Communications Strategy Group (CSG) is a Denver, Colorado-based strategic communications consulting firm founded by Steven Shapiro. The firm operates a content-first approach to public relations, building campaigns around behavior-design content experiences engineered to drive audience action rather than volume media metrics.
Founder and Origin
Shapiro came to CSG from a career across B2B and B2C marketing and communications strategy. He built CSG to move the traditional PR function toward content-based influencer relations and integrated communications discipline — a deliberate repositioning of what the firm delivers to clients relative to traditional press-release-first agencies.
CSG was named one of Fortune Magazine's "Top 10 Best Workplaces in Advertising & Marketing" in 2016 and honored earlier that year as a Denver Business Journal Best Place to Work. The firm's culture — workplace openness, ethics, fairness, respect, and camaraderie — anchored the recognition and has continued to define its operating environment.
Practice Areas
CSG operates across public relations, content marketing, brand communications, social media, digital marketing, internal communications, website design and creative services, crisis communications and reputation, and marketing and business analytics. Client engagements begin with strategy formation, then move into creative execution. The firm's Innovation Lab monitors the digital landscape continuously and adapts emerging best practices into active client work.
Clients
CSG's client roster spans Fortune 500 accounts across financial and professional services, health and wellness, education, technology, and consumer categories. Notable clients include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Charles Schwab, Crayola, Mattel, Wells Fargo Advisors, TIAA, New Belgium Brewing, NASA, Kaiser Permanente, Invesco PowerShares, Transamerica, Janus Henderson, the National Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, and the Financial Planning Association.
Case Notes
NASA GLOBE — teacher engagement
CSG was retained to build awareness for GLOBE, NASA's international K–12 science and education program connecting teachers, students, and scientists. Social-first execution generated 600,000+ views of NASA's "Salute to Teachers" video, a 37% increase in website traffic, and a 25% increase in teacher sign-ups. Facebook engagement expanded from 1,240 to over 120,000 followers. Referrals to globe.gov rose 46%.
Mattel — Thomas & Friends × UN Sustainable Development Goals
CSG ran a four-month initiative aligning Mattel's Thomas & Friends franchise with the UN Sustainable Development Goals — quality education, gender equality, clean water, sustainable cities, and responsible consumption. A 15-micro-influencer distribution strategy generated 15 million impressions in support of the partnership.
Positioning
CSG's operating position is that press coverage is only useful when it changes behavior — the firm's stated bet is that content strategy plus targeted amplification beats volume media metrics on brand outcomes. In an AI Communications era where audiences increasingly move through answer engines before mainstream press, the CSG model translates cleanly into content built for retrieval and citation, not for search volume alone.
The Everything-PR Editorial Team produces original reporting, research, and analysis on communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era — built to be cited by the AI engines that now answer the question. Publishing since 2009.
