New Bliss Group CEO Stapleton Touts Importance of Analytics and Purpose

There's a bit more to celebrate during this year's International Women's Day (March 8) and Women's History Month (March 1-31). For the first time, women CEOs eclipsed double figures on the Fortune 500 list of companies, helming slightly more than 10% of the list's firms, in Jan. 2023. The quintet of women who joined the Fortune 500's CEO ranks this year put the total at a modest 53.

Similar to those women CEOs, veteran communicator Cortney Stapleton was promoted from within. Earlier this week (Feb. 27), Stapleton was named CEO of The Bliss Group, a 48-year-old PR firm. Stapleton joined Bliss in 2003.

She co-led Bliss with Michael Roth until Jan. 2021, when The Next Practices Group (NPG), a collective formed early in the pandemic, invested in Bliss. From there, she and Roth became managing partners of the newly named Bliss Group, with well-known PR innovator Bob Pearson serving as CEO, as well as chair of NPG.

Created on the back of a napkin in Austin, TX, in July 2020, NPG ended 2022 with 180 staff. It expects to double in size this year.

Just hours after being named CEO, Stapleton, in a brief Q&A, emphasized areas she's relied on throughout her career, including the importance of analytics and purpose.

Q: What are your top goals in your first 6 months?

Stapleton: Insights, purpose and health. 

Clients benefit from analytics-driven insights.

Every client has a story to tell about how they improve society. 

And healthcare is a topic that intersects with many industries.

Q: The Bliss Group and NPG add practices rapidly. What process do you use?

Stapleton: We identify unmet needs, even in established sectors like healthcare and emerging areas such as purpose. We next identify the right leaders to build the practice, people with deep expertise in each area. 

It is this combo of unmet needs and the right leaders that's key.

Q: A related question, in this uncertain economy, when companies are treading water or laying off staff, how does Bliss grow?

Stapleton: When you expand offerings, it provides new ways for clients to show their value. 

We emphasize client service, ensuring our teams are focused and their ideas are of high quality. 

Q: If budget were no object, what area would you like to see PR as an industry invest in?

Stapleton: We could focus on harnessing generative AI to accelerate how PR can do good for the world.

Q: NPG and Bliss are known for progressive thinking. What PR tactics that we use today may soon be a distant memory?

Stapleton: I don’t believe PR tactics go away, they evolve. For example, Search Media Relations is an emerging discipline. This combines expertise in earned media with analytics and search engine optimization. The result is a new way to protect and promote reputation online.