March is here and we came with a full plate.

We've been heads down building, and this edition is the first place you'll see what that's looked like. We're introducing the Inner Circle, The PRGM Post’s paid membership tier, and if you've been with us for a while, we think you're going to love what it means for the depth and quality of what lands in your inbox going forward.

Beyond the milestone, this is an edition we're genuinely proud of. We're getting into what it actually means when brands stop advertising and start becoming someone, and pulling apart two of the most strategically interesting brand moments we've been watching closely. We're also spotlighting a community member doing remarkable work at the intersection of music, marketing, and community building that we think you need to know about.

Welcome to March. Let's get into it!

We had a full month. Here's a look back at what resonated most with our community:

From the Feed:

Reading List:

Every edition, we’ll share the articles, essays, and industry reads that have been living in our heads lately

PRGM has always been built around one idea: that PR and communications professionals deserve better resources, sharper analysis, and a community that takes the work seriously. The Inner Circle is how we plan on delivering on that fully!

Starting with this edition, every issue of The PRGM Post will have two layers. Free content that's worth your time, and Inner Circle content that goes deeper: complete case studies, cultural analysis, strategic frameworks, in depth conversations with industry leaders, feature opportunities and first access to everything PRGM builds next.

The Inner Circle is $8/month. And this edition is a good place to see exactly what that gets you.

This past week, our very own Fatou joined Michelle Garrett of PR Explored for an extended conversation on personality brands — the structural shift in how companies define themselves — and what happens when brands start thinking like media companies. Here's a glimpse at some of the conversation and takeaways.

A personality brand is one where you can clearly articulate not just what a company sells, but what it believes, how it thinks, and who consistently represents it in culture. It's identity over messaging. And it's a response to something real: attention is fragmented, trust in institutions is declining, and cultural relevance moves fast.

So instead of asking "How do we advertise?" brands are now asking "How do we become someone people choose to spend time with?"

That's a relational posture. It's ongoing. And it requires intention.

Gap's recent announcement of a Chief Entertainment Officer role is a useful signal. The title generated significant media coverage, but what made it notable wasn't the novelty. It was the formalization of something that's already been happening structurally across the industry. Entertainment is no longer campaign support, it’s executive-level infrastructure.

But if we’re being honest, this has been happening for years, just not as definitive. Nike has operated like a studio for years, building athlete-driven storytelling that functions as cultural narrative. Red Bull built an entire media house producing films, events, and global content, a clear nod to IP development. Dick's Sporting Goods launched Cookie Jar & A Dream Studios, an in-house production studio creating original programming rooted in sport and community. Skims consistently treats celebrity collaborations as episodic programming, each drop a chapter in a larger story rather than a standalone product moment.

When brands start thinking like media companies, our role expands. We're no longer just managing the message around a campaign, we're helping shape the narrative infrastructure that makes a brand legible over time. That means understanding content strategy, talent relationships, platform dynamics, and long-form storytelling in ways that entertainment and lifestyle PR has long mastered, but the broader industry is only now beginning to prioritize

The brands doing this well aren't treating communications as a support function. They're treating it as a core driver of how the brand shows up in culture. That's the conversation we should be inserting ourselves into, early, and with a point of view.

Each edition, we spotlight a member of the PRGM community doing work worth knowing about: from agency founders to in-house leaders, independents, and everyone in between. If you'd like to nominate someone (or yourself), send us a note at [email protected].

From a cold email to a record label intern to CEO of one of music's most cutting-edge digital agencies in under two years. Olivia Shalhoup's career is a case study in knowing your value early and moving accordingly.

Olivia is the Founder and CEO of Amethyst Collab, one of the music industry's most forward-thinking social media marketing agencies, where she has led digital campaigns for artists including Ashanti, Trippie Redd, and DaniLeigh, and worked alongside label partners including Universal Music Group, Warner Music, Sony Music, Def Jam, and Interscope, among others.

What makes Olivia's trajectory worth studying isn't just the client roster, it's the path. She cold-emailed her way into her first industry role at Carpark Records in Washington, D.C., went from assistant to CEO in two years, and built a company that deliberately challenged how business gets done in music. Along the way she became an early and outspoken advocate for entrepreneurship in the industry, particularly for young women.

She's also the creator of the music industry's first all-women digital panel series and writes Rollout Roundup, a weekly column ranking and critiquing the best marketing rollouts of the week. Most recently, she’s been contributing to Forbes' Hollywood & Entertainment vertical, covering marketing and creative strategy.

Follow Olivia at Amethyst Collab and keep an eye on Rollout Roundup — essential reading for anyone serious about understanding how modern music marketing actually operates.

Connect with Olivia on Instagram and Linkedin.

Women make up nearly 70% of the PR and communications workforce. Yet ownership and equity at the agency level still skew disproportionately male, particularly among large firms. In an industry powered by women's labor and influence, the question isn't just who does the work. It's who owns it.

On March 11th, we’re hosting Women at Work: Inside Female-Founded PR & Comms Agencies, an intimate panel and networking evening at Fabrik Social Spaces in Tribeca. The conversation will bring together founders, practitioners, and peers to explore what ownership really looks like in modern PR: from building and leading agencies to setting boundaries, redefining success, and shaping the future of the industry.

Tomorrow we'll be dropping our panelist announcements and the registration link on Instagram. Make sure you're following along so you don't miss it.

Happy Women’s History Month!

Most brand purpose is decorative. It lives in mission statements, brand manifestos, and purpose-driven campaigns crafted in calm water, when there's no real cost attached to the commitment. It sounds right. It looks right. And it holds, until it doesn't.

This week, we got a rare and public look at the other kind.

Anthropic, one of the most powerful AI companies in the world, walked away from a $200 million Pentagon contract rather than remove two ethical guardrails from its AI model Claude: no autonomous weapons and no mass surveillance of Americans. The Pentagon's response was swift and severe: comply or be labeled a national security supply chain risk, a designation previously reserved for foreign adversaries and never before applied to an American company. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth threatened to invoke the Defense Production Act to force compliance. Pentagon officials called Anthropic's CEO a liar with a "God complex." The pressure was real, public, and designed to break the position.

It didn't. CEO Dario Amodei published a statement that same day: "These threats do not change our position. We cannot in good conscience accede to their request."

What makes this moment worth examining beyond the headline is what it reveals about the difference between purpose as communication and purpose as architecture.