The newspaper 20 minutes has published an in-depth interview with Lucía Casanuevamanaging partner of PROA Communication. We share its content, originally published in the newspaper's website:
Lucía Casanueva He