Artificial Intelligence
Public affairs has always been won on better intelligence, sharper messaging, and knowing which audiences move decisions.
We are now enhancing that approach with artificial intelligence, not as a replacement for expertise, but as a way to sharpen it: helping our teams uncover insights faster, read narrative shifts as they're forming, pressure-test messaging before it's public, and identify influential stakeholders with greater precision.
The result is an AI-enabled public affairs practice that combines AI and data tools with the judgment, creativity, and relationships that drive real-world outcomes.
THE PROBLEM
Intelligence is only as good as the strategy behind it.
The most consequential policy debates are no longer won on a single channel. Policymakers, journalists, regulators, and other influential audiences increasingly consume information through AI answer engines, social platforms, digital media, and online communities that sit outside traditional public affairs monitoring.
Conversations move faster. Audiences are more fragmented. New narratives gain traction in hours, not days.
Success requires more than deploying AI tools. It requires combining technology with the judgment, policy expertise, and strategic insight needed to understand where influence is happening, why it matters, and how to shape the conversation.
AI doesn't replace judgment. It just tells you faster where to point it.
Colin Hensel
Senior Director, Digital, AI Innovation and Analytics
WHAT WE DO
Innovative Strategies + Extensive Capabilities
The Herald Group leverages integrated capabilities—deployed individually or as a full program—built to power the most complex advocacy and communications campaigns.
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Alliance Intelligence
Know who carries weight before you need them to move.
THG uses an AI-enhanced platform, built on proprietary data, to map, score, and evaluate third-party validators, coalition partners, and advocacy organizations across issue areas. This lets clients identify which outside voices carry real weight, where they stand on an issue, and who is positioned to activate quickly when a campaign needs outside support.
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AI Visibility & Optimization
Make sure your organization is the answer, not the gap someone else fills.
Policymakers, journalists, and regulators increasingly turn to AI platforms first to understand an issue. If your organization is not showing up in those answers or being misrepresented, someone else's framing is filling the gap. THG identifies where that gap exists and builds the technical and communications plans to close it, so your organization shows up accurately and with confidence across the platforms shaping first impressions.
THG monitors and improves how organizations appear in AI-generated answers on platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews.
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Online Listening & Intelligence
Separate what's loud from what actually matters.
THG monitors online conversation across social platforms, forums, and digital media to identify the narratives and dynamics actually shaping a client's issue environment, not just the topics generating the most volume. Findings are delivered through dashboards built for campaign decision-makers, translating raw conversation data into the conversations that drive outcomes.
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Persona Modeling & AI-Powered Message Development
Pressure-test your message before the audience that matters hears it.
THG builds AI-powered personas modeled on the legislators, staff, and grassroots advocates who shape a policy outcome, then uses those personas to test and refine campaign messaging before it goes public. Every persona is built from the real people and institutions relevant to a specific policy fight, so message testing reflects how an actual audience will respond.
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Audience Research & Public Opinion Modeling
Replace assumptions with data on how your audience actually thinks.
THG conducts audience research and public opinion modeling to determine how key audiences think about an issue across geographies, demographics, and voter segments. This data identifies where the real opportunities for persuasion exist, so campaign strategy is built on evidence rather than assumption.
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Risk & Disinformation Monitoring
Identify who's driving the narrative before it sets.
THG monitors online conversations to detect coordinated inauthentic behavior, bot-driven narratives, and disinformation campaigns as they emerge. THG identifies the actors driving a narrative, not just the keywords involved, giving clients early warning and strategic context to respond before a false or damaging story takes hold.
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Digital Campaign Analytics & Reporting
Turn digital activity into a clear read on what's actually moving.
THG builds digital campaign reporting frameworks that track audience reach, message resonance, and movement on policy indicators in real time. These frameworks connect day-to-day digital activity to campaign outcomes, allowing clients to optimize strategy as a campaign unfolds rather than after it ends.
Designed to Fit Your Needs
The most effective public affairs campaigns are powered by better intelligence, sharper messaging, and the ability to reach the right audiences at the right time.
What separates THG is the combination behind it—over two decades of policy and communications expertise, now coupled with AI and data tools that amplify everything we do.
Test It Before the Room Hears It
We pressure-test messaging against modeled personas of the legislators, staff, and advocates who'll actually respond to it.
See What's Actually Moving
We separate real narrative shifts from noise and know how key audiences actually think before a campaign goes public.
Control the Answer, Not Just the Narrative
We make sure your organization's position, not someone else's framing, is what policymakers and journalists find when they turn to AI platforms for answers.
Test It Before the Room Hears It
We pressure-test messaging against modeled personas of the legislators, staff, and advocates who'll actually respond to it.
Know Who Can Move a Vote
We identify which coalition partners and third-party validators carry real weight, and when to activate them.
Catch It Before It Sets
We flag coordinated and inauthentic narratives while there's still time to respond, not after the story's already taken hold.
See What's Actually Moving
We separate real narrative shifts from noise and know how key audiences actually think before a campaign goes public.
Control the Answer,
Not Just the Narrative
We make sure your organization's position, not someone else's framing, is what policymakers and journalists find when they turn to AI platforms for answers.
Know Who Can Move a Vote
We identify which coalition partners and third-party validators carry real weight, and when to activate them.
Catch It Before It Sets
We flag coordinated and inauthentic narratives while there's still time to respond, not after the story's already taken hold.
Our Team
Meet some of the team behind THG's AI and Analytics practice—experienced professionals who combine deep public affairs expertise with the AI and data capabilities that modern teams demand.
Matt Well
Managing Partner
A founding partner and veteran of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Matt brings over two decades of experience shaping the communications strategies and campaigns that win on the most complex federal and state policy issues.
Colin Hensel
Senior Director, Digital, AI Innovation and Analytics
A digital strategist and AI practitioner with experience spanning Capitol Hill, political campaigns, and advocacy, Colin leads The Herald Group's approach to AI innovation, online intelligence, and analytics.
Becky Boles
Chief Client Services Officer
With over two decades of experience leading communications and public affairs campaigns for Fortune 100 companies and global trade associations, Becky brings the strategic depth and integrated approach that turns complex challenges into decisive wins.
Meet the Entire THG Team
Meet our entire team of political campaign mentalities, MBA acumen, and more.
