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| Chris Clarke |
Fire on the Hill, a strategic communications consultancy headquartered in London, opens an office in New York. Agency co-founder Chris Clarke will be leading the New York office, supported by associate director Niveen Saleh. It will target clients in technology and telecoms, renewable energy, sustainability, corporate and professional services and provide services including thought leadership communications, reputation management, strategic media relations and content development for media, social and digital. In additions to its London and New York locations, Fires on the Hill serves clients through an international network of partners.
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Karbo Communications launches PowerStart, a new PR and digital marketing offering designed to help early-stage tech startups increase visibility, drive business growth, and acquire VC funding. PowerStart’s services are offered in a range of flexible packages that include differentiation-based narrative development, packaging customer and market insight data, and story pitching to top-tier press, media kit/press material development, interview management, spokesperson coaching, and content audits. Its flexible pricing structure is specifically designed to help startups in today’s tough economy. “We’re democratizing access to topflight services so startups can pick and choose the elements that will support their immediate business goals,” said Karbo Communications founder and CEO Julie Karbo. “We fill the gap between innovation and large marketing investments, giving them the flexibility and visibility they need to jumpstart their success and leapfrog the competition.”
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RLF Communications, a Greensboro, NC-based agency, acquires Raleigh-based Clairemont Communications. This is the second acquisition for RLF this year. In January, the firm acquired BAERING Group. Clairemont founder and CEO Dana Phelps will become chair of RLF and serve on the company’s leadership team. The acquisition of Clairemont is intended to strengthen RLF’s depth and experience in industries such as manufacturing, real estate development, nonprofits and financial services, while bolstering its existing team in Raleigh. “I have known Dana for nearly 20 years and been deeply impressed with her agency’s commitment to strategy and service for its diverse clients,” said RLF CEO Monty Hagler. “That experience and knowledge will help us bring fresh perspectives and innovative ideas to our clients.”
Precision Strategies, an integrated strategy and marketing agency with offices in Washington and New York, acquires Firehouse Strategies, a DC-based public affairs firm... AVENIR GLOBAL acquires London-based Thinks Insight & Strategy... Good Company, which bills itself as a “cultural engineering firm,” is launched by DJ Hardy, a veteran of Johannesburg-based communications consultancy arxna and M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment and Casey Stickles, who has worked at 5WPR, Rubenstein and MWW.
PSC (Princeton Strategic Communications) acquires Nonprofit Partners... CG Life launches 24/364, a cultural brand platform intended to drive awareness, connection and action aimed at keeping rare disease at the forefront of the health and social conversation... Interluxe Group, which focuses on brand experiences and in-person activations; Quinn, a strategic communications agency; and media and digital agency North & Warren are uniting under the Interluxe Group banner.
KITH, which provides corporate reputation and crisis preparation services, is now owned by CEO Stephanie Craig, who has been with the firm since 2021... The Marketing Cloud, a part of Stagwell, introduces several expansions to Agent Cloud, the platform it launched in October 2025 to simplify access to its AI tools and marketing assistants.... Notified launches its AI Press Release Optimizer.
V2 Communications launches its AI Visibility Solution and Earned Media at Scale, two service offerings designed to help companies increase visibility and credibility in generative search... The Public Relations Global Network brings on Greenough Communications as its Boston member agency... DBC is relaunching The DBC Industry Calendar as a free site to help communicators more easily discover relevant events and awards in the cluttered event landscape driven by the growth of webinars and online events. 
PAN releases new original research showing that a significant share of B2B citations surfaced by ChatGPT are inaccurate, misattributed or entirely fabricated, introducing a new credibility risk for brands... REQ, which has offices in DC and San Diego, opens in Phoenix... Notified introduces Market Intelligence, an addition to its all-in-one IR Hub, which gives IR teams a more streamlined way to prepare for earnings calls.
