The Hayes Initiative

What The Hayes Initiative does

The Hayes Initiative (THI) is a New York-based boutique public affairs firm founded in 2017 by Anthony Hayes that delivers strategic communications, media relations, government relations and lobbying, crisis and issue management, campaign strategy and advocacy, social media, event planning, media training, and paid media services to enterprise, nonprofit, and political clients. Marquee engagements include Airbnb's annual lobby day in Albany, Bloomberg's UN General Assembly and New Economy Forum logistics, the 9/11 Memorial 20th anniversary commemoration, the Port Authority of NY/NJ, Time's Up NY advocacy, and political work for Kamala Harris and Kim Foxx.

In 2023, THI launched Ember, a real-time communications intelligence SaaS platform built in partnership with Polco. Ember monitors social, news, web, polling, and client data across 11+ sources, identifies communities and decision-makers driving sentiment, generates and tests messaging using proprietary audience-response modeling, and produces data-backed strategy memos grounded in 20+ years of longitudinal civic data across 40,000+ U.S. communities and 585+ community-level indicators.

THI monetizes primarily through professional services (retainers and project-based engagements with C-suite, nonprofit, and political clients, priced on quote) and increasingly through Ember subscriptions sold via a demo-led enterprise motion. The firm employs 1–10 people across a hybrid New York office and an emerging Enid, Oklahoma presence led by the founder, and reports seven-figure revenues with year-over-year growth. It is certified LGBTQ-owned, holds no disclosed institutional funding, and has earned recognition including Stevie American Business Awards Gold for Best PR Firm (2022) and PR News 2025 Agency Elite Top 120.

Name

The Hayes Initiative

Legal name

The Hayes Initiative

Website

https://hayesinitiative.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Hayes Initiative is a New York-based boutique public affairs firm serving Fortune 500, nonprofit, and political clients with strategic communications, government relations, crisis management, and event services, alongside its Ember communications intelligence SaaS platform built with Polco.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Public Affairs & Strategic Communications Services

NAICS

Public Relations Agencies (541820), Public Relations Agencies (54182), Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services (5418)

SIC

Services-Advertising (7310), Services-Management Services (8741)

akta.pro primary industry

Media Relations & Press Office Services (BPAFADAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Event PR & Communications Support (BPAFADAO), Nonprofit & Cause Communications (BPAFADAK), Social Media & Community Management (PR-led) (BPAFADAM), Political/GOTV & Advocacy Calling (Campaigns) (BPAAADAK)

Keywords

• Strategic communications
• Public affairs consulting
• Crisis management services
• Government relations
• Media relations

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Strategic Communications & Consulting Services: Professional services revenue from providing strategic counsel, media relations, crisis management, government relations, and campaign strategy to enterprise clients. The firm serves C-suite executives, non-profits, government officials, and political candidates with year-over-year growth and seven-figure revenues.
2. Ember Platform Subscription: Real-time communications intelligence platform offered as a SaaS solution for communications teams to monitor, analyze, and develop strategies.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Hayes Initiative is a boutique public affairs firm that delivers strategic communications, media relations, government relations and lobbying, crisis and issue management, event planning and execution, social media strategy, campaign strategy and advocacy, paid media, and media training services to enterprise clients, political campaigns, non-profits, and government entities. The firm also operates Ember, a proprietary real-time communications intelligence platform built in partnership with Polco that monitors social, news, web, polling, and client data sources to help communications teams identify stakeholders, model audience response, and shape messaging strategies.

Product overview

The Hayes Initiative (THI) is a public affairs firm offering strategic communications, government relations, and stakeholder management services. The company's primary technology product is Ember, a real-time communications intelligence platform developed in partnership with Polco that provides monitoring, audience identification, and messaging optimization. Alongside Ember, THI provides a comprehensive suite of professional services including strategic communications and media relations, social media strategy, campaign strategy and advocacy, media training, event planning, crisis management, government relations and lobbying, and paid media services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Ember: Real-time communications intelligence platform built in partnership with Polco, providing community-level data analytics, sentiment monitoring, and strategic messaging tools for communications teams.

