Danielle Ashley Group

What Danielle Ashley Group does

Danielle Ashley Group, Inc. is a Chicago-headquartered, founder-owned full-service advertising and public relations firm founded in 1994 by Tracey Alston, who named the agency after her two daughters. The firm specializes in reaching urban and faith-based markets, providing integrated marketing communications including promotional development, media planning and buying, news coverage, event planning, strategic planning, research, and campaign execution. Its named customers span regulated utilities (ComEd, Exelon, PECO), Illinois state and county government entities (Illinois DOT, Illinois Lottery, Cook County), and consumer brands (Walgreens, Soft Sheen).

The agency's go-to-market is event-driven and partnership-mediated. Its flagship platform is the annual First Ladies Luncheon and Health Day at the Ritz-Carlton in Chicago, which convenes minister's wives across denominations and is paired with church-based health-screening days executed in partnership with Walgreens, the Chicago Department of Public Health, the Illinois Department of Public Health, the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, and NBC5 Chicago. The agency also operates the HBCU Calendar website targeting Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Geographic scope is explicitly regional (Chicagoland), and the headcount is reported at 1-10 employees.

Revenue mechanics are professional-services-based, with services custom-quoted rather than transparently priced; no public pricing, ARR, or revenue figures are disclosed, and no institutional funding or M&A activity is recorded. Pricing is project-by-project, contracted through direct enterprise and government relationships rather than through a software or platform licensing model. The company's differentiator is its niche domain expertise in faith-based outreach that transcends consumer and B-to-B marketing, supported by three decades of brand recognition, including two consecutive years on Inc. Magazine's 100 fastest growing small businesses list.

Name

Danielle Ashley Group

Legal name

Danielle Ashley Group, Inc.

Website

https://danielleashley.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1994

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Danielle Ashley Group is a Chicago-based, founder-owned full-service advertising and public relations firm founded in 1994 that specializes in reaching urban and faith-based markets for government, utility, and consumer brand clients across the Chicagoland region.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Advertising and Public Relations Services

NAICS

Advertising Agencies (54181), Advertising Agencies (541810), Public Relations Agencies (541820), Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services (5418)

SIC

Services-Advertising Agencies (7311), Services-Advertising (7310)

akta.pro primary industry

Brand Campaign & Integrated Communications Agencies (MPAAAAAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

Activation/Experiential Creative Agencies (MPAAAAAO)

Keywords

• Advertising services
• Public relations
• Faith-based marketing
• Urban market outreach
• Integrated marketing communications

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Advertising and Public Relations Services: Full-service advertising and public relations firm providing integrated marketing, media planning/buying, event planning, strategic planning, research, and campaign development services to government, utility, and consumer brand clients.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Danielle Ashley Group is a full-service advertising and public relations firm that develops integrated marketing campaigns — including advertising, promotional development, media planning and buying, news and editorial coverage, event planning, strategic planning, research, and campaign execution — for government agencies, utilities, and consumer brands. The agency specializes in reaching urban and faith-based markets through combined consumer marketing, B2B communications, and faith-based outreach.

Product overview

Danielle Ashley Group is a full-service advertising and public relations firm that specializes in reaching the Urban market. The company offers integrated marketing services including advertising, promotional development, integrated marketing, media planning and buying, event planning, strategic research, campaign execution, and faith-based marketing. The portfolio includes specialized programs like the First Ladies Luncheon and Health Day initiative for health awareness, and the HBCU Calendar for Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The company was founded in 1994 and was recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of the 100 fastest growing small businesses for two consecutive years.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• Administered health screenings to over 10,000 people in Chicagoland area during First Ladies Health Day 2010

Named customers8 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• WalgreenscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2010Walgreens partnered with Danielle Ashley Group, Chicago Department of Public Health, AIDS Foundation of Chicago and NBC5 Chicago to host HIV/AIDS Luncheon and Symposium. Walgreens provided health screening services (blood pressure and HIV) for the First Ladies Health Day events reaching thousands of people at churches in the Chicagoland area.
• Chicago Department of Public HealthcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2010Partnered with Danielle Ashley Group to deliver health screenings at the First Ladies Health Day events, providing public health resources and support for community health initiatives.
• AIDS Foundation of ChicagocoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2010Collaborated on HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention campaigns through the First Ladies Luncheon and Health Day programs, providing expertise on HIV epidemic education and prevention messaging.
• NBC5 ChicagominorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2010Media partner for the First Ladies Luncheon and Health Day events, providing broadcast coverage and promotion of health awareness initiatives.
• Illinois Department of Public HealthcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2010Partnered with Danielle Ashley Group to deliver health screenings at the First Ladies Health Day, supporting state-wide health prevention initiatives.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• Ogilvy: Global advertising, PR, and consulting firm with a long-standing multicultural practice offering integrated brand campaigns and community engagement that compete with DAG's full-service positioning at global scale.
• Edelman: Global public relations and communications firm whose multicultural practice serves brand and government clients with community engagement and integrated marketing — a broad incumbent peer overlapping with DAG's PR and campaign development capabilities at vastly greater scale.
• Weber Shandwick: Global PR and communications agency with strong public affairs and community engagement practices that overlap with DAG's government/political and faith-based outreach work, serving as a scaled incumbent benchmark.

Direct peers

• Carol H. Williams Advertising: African-American focused full-service advertising agency serving consumer brands and government clients with integrated campaigns, a directly comparable niche multicultural agency peer with similar client profile to Danielle Ashley Group.
• GlobalHue: Independent multicultural marketing agency serving major consumer brands with culturally relevant strategy and execution across African-American, Hispanic, and Asian audiences — a directly comparable cultural-marketing boutique peer.
• Burrell Communications Group: Chicago-based full-service multicultural advertising agency founded in 1971, focused on African-American and ethnic consumer marketing — the closest direct peer to Danielle Ashley Group in terms of geography (Chicago), multicultural/urban focus, and full-service integrated offering.
• UniWorld Group: Full-service multicultural advertising and communications agency headquartered in New York with deep African-American marketing expertise, offering media planning/buying, PR, and integrated campaigns comparable to Danielle Ashley Group's service mix.
• Daddy O' Advertising / Daddy O Inc: Independent multicultural and urban-focused communications agency with comparable African-American consumer and community-engagement positioning to DAG; a direct niche peer in city-level multicultural marketing.

Others

• Salem Communications / Faith-based media partners: Faith-based media and content operators that enable church and congregation outreach programs similar to DAG's First Ladies and HBCU initiatives — adjacent ecosystem participants rather than direct competitors, but tightly linked to DAG's core faith-based marketing channel.

Emerging players

• The Reis Group: Independent PR and integrated communications firm with public affairs and community engagement expertise serving government and nonprofit clients — comparable to DAG's political and government communications work, albeit on the East Coast.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/danielle-ashley-group

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

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 Danielle Ashley Group