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| Traci Otey Blunt |
Blunt Group Strategies, a boutique Black and woman-owned firm that provides strategic consultation for clients in the sports, politics, and entertainment sectors, is started up by Traci Otey Blunt, former senior vice president, corporate communications at the NFL...In that position, Otey Blunt led communications strategies across several priority areas, including rapid response; business operations; NFL media; diversity, equity and inclusion; and social corporate responsibility. Before coming to the NFL, she held several leadership roles at The RLJ Companies and was deputy communications director for Hillary Clinton during the 2008 presidential campaign. “I have worked with dozens of leaders in politics, sports and entertainment, as well as in the corporate sector. These experiences have shown me the intricate dynamics required for successful, cross-industry collaboration,” said Otey Blunt.
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| Smitha Rao |
Inkhouse is holding a virtual event on Nov. 12 that will examine diversity in media as well as broadcast pitch angles. The 9:30 a.m. “meet the press” media panel event, which will be moderated by Inkhouse director of media strategy Smitha Rao, will feature NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt producer Mary Godie, Black News Channel producer Maria White Tillman and Archith Seshadri, a broadcast global journalist based in Atlanta. Among the topics to be discussed is where organizations are succeeding with diversity and where they need to improve.
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Allison+Partners launches Connected Thought Leadership, a global offering designed to help CEOs and other leaders stand out in competitive environments by developing bold ideas and powerful, memorable conversations. The offering combines research, narrative discovery and messaging sessions, and robust integrated communications to help companies and business leaders establish a strong corporate reputation and differentiated thought leadership positioning. “We built CTL on over 20 years of experience helping top brands develop a thought leadership platform for the C-suite that is aligned to their mission, vision and values, and leverages 360-degree storytelling to help companies and institutions all over the world lead dynamic conversations while creating real social impact,” said Aydelotte, a partner and managing director in the agency’s corporate practice, who helped lead the development of the new offering.
Fire on the Hill, and Fourth Day, along with its sister company Quatrième Jour, are merging... 5W publishes a study that says many long-time media heavy hitters are coming up short in terms of their AI influence... EducationDynamics, a higher education marketing and enrollment management company, acquires Net Natives... Mark Allen & Co. is launching an expanded thought leadership model with multiple activations at Cannes Lions 2026. 
4media group acquires The CauseWay Agency, a purpose-driven communications agency specializing in public service announcements... Featured, an AI co-pilot for PR, launches a platform that will allow PR professionals and subject-matter experts to find media opportunities, submit pitches, and land featured placements... IPREX, a global network of independent communications and marketing agencies, brings on Heidi Otway of SalterMitchell PR in Florida as global president.
Montieth & Company introduces M&Co Litigation Intelligence... BERA.ai, a brand measurement platform that ties brand equity to revenue and business growth, introduces BERA LLM Brand Rankings... Matter launches its PR Media Group.
PRSA adds author and branding expert Sally Hogshead and three-time Daytime Emmy Award-winning journalist and entrepreneur Gaby Natale to the keynote lineup for ICON 2026, its annual conference for public relations and communications professionals... Publicity for Good founder and CEO Heather Holmes releases “Seen by AI, Found by Customers”... 5W AI Communications publishes “The 5W Retrieval Index — Volume I: The AI Retrieval Economy, 2026.
Edelman launches Edelman Intelligence, bringing together the firm’s proprietary AI solutions, data science, research, analytics and predictive intelligence capabilities into a unified organization... Havas Paris is acquiring Format, an agency specializing in next‑generation corporate influence communications... Trevelino/Keller launches Exec-AI, a solution aimed at demonstrating the power of executive visibility across generative AI platforms as well as measuring an executive's contributing visibility lift on the companies they lead.
