Public Impact Media Consultants

Alan Klein, Partner and Communications Strategist

Communications strategies designed for social change.

Public Impact Media Consultants was a full-service strategic communications firm that created innovative, attention-grabbing campaigns. To obtain results, the firm utilized a powerful combination of public relations strategies, from traditional media outreach to state-of-the-art digital tools.

Public Impact advanced the important work of clients that ranged from nonprofit social justice organizations to pioneering community-based businesses. The company represented best-selling authors, filmmakers, corporate leaders, activists and artists, plus many of the visionaries who stand on the frontlines of the LGBTQ+, racial and economic justice movements.

Origin Story
Public Impact Media Consultants was founded in 1990 in New York City by Alan Klein and Jay Blotcher. The two had first joined forces in ACT UP, the landmark direct-action AIDS activist group that achieved unprecedented advancements for people with HIV/AIDS, including legislative gains and access to life-saving medications.

Fellow HIV/AIDS activists and LGBTQ thought leaders observed Alan and Jay’s public relations successes and began asking the pair to share their strategies. It occurred to the activists that an increasing number of HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ community-based organizations needed a blueprint for promoting their missions, programs and public policies. And so Public Impact was formed.

Alan Klein 8/30/23 Alan Klein 8/30/23

NQAPIA

NQAPIA produced and launched a PSA campaign urging Asian and Pacific Islander (API) parents to accept their LGBTQ children. Public Impact was retained to promote this first-ever multilingual video campaign.

Alan Klein 8/28/23 Alan Klein 8/28/23

Frank’s Pharmacy

Frank’s Pharmacy is a well-loved family-owned business. When a five-alarm fire destroyed the pharmacy, owner Frank Buonagurio was determined to rebuild it. Public Impact was hired to promote the pharmacy’s high-profile move to a new site in the neighborhood.

Alan Klein 8/1/23 Alan Klein 8/1/23

Nora Burns’ “David’s Friend”

Nora Burns, a fixture on Manhattan’s Downtown scene, was ready to launch her one-woman show “David’s Friend,” an homage to life during the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s, and a personal memorial to her best friend. Public Impact’s media campaign garnered a story by New York Times reviewer Charles Isherwood, who attend the Opening Night performance.

Alan Klein 7/1/23 Alan Klein 7/1/23

Fat Kid Dance Party

Aerobics instructor and life coach Bevin Branlandingham created a sensation in Los Angeles: she drew crowds weekly to her “Fat Kid Dance Party” exercise classes. These events provided emotional support, welcomed people of all body types, and expressly prohibited body and fat shaming. Public Impact was hired to spread the word.

Lee Floersch 6/1/23 Lee Floersch 6/1/23

SAGE

At a time when newsrooms were not accustomed to being pitched stories about gay men and lesbians, Jay Blotcher and Alan Klein devised a particularly proactive pitch — and it worked for SAGE. The Hey-My-Grandmother-is-a-Lesbian pitch was born.

Client Testimonials

“Public Impact handled the social media and LGBT media pitches for my memoir, ‘Body Counts.’ The results far exceeded my expectations. Their sophisticated technology and social media promotion generated widespread recognition for the book. They also demonstrated an uncanny instinct for what would interest a journalist. Their success in generating LGBT community media was little short of astonishing; virtually every single major LGBT outlet provided coverage. I recommend them highly and look forward to working with them again.”

Sean Strub
Author Body Counts, Founder of POZ Magazine and Mayor of Milford, PA
“I am so happy I chose to work with Public Impact for my show "David’s Friend." From the impressive press release to the strategic campaign to their attention to detail and highly personal approach, my show received attention, interviews, and reviews from the start. I have and will highly recommend them to anyone looking to have an exceptional public relations experience.”

Nora Burns
Playwright, “David’s Friend”
“As a person working to liberate bodies from oppression, it was important for me to find a PR company that was on the same page. The fact that Alan and Jay are founding members of ACT UP and used their PR acumen to truly bend the arc of history towards justice for folks living with HIV/AIDS told me that they were the right company to launch Fat Kid Dance Party into new heights. And they are easy to work with and remarkably effective. In our first month-long campaign they secured placements on two local Los Angeles TV channels and a magazine article.”

Bevin Branlandingham
Creator, Fat Kid Dance Party
“Jay and Alan of Public Impact went beyond the call of duty for me and my first novel, “The Rise and Fall of the Yellow House.” Writers are notoriously bad at promoting their own work, and I am glad Public Impact was there for me. They even helped with the kinds of decisions a literary agent ordinarily would have. I’ll be in touch with Jay and Alan again when the time comes to get the word out about my next book.”

John Treat
Author, The Rise and Fall of the Yellow House
“Public Impact supported the campaign behind my book "The Glass Closet." They ran a successful social media campaign across multiple platforms, increasing engagement around the message of LGBT inclusion in the workplace. They secured several interviews with leading LGBT media outlets and helped deliver a campaign encouraging employees to be out at work with engagement from the United Kingdom's largest public companies, leading members of the UK government and a range of business schools. Public Impact are committed and passionate advocates with a good understanding of what makes a campaign successful.”

The Lord (John) Browne of Madingley
Author, The Glass Closet and Former CEO of BP
“Public Impact helped the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA) bring our family acceptance campaign to new heights. They secured a whopping 2 million media impressions to our campaign where we told the heart-felt and life-saving stories of Asian parents and the love they have for their LGBTQ children. They integrated effective strategies reaching hard news outlets and social media so that NQAPIA could bring this critical message to a mass audience.”

Glenn D. Magpantay
Commissioner, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
“Public Impact did a wonderful job on promoting my book ‘Jews/Queers/Germans.’ As someone largely unfamiliar (and inept) with the digital world I relied heavily on Jay and Alan to smooth my path – and they did so with superlative skill.”

Martin Duberman
Historian, Biographer, Playwright, and LGBTQ Activist
“Who can help put an unheralded eBook with all the odds against it on the media map? Public Impact Media Consultants, that’s who. Jay and Alan’s can-do attitude, contacts far and wide, and caring customer service all combined to play a crucial role as my novel’s first year far exceeded my expectations, in terms of unexpected media coverage, great visual design, and broad social media reach – no small matter for a neophyte.”

Lance Ringel
Author, Flower Of Iowa and Playwright In Love With the Arrow Collar Man
“Jay and Alan at Public Impact did a wonderful job helping to promote my hybrid memoir "The Pox Lover: An Activist's Decade in New York and Paris" and the national tour in 2017 of public conversations about our 90s decade of activism, AIDS protest, art and community, as well as Bodies on the Line, a project to honor the work of journalists who covered the AIDS epidemic.”

Anne-Christine D’Adesky
Author, Beyond Shock and The Pox Lover
“We're a small, successful, independent pharmacy in Queens. After a fire closed us down, we rebuilt. Public Impact came on board to promote our Grand Reopening. They built our website, crafted messaging, and got us media coverage. We are impressed by Public Impact's work and results – and we continue to be grateful for their top-of-the-line services, efficiency and support!”

Frank Buonagurio
Owner, Frank’s Pharmacy