, messages, audiences and team culture. We collaborate on proactive initiatives and rapid responses to stakeholder concerns to provide comprehensive support. Our media relations specialists craft relevant, newsworthy story angles and high-quality pitches and releases to secure consistent coverage and position your organization as an industry thought leader. After identifying opportunities to strengthen reputation, we develop a tailored stakeholder engagement plan and deliver specialized media and spokesperson training so key leaders can communicate confidently and consistently.
Crisis Response
We are experts in crisis management response, with years of experience assisting organizations to prepare for and effectively handle events that can impact their reputation. A crisis, regardless of its size, can significantly affect an organization’s goodwill. We emphasize the importance of immediate and open communication with key audiences to set the tone of the response before the situation escalates.
Our team is skilled at managing media inquiries, providing timely and transparent responses, and training spokespeople to deliver your organization’s messages effectively and maintain control of the narrative. With a wealth of experience and a strategic mindset, we are a trusted partner to navigate organizations through challenging times and restore trust and goodwill among stakeholders.
Spokesperson Training
Our spokesperson training aims to equip executives and individuals representing organizations with practical communication skills for media interactions and public facing roles. Participants learn to understand their value, role and responsibilities within the company, gaining confidence not only in media exchanges but also in various interpersonal settings.
The sessions cover fundamentals of message delivery, media landscape, and skills required for spokespersons. Mock interviews and recorded exercises with playback and critique help prepare individuals to handle on and off-air interviews and anticipate questions from reporters and journalists. Participants also learn techniques for using body language and vocal delivery effectively.
Lastly, this training instills confidence in spokespeople and brand representatives, enabling them to accurately represent their company’s views and beliefs during media interactions and handle unexpected situations professionally.
Thought Leadership
Thought leadership involves taking a bold stand, providing valuable content, and demonstrating expertise in a particular field to build trust and credibility with audiences. It requires strategic and consistent advocacy through various forms, such as guest columns, speaking opportunities, and content rich interviews.
The benefits of a successful thought leadership program include bolstering your organization’s position in the market and building relationships with stakeholders. The success of a thought leadership strategy is then measured based on established goals, which may include increased visibility, brand recognition, and tangible business outcomes.
We work with clients to define their distinct industry position. Then, we build programs to amplify their position and influence attitudes and behaviors rather than simply attaining publicity for its own sake. Components of our thought leadership programs include developing forward thinking pitches, facilitating media opportunities, drafting bylined articles, tracking industry trends, and curating news releases.
Naturally, our thought leadership programs are tailored to each client’s unique needs, with a strong focus on positioning our clients as industry experts and thought leaders to drive impactful and lasting media coverage.
Proud Partners of:
AKCG News
Recent Articles
AKCG Meet the Team Series: Olivia Napoli
In our Meet the Team series, we’re excited to shine a spotlight on the dedicated AKCG team members serving our valued clients. This week, meet Olivia Napoli, Associate Vice President at AKCG – Public Relations Counselors....
What Is Crisis Management? How to Know You’re Facing One
What Is Crisis Management? How to Know You're Facing One A crisis doesn't have to be a five-alarm fire to threaten your reputation. Here's how to tell the difference — and what to do next. By Bruce Hennes, President, AKCG –...
Katherine Schaffer: A Summer Intern Experience with AKCG
Katherine Schaffer: A Summer Intern Experience with AKCG 1.Can you describe your internship experience at AKCG? I interned at AKCG from May to August 2026. My internship experience at AKCG was so incredibly impactful and...
How to Be Persuasive: Executive Presence & Nonverbal Communication
How to Be Persuasive: Executive Presence & Nonverbal Communication When a superintendent addresses concerned families, a senior living executive responds to a reporter, or a university leader faces public criticism,...
How to Build a Brand Image Using PR
A brand image is the public's overall view or perception of an organization. It develops through decisions, daily interactions, public messages and the reputation people share with one another. At AKCG, we believe that...
AKCG Meet the Team Series: Gwen Quackenboss
Meet Gwen Quackenboss, Associate Media Analyst at AKCG – Public Relations Counselors. In her role, Gwen supports the media analysis team and works with both of the firm’s practices, crisis and media relations, to provide...






