Hotwire PR, the global PR and communications consultancy, today announces its entry into the Latin America market through an exclusive co-branded partnership with São Paulo based integrated comms agency VIANEWS.
The partnership reflects Hotwire’s business strategy to further expand into new geographical markets and follows on from similar partnerships established in the past twelve months in the Middle East (Active) and the Netherlands (Yellow Communications).
Headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil, VIANEWS is independently owned and recognised as one of the region’s leading communications consultancies specialising in the technology sector. It has been in business for 30 years, providing services to over 500 global and local companies.
The agency expanded through partnerships across Latin America 16 years ago and now serves clients in Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Colombia and Peru, combining global standards of services with highly localized expertise. The firm has partnered with Hotwire on an informal non-exclusive basis since 2011, representing joint clients that have included Rakuten, BMC, Intralinks and LogMeIn.
The exclusive co-branded agreement will bring together VIANEWS’ network of agencies in Latin America with Hotwire’s existing international footprint of wholly owned offices, exclusive co-branded partners and affiliates in more than 22 countries worldwide. Combined, the Hotwire global network now provides clients with communications expertise in every major economic region worldwide and is seeking to become a true alternative to the major owned networks.
According to Andy West, group chief development office at Hotwire, the move into Latin America with VIANEWS reflects the firm’s ambitions to provide an alternative to the establish PR world order: “We have clients looking for something different when buying international communications support. They have been burnt by the large networks but still require consistency, sector knowledge, coordination and team collaboration. Our partnership with VIANEWS over the past five years has shown that we can deliver this in Brazil and the wider Latin American market so we’re delighted to bring VIANEWS´ team more closely into the Hotwire family.”
The partnership will see VIANEWS add the Hotwire logo to its existing brand identity and will significantly deepen the operational relationship between the two companies. The partnership gives VIANEWS access to Hotwire’s global sales, marketing and HR resources while Hotwire will benefit from VIANEWS’ deep experience and network across Latin America. Both companies will work together not just on supporting existing clients but on targeted business development across the region.
Pedro Cadina, founder and managing director of VIANEWS said: “We started working closely with Hotwire in 2011 and very quickly realised that we share similar values and a common approach to the work we do. We’ve seen tremendous value from our affiliation with Hotwire in recent years in terms of new business and knowledge sharing, so it is a natural next step to move even closer to the business. We’re looking forward to being part of the Hotwire family and to sharing knowledge, ideas, client contacts and staff over the coming years.”
Brendon Craigie, Group CEO at Hotwire added: “We are building a true alternative to the established global PR order. In today’s global interconnected economy it is vital we can support our clients where ever their business growth takes them. We are passionate about working with partners to build the very best global communications network of likeminded service providers we can for our clients. Deepening our relationship with great partners such as VIANEWS represents significant step forward in realising this ambition.”
