P P P

Public
Relations

Insightful. Strategic.
And results-driven.

ZGM Public Relations is one of Alberta's leading non-partisan PR firms. Based in Edmonton, we provide a peerless understanding of Alberta’s business and public sectors.

Services

We’re focused on delivering positive community change, at all levels.

ZGM PR features experts in media training, crisis & issues management and public & stakeholder engagement. As part of Alberta's only full-service agency, our PR team can also tap into bench strength across a range of departments to strengthen your focus.

Media Training, Crisis + Issues Management, Public + Stakeholder Engagement

Meet the team

ZGM media training+

Learn to tell your story and shape the narrative before someone else does

We offer media training virtually or in-person for half-day or full-day sessions. We offer competitive pricing and can scope up or down to meet the needs of your organization.

customized & purpose-built

We create interview scenarios based on issues your organization is facing or could face. We also share recent video interviews related to issues similar organizations have navigated to demonstrate what works and what doesn’t. We develop key messages and questions collaboratively.

hands-on & practical

We put participants through the paces! Each person has an opportunity to practice on camera, with a group review of responses. Participants also learn performance tips and techniques to prepare for a calm and collected interview.

confidence-building

Our style is supportive and engaging, and we work hard to help you build confidence - not only by helping participants prepare for curveball questions and high-pressure situations, but through practical, individual guidance.

Developing responsiveness, storytelling, and bench strength

ZGM’s Media+ Training reflects the realities and complexities of communications today. The “+” in the title represents how the training helps organizations navigate other scenarios (e.g., providing a rapid response online, navigating an issue on social media, speaking at a conference, or giving an elevator pitch to an influential person).

Our training goes beyond techniques, with a major focus on framing an initiative or response.

Executive Training for the C-suite that needs to prepare for significant unresolved or emerging challenges.
Team Training for the organization with numerous potential spokespersons in a range of regions or sectors. An opportunity to develop employees – from beginner to advanced levels – and ensure message alignment.
One-on-one Media Coaching available at an hourly rate for all levels.

Laurel’s expertise and thoughtful approach ensured the training was flawlessly executed, leaving a lasting impact. The feedback from our staff was overwhelmingly positive, with many praising how engaging and practical the session was.

The Mustard Seed

crisis + issues management

We live in an era where speed matters and facts don’t. You need to get ahead of that. You need a team to get you organized, give you perspective and get you ready to tell the truth, tell it quickly, take control of your narrative and – more importantly – making sure that no one else does. By bringing together problem-solving crisis managers, precision-obsessed digital strategists and one of Alberta’s most prolific creative studios, we have the talent and tools to get the situation under control, bring clarity to your voice and certainty to your actions. From the moment we get there, things get better.

Whether you’re looking to develop a proactive plan to deploy against your worst-case scenario, or whether you’re already watching your social media mentions explode, we’re the people you call. We’ve been doing this for decades and are a complete source for crisis management planning and execution. From planning out your strategy, to training your spokespeople, to crafting your communications and pushing it out into the world, we’re there to support you before, during and after a crisis arises.

A black microphone extended for someone to speak into

public and stakeholder engagement

That’s where we come in. For almost thirty years, we have been designing, moderating, facilitating, advertising, analyzing, synthesizing and otherwise delivering public and stakeholder engagement for organizations of all shapes, sizes and complexities. We’ve done it in virtually every sector you can imagine and are particularly skilled at addressing the complex, risky or outright controversial topics that other engagement teams often avoid.

Whether you need just a few facilitated sessions to take the temperature of a select group within the community you serve, or an omni-channel engagement design and implementation to listen closely to the needs of a broader public to draw out their hidden insights, and everything in-between – we’ve done it all, and never the same way twice. We’ll engage your audiences and get them to dig deep, think clearly and give you answers to the critical questions you need to fulfill your mandate and ambitions.

The Team

Laurel Gregory, Director of Public Relations

Since 2020, Laurel has supported non-profits, governments, and private entities with strategic communications, spanning crisis and issues management, media relations, and public relations for integrated marketing campaigns and events. She has also guided clients in public engagement, enhancing her expertise through the completion of IAP2 Canada's Certificate in Public Participation (P2). Her 15-year career in journalism equips her with a unique perspective, along with a proven ability to perform under pressure.

Frank Calder, Senior Strategist

As the former head of the Public Affairs Bureau for the Government of Alberta and the co-founder of Calder Bateman, Frank offers a profound depth of experience in strategic communications, marketing and advertising. Over the last 50 years, he has helped a range of clients navigate many of Alberta’s most complex and sensitive issues. He brings this experience, and the perspective it has shaped, to his work at ZGM.

ZGM provided valuable media training for some of our key individuals ahead of interviews for our Alberta Cancer Foundation Lottery. Each participant benefited from the tailored advice, which boosted their confidence and helped them communicate their messages clearly while staying on point during the interviews.

Alberta Cancer Foundation

Case study

Building a response model for complex post-secondary issues

Over the last few years, post-secondary institutions across North America have experienced increasing pressure to respond to a growing number of issues on and off campus. In a polarized digital ecosystem, their responses are often subject to analysis and criticism, making the very gesture of responding akin to walking the tightrope.

In response to this growing challenge, a Canadian post-secondary institution identified a need to respond more consistently and equitably to issues and events and tasked ZGM’s PR team with building a response mechanism. We were asked to develop a framework to identify and manage emerging issues, including those related to Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Anti-Racism (EDIAR).

Our PR team set out to gather insights – first, by conducting an extensive environmental scan of how Canadian post-secondary institutions responded to issues proactively and reactively, and then by engaging with numerous internal stakeholder groups to understand potential brand and operational risks. From these conversations, we identified key current and emerging issues from varying organizational perspectives.

That research and engagement informed a purpose-built Issues Management Communications and Operational Response Model to empower the client’s communications team to make informed decisions in the face of future issues. In particular, this model was designed to assess the importance and urgency of specific issues and, in turn, how the client might respond to them.

To further enrich our model, we presented relevant case studies, offering practical scenarios and a step-by-step response guide for reference.

Our client shared appreciation for ZGM’s thoughtful work, and felt the model balanced formal guidance with the practical latitude needed for their team to respond to day-to-day as well as overarching, longer-term issues.

One year after delivery, the post-secondary institution’s communications team continues to engage with various functions of the model, depending on the severity of an issue. The model’s flexibility, specifically, has helped the client manage both cursory and strategic issues efficiently and appropriately.