New partnerships including Ascension Texas join continued work with Kinective, Texicare, ESO Solutions and the agency’s eighth year with ABC Kite Fest

Red Fan Communications, a strategic B2B communications firm, today announced the launch of its Brand Authority Index—a diagnostic tool that quantifies how companies show up in AI-powered search—alongside five client engagements across healthcare and fintech. New clients including Ascension Texas join expanded partnerships with Kinective, Texicare, ESO Solutions and the agency's eighth consecutive year supporting ABC Kite Fest.

Red Fan's newly launched Brand Authority Index addresses a critical gap for B2B companies: understanding whether AI tools recommend their brand or their competitors when buyers ask for vendor suggestions. The diagnostic evaluates seven weighted factors—earned media and market presence, recognition and industry visibility, review platform health, entity coherence, content authority, social and community authority, and technical readiness—to reveal where companies fall short and where they excel in AI-driven discovery.

"Our clients are already asking, 'How do we show up when ChatGPT recommends vendors?'" said Kathleen Lucente, CEO and founder of Red Fan Communications. "The Brand Authority Index provides full transparency into the signals that influence AI recommendations, so companies can make strategic decisions about where to invest in their authority-building."

The firm has also been selected to lead communications for Ascension Texas, a faith-based healthcare system that has served Central Texas for more than 120 years as part of Ascension, one of the largest nonprofit Catholic health systems in the United States. Red Fan will manage executive thought leadership and proactive media relations for Ascension Texas across Austin, Waco and surrounding communities.

This year marks the firm's eighth year supporting media relations for the ABC Kite Fest. An Austin tradition since 1929, the festival takes place in Zilker Park each spring, bringing together thousands of Austinites for a free, family-friendly event celebrating community, creativity and the city's vibrant history. The 2026 collaboration extended to include the creation of the festival's new website.

Red Fan deepened its relationships with Texicare, the health affiliate of Texas Mutual, as the company grows its footprint across the state; ESO Solutions, a leading data services and software provider for EMS, fire departments, hospitals and government agencies; as well as Kinective, the company delivering intelligent banking to over 4,000 banks and credit unions every day. For Kinective, Red Fan applied its proprietary Positioned to Win Method™ to compress brand positioning development from a projected year-long internal process to a matter of weeks.

“Red Fan didn’t just deliver—they transformed our approach. Their deep industry experience and understanding of financial services and technology meant they immediately grasped our complex platform approach,” said Michael Ball, executive vice president of marketing for Kinective. “Through their brand positioning workshop, they distilled stakeholder feedback into a cohesive narrative that resonates with our financial institution customers. What would have taken us a year to develop internally, Red Fan delivered in weeks. Now, we have extended our partnership as we enter a new era of intelligent banking.”

"When clients come back year after year, it tells you something—they're not renewing a contract, they're choosing to keep a partner at the table," Lucente added. “We embed ourselves at every stage of their business, and that means no two engagements look the same. These aren't cookie-cutter communications plans, we provide business-focused advisory built for distinct strategic moments."

About Red Fan Communications

Red Fan Communications partners with B2B technology companies across fintech, healthtech, manufacturing, and emerging tech to build market authority that influences both human buyers and AI-powered recommendations. Founded in 2008 by CEO Kathleen Lucente—former executive communications lead at JPMorgan Chase and IBM Research—the firm brings Fortune 500 strategic rigor with senior-level attention to mid-market and enterprise clients. Red Fan's proprietary Positioned to Win Method™ connects every communications investment to measurable business outcomes through a continuous cycle of integration, diagnosis, strategic roadmapping and execution. Learn more at redfancommunications.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260331012908/en/

Red Fan's newly launched Brand Authority Index addresses a critical gap for B2B companies: understanding whether AI tools recommend their brand or their competitors when buyers ask for vendor suggestions.