Clarity before communication.
The Minerva Group helps leaders turn complex business challenges into clear narratives, intentional communications strategies and measurable outcomes.
The Minerva Group helps leaders turn complex business challenges into clear narratives, intentional communications strategies and measurable outcomes.
Minerva works at the intersection of business strategy and public narrative — connecting companies to culture, whether that story is unfolding in a boardroom or on a festival stage.
Venture-backed companies introducing AI into their business, navigating rapid growth, or facing a moment where the story hasn't caught up with the business. Strategy-first counsel for founders and communications leaders who need the narrative to move as fast as the product.
Brands stepping into festival activations, artist partnerships and culture-forward campaigns who need the strategy behind the moment, not just the moment itself. Positioning and narrative work grounded in the same discipline — tied to business priorities, not just buzz.
Communications Drag™ — the hidden cost created when communications activity grows faster than strategic clarity.
It's a natural consequence of growth and complexity, not a failure of the communications team. A product launch disconnected from the sales narrative. A festival activation that generates buzz but no measurable shift in brand perception. Agency spend drifting from current priorities.
When teams can't clearly articulate why they're communicating, who they're trying to move and what needs to change as a result, time, money, talent and attention get diluted instead of directed.
Most communications teams don't have an execution problem. They have a clarity problem.
Take the Free Communications Drag™ AssessmentClear positioning. Compelling narratives. Intentional strategy.
Every engagement starts with the objective, not the output.
Positioning and story built to move the audiences that matter.
Strategy measured by business impact, not activity.
The Minerva Group helps communications leaders reduce Communications Drag, redirect resources toward the work that matters most, and build strategies they can demonstrate are driving business outcomes.
How Minerva resolves Communications Drag — connecting every communications decision to a clear business objective.
Why are we doing this?
Who needs to move?
What will move them?
Where should we invest?
So what changed?
Less reactive communications. Fewer disconnected tactics. Stronger executive alignment. Clearer narratives. Better decisions.
are we doing this?
needs to move?
needs to change?
That's usually where we come in.
For organizations and executives whose story hasn't kept pace with how far they've come — clarifying what you do, why it matters, and what you should be known for.
For consumer and cultural brands showing up in culture — festival activations, artist partnerships, culture-forward campaigns — who need the strategy behind the moment, not just the moment itself.
Translating complexity into clear, credible narratives while navigating stakeholder expectations and responsible innovation.
Narrative, stakeholder strategy and communications frameworks for organizational and technological change.
Senior counsel on reputational risk and stakeholder expectations when business decisions and reputation intersect.
Assessing priorities, workflows and operating models to build greater strategic discipline — including responsible AI adoption.
Engage at the level that fits your needs, budget and readiness.
Strategic clarity, without the consulting engagement.
Get the Playbook →A clear picture of where time, money, talent and attention are creating value — and where they're being diluted.
Start a Conversation →A clear story or strategy tied directly to business priorities — with clear choices about what to do, and what not to.
Start a Conversation →Ongoing senior counsel for CEOs, CCOs and CMOs. Minerva advises — client teams and agencies execute.
Start a Conversation →Ready before the moment, not during it. Mock interviews, hostile Q&A, and message discipline under pressure — built from two decades preparing CIA Directors, Google and YouTube executives for exactly these moments.
Start a Conversation →Minerva engagements are intentionally advisory. We partner directly with founders, CEOs, CCOs, CMOs and senior communications leaders to provide the strategic clarity required before execution begins.
The business has changed, the story hasn't caught up, leaders need greater clarity, or communications activity has become disconnected from strategy. Minerva helps create the foundation before teams invest more time, money and attention in execution.
"What should we say?"
"What are you trying to change?"
We don't measure value by how much content we produce. We measure it by whether leaders have greater clarity, organizations have stronger alignment, audiences understand what matters, and communications advances the business objective it was designed to support.
Twenty years of communications leadership across technology, government, media, culture and consumer brands.
We bring the perspective of someone who has sat inside complex organizations, advised executives making difficult decisions and built communications strategies when there wasn't already a playbook.
Twenty years advising leaders through complexity, transformation and reputation-defining moments.
Amber is a strategic communications executive and advisor whose career spans Google, YouTube, the CIA and Under Armour. At YouTube, she led executive communications for the company's Global Head of Music, shaping leadership voice at the intersection of music, culture and technology — alongside communications for YouTube's AI and product innovation work. At Google, she advised leaders through the pandemic, workforce transformation, societal issues, return-to-office strategy and generative AI. At the CIA, she built strategies to humanize a complex institution within extraordinary information constraints. At Under Armour, she led corporate communications across reputation, public affairs and sustainability.
She founded The Minerva Group around a simple belief: the best communications strategies don't begin with what an organization wants to say. They begin with what the organization needs to accomplish.
The Minerva Group was founded by Amber C. Johnson, a communications executive and strategic advisor with 20 years of experience helping some of the world's most influential organizations communicate through change.
Across Google, YouTube, the CIA and Under Armour, Amber has advised executives through technological transformation, cultural change, organizational disruption, reputation challenges and moments when there was no obvious playbook.
Those experiences shaped Minerva's philosophy: communications should never begin with the tactic. Before deciding what to say, leaders need clarity about what they're trying to accomplish, who they need to move and what success should look like.
Because when everything feels urgent, the most valuable thing a communications advisor can provide isn't more activity. It's clarity.
Take the free Communications Drag™ Assessment to see where clarity is missing, or go straight to The Minerva Method™ Playbook — the same strategy-first system that powers Minerva's advisory work, self-guided for $249.
Clarity, before the pitch. A cohort-based program bringing the Minerva Method to underrepresented founders and entrepreneurs — built to clarify your business priorities and codify your message before you spend another dollar on marketing that doesn't convert.
If your organization is navigating growth, transformation, a complex communications challenge or simply too much activity without enough strategy, let's talk.
Prefer to talk live? Book a free 30-minute call directly.