Products and services

• Ember Ember is a real-time communications intelligence platform that monitors social, news, web, polling, and client data sources across multiple channels to identify communities, stakeholders, and decision-makers shaping outcomes. It enables message testing through audience response modeling, predicts sentiment shifts using 20+ years of longitudinal civic data, and generates data-backed strategy memos for communications teams covering 40,000+ U.S. communities with 585+ community-level indicators.
• Strategic Communications & Media Relations Strategic counsel and media relations services for C-level executives, non-profit organizations, government officials, and political candidates, including message development and brand awareness campaigns.
• Social Media Strategy & Execution Social media strategy services bridging traditional earned and paid media with social channels, ensuring cohesive messaging authentic to client brands, with influencer casting and analytics support through a strategic partnership with D'Marie.
• Campaign Strategy & Advocacy Campaign strategy and advocacy services at municipal, state, and federal levels for political candidates, issue campaigns, and legislative efforts.
• Media & Public Speaking Training Training services for media interviews and public speaking engagements, helping clients shape messages for target audiences and build presentation confidence.
• Event Planning & Execution Event planning and execution services for global events, conferences, galas, and bilateral meetings, with capabilities for worldwide press coverage.
• Crisis & Issue Management Rapid response and strategic guidance for crisis situations including crisis preparedness planning, real-time communications support, and post-crisis reputational repair.
• Government Relations & Lobbying Government relations and lobbying services at city, state, and federal levels to advocate for clients on bills, regulations, and discretionary funding, with relationships across multiple U.S. jurisdictions.
• Paid Media Paid media services integrating traditional broadcast and print advertising with programmatic advertising, SEM, and social media campaigns, with real-time optimization and weekly insights.

Quantifiable outcome

• Organized and staffed successful annual lobby day bringing more than 500 hosts from across New York to Albany
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers18 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

AI capability7 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• PolcocoreTechnology or IntegrationEmber was built through a unique partnership between The Hayes Initiative and Polco, combining award-winning communications strategy and execution with best-in-class civic data and analytics infrastructure. Polco is the nation's leading civic intelligence platform powering Ember with proprietary modeling, benchmarking, and community data. This partnership provides access to 40,000+ U.S. communities and 20+ years of validated civic research data.
• D'MariesupportingTechnology or IntegrationStrategic partnership with D'Marie, a social media analytics and casting software company. The partnership provides access to real-time data to determine brand true organic reach and influence, and helps identify which social media influencers will have the biggest impact for campaigns.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Marathon Strategies: NYC-based boutique public affairs and strategic communications firm offering media relations, crisis management, government relations, and high-stakes event execution — a very similar service mix, client profile, and size band to The Hayes Initiative.
• SKDK: Tier-one political and public affairs firm known for crisis, campaign, and corporate communications with deep Democratic-aligned relationships. Highly comparable in service mix and high-stakes client work, though materially larger in scale than THI.
• Tusk Strategies: Boutique political consulting and public affairs firm focused on campaigns, ballot initiatives, government relations, and crisis communications — directly comparable in the campaign strategy and government relations segments that THI emphasizes.
• The Ex Group: Diversity-focused boutique PR and public affairs firm serving Fortune 500, advocacy, and political clients. Closely comparable in size, client profile, and the diversity-owned competitive angle THI uses.
• Hamilton Place Strategies: Boutique public affairs and government relations firm offering strategic counsel, advocacy, and policy communications to corporations and trade associations — a strong comparability fit in service mix and enterprise client profile.
• BGR Group: Bipartisan government relations and public affairs firm with federal lobbying, public affairs, and strategic communications practices. Comparable in the government relations and strategic communications segments, though significantly larger.
• Resolute Public Affairs: Boutique public affairs and communications firm serving corporate, advocacy, and political clients with crisis, media, and government relations services — closely comparable size, structure, and service mix to THI.

Broad incumbents

• BCW (Burson Cohn & Wolfe): Global public relations and communications network offering public affairs, crisis, and corporate communications as part of a broad portfolio. Represents the kind of scaled incumbent THI competes against for Fortune 500 retainers.
• Edelman: Largest global public relations firm with a deep public affairs and crisis practice. Competes with THI for enterprise public affairs mandates while operating across many adjacent communications disciplines.

Emerging players

• Apparatus Solutions: Smaller emerging public affairs and communications firm with comparable service offerings and a similar boutique client profile; useful as a smaller-scale emerging peer comparison point.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Hayes Initiative