Community Highlights: Meet Carolyn Krieger of CKC Agency

Today we’d like to introduce you to Carolyn Krieger.

Hi Carolyn, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today. 
I attended Michigan State University and was majoring in communications. It hit me midway through my senior year that I really didn’t know what type of jobs to pursue after graduation. That winter, I attended a career conference in Chicago, and during one of the seminars, the speaker said, “If you are organized, creative, and a good writer, they need you in public relations.” And in that moment, I thought to myself, “I’m really organized, I’m very creative, and I’m an excellent writer… I guess I’ll go into PR!” And that was that! 

I convinced the PR director at a small advertising agency in Detroit called Gray & Kilgore, Inc. to take a chance on me several months after I graduated from MSU in 1978. I worked on a wide variety of automotive and technical B2B accounts as well as much more interesting (for me) B2C accounts, which included an iconic Detroit restaurant and a high-end suburban hotel owned by Westin called The Michigan Inn. It was my favorite account by far because there were so many opportunities to let my creative juices flow. 

I remain extremely proud of one particular program that I created called “Halloween Happiness” Special Treats for Special People.” I worked with the hotel staff to transform the grand ballroom into a magical indoor Halloween neighborhood. The perimeter was lined with hand-painted cardboard houses with cutout windows and doors behind which staff members in costume passed out candy and treats donated by vendors and local companies to disabled children and young adults (also in costume) in wheelchairs or walkers who ordinarily would not have been able to go out trick or treating the traditional way. The event featured games, music, decorations, and other activities, and the pure joy felt by all who attended and who worked at the hotel still brings a smile to my face. I even received a national award for the “Halloween Happiness” program from the American Hotel and Motel Association. 

After several years, the agency lost The Michigan Inn account, and I, in turn, lost my job because there weren’t enough other accounts for me to work on. I had just moved into my own apartment the week before, and I was panicked that I wouldn’t be able to pay my rent. It was 1982, and after several weeks of interviewing for PR jobs that didn’t hold much interest for me, I received a telegram (yes, I know I am dating myself!) from the general manager of The Michigan Inn saying that he had been trying to find me. I met with him, and he told me that they fired the agency because they were unhappy with the advertising campaigns for the hotel but that they loved my PR. He said he had a business proposition for me and offered to provide me with an office, a typewriter (I am dating myself again!) and that I could utilize all of their facilities as well as take on other clients. 

That is how I started my own business in my mid-20s, something that I had never contemplated or considered. At the time, I didn’t have the perspective to fully understand the profound (positive) impact losing my job would have on my career. But I share this story often to give hope to others. I tell people, “There is a gift in everything, even though it may be wrapped in ugly wrapping paper.” Getting fired turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to me because, out of pure necessity, it set me on my entrepreneurial path. 

I had numerous consumer-oriented clients (all referrals) in addition to The Michigan Inn. Westin also sold the hotel to a management group that ran three other suburban Detroit hotels, and I handled PR for those as well. I had a smorgasbord of amenities at these amazing properties (from beautiful ballrooms and outdoor spaces ideal for parties and promotions to restaurants with award-winning chefs to guest rooms and suites for weekend getaways) and developed creative ideas around them all. This was in the early 1980s, and I used to say that I took a “People Magazine” approach to PR” with the hotels; when there were trending pop culture topics capturing the public’s interest and imagination, I created timely promotional campaigns and events that provided localized angles that garnered tremendous publicity for the hotels. When a national frenzy occurred focused on the popular soap opera couple Luke and Laura, I created General Hospital Happy Hours. When Princess Diana and Prince Charles married, The Michigan Inn hosted a Royal Wedding Brunch (with tea and crumpets). For the finale of Dynasty, the #1 show on television, I teamed up with a local radio station, and hundreds of listeners dressed in tuxes and gowns filled a ballroom for a glamorous night out and watched it together. Every week, there was another opportunity to let my creativity loose. 

During those years, I collaborated heavily with Detroit’s top radio stations with the four hotels on a wide range of promotions, such as joint New Year’s Eve parties and ticket giveaways for weekend stays, family brunches, dinners at restaurants, and more. One day, I got a call from an executive at one of the stations who wanted me to become their promotion director. I remember saying, “But I don’t know anything about the radio business; all I know how to do is change stations in my car.” And her response was, “We can teach you the radio part; we want you for creativity and your connections.” 

After a lot of consideration, I said yes, which meant I would no longer be in business for myself. I spent the next six years in radio, serving as promotion director for three different radio stations. Early on in my tenure at the first station, I remember packaging up station swag to mail to winners and thinking, “I gave up my own business to do this?” It took about six months for everything to click, and I came to understand the key role a promotion director played as the liaison between the programming and sales departments. I ran with it, again dreaming up unique sales promotions (that helped the stations earn big advertising buys) and fun listener promotions (like a Sweetheart Smooch Off for Valentine’s Day at which the last couple standing (and smoothing while being serenaded by songs about kissing in the center court of a mall) won a valuable prize. In 1986, I was named “Outstanding Woman in Radio Mid-Management” by the American Women in Radio & Television. 

It was a job that appeared to be all fun and games on the outside (like taking winners backstage after concerts to meet performers like Billy Joel, Hall & Oates, Julian Lennon, and so many other artists) but was nonstop work day, night and weekends behind-the-scenes. After getting married and knowing that I wanted to start a family, I left the radio business without a plan for “what’s next” and took a brief breather, this time without worry or fear about the future. I became pregnant and had my first daughter while simultaneously handling PR for clients that were referred to me by radio and media colleagues. I was so focused on my busy (and wonderful) new role as a mom that, strange as it may sound, I had an epiphany one day as I stepped into my walk-in closet and opened the file cabinet in there with my client work. It suddenly hit me, without formally planning it, that I had my own PR business again! 

That was around 1992…and from that moment until today, I haven’t stopped. I went from a one-woman PR show operating out of my home (while also having my second daughter in 1993) to hiring experienced PR professionals over the past 30 years and opening (and expanding) several CKC Agency offices. CKC Agency’s largest staff roster included nine employees. Today, there are four of us, in addition to what I call the CKC Collective, a group of fabulous publicists and other marketing experts that we collaborate with as needed. We went virtual when the pandemic began without missing a beat, so I closed my physical office. I am filled with gratitude for my outstanding, dedicated team. 

CKC Agency puts its proven strengths, strategic vision, vast experience, and trusted media relationships to work on behalf of local, regional, and national companies and nonprofit organizations, building ongoing brand awareness and achieving exceptional media coverage. CKC is well-known, highly respected, and sought-after in our field based on our team’s passion, integrity, creativity, and results. For seven consecutive years, we have been named one of the top PR firms in Detroit by expertise.com, which scores and hand-picks the public relations firms on more than 25 variables in five key categories. 

I am proud to have received the prestigious honor of being inducted into the National Association of Professional Women 2015-2016 Woman of the Year Circle. I was also honored as a top woman leader by the Michigan Business and Professional Association, receiving its 2018 “Leadership in the Workplace” award, and named an “Esteemed Woman of Michigan” that same year. In 2022, I was honored as a “Woman of Vision” by the National Council of Jewish Women, Michigan. 

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I often say that owning your own business is not for the faint of heart. I consider myself an accidental entrepreneur. As I shared earlier, I never had a thought or dream of being a business owner. But here I am after a career that has spanned over 40 years. 

I went through a very difficult time when my oldest daughter was two years old, and my baby daughter had colic, crying unconsolably every evening for hours on end. I was overwhelmed, sleep deprived, and trying to run and juggle my home life and my one-woman PR company. I was so in the thick of it all that I had lost all perspective. I broke down sobbing one day, talking with the pediatrician on the phone, and she helped me realize that something had to give. I was burning my personal and professional candle at both ends nonstop to my detriment. It was at this point that I experienced another one of my influential life lessons. I sat down with one of my longtime clients and through tears, told him of my struggles and that I had to resign his account. He listened to me and then said, “You know, it doesn’t need to be a black-and-white decision; there is plenty of gray in between.” As simple as that sounds, no other option had occurred to me. He opened my eyes to the fact that there were other possibilities, and this understanding helps me to this day. We took a break which gave me time to regroup and reenergize, and when I was feeling more centered and grounded, we resumed our work together. 

My marriage, unexpectedly to me, began falling apart about six years ago and during the initial months when I was reeling and felt like the rug was being pulled out from under me, I would cry all the way to the office and then attempt to act as though everything was business as usual when I walked through the door. Talk about repeat behavior and needing to be reminded that no one…not even me…can shoulder everything 24/7. Like I had done when my daughters were young, I mistakenly thought that because “I was in charge,” I had to exhibit nothing but strength, positivity, and full control in front of my team. But because we know one another so well and have worked together for so long, I wasn’t fooling anyone. My managing director knew I wasn’t myself and confronted me one day. My initial reaction was one of anger, but that quickly dissolved into relief at being able to let out the immense pain I’d been desperately trying to keep inside. I had not considered that I had the most incredible support system right by my side. From that day forward, they were able to be there for me. 

Of course, the pandemic threw quite a frightening curveball at every business. It was scary not knowing whether our clients would survive…and if CKC Agency would, in turn, survive. Like every businessowner, I was in uncharted territory. But thanks to outstanding professional advisors (and PPP loans!), we made it through. 

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about CKC Agency? 
CKC Agency is a dynamic, highly respected, results-oriented public relations and marketing services firm that excels at strategically collaborating with clients to showcase their businesses, build their brands, and achieve their goals. Our team is composed of passionate, experienced, well-connected professionals with stellar reputations who think creatively, possess integrity, radiate positivity, interact respectfully, behave ethically, offer superlative service, and secure out-of-the-park results. 

Our niche is smart, strategic storytelling that expertly conveys client messaging in timely, tactical, truthful ways using targeted media outlets and other mediums to inform, educate, engage and benefit the audiences each client covets and serves. Our clients are local, regional, and national business-to-consumer brand leaders in the restaurant, medical, mental health, culinary, entertainment, literary, retail, legal, service, fashion, convention & event, nonprofit and other fields. CKC Agency company is committed to providing an energized, empowering work environment, enhancing the personal and professional development of every team member, and consistently fostering the firm’s profitability. Our philosophy is simple, straightforward, and synergistic: Work hard. Be nice. Care deeply. Have fun. Do good. Inspire action. Achieve success.

What does success mean to you?
It’s such a simple question on the surface, yet the answer is not easily expressed (for me at least)! For me, success is not defined as being the biggest PR firm in town with the most clients and highest revenue. That has never been my goal. Always operating in full integrity and cementing trust with our clients and the media is success. Achieving brand awareness through news coverage for our clients among their target audiences is success. Operating from my heart first is success. And creating a client base built almost exclusively on referrals is most definitely the definition of success for me.

Contact Info:

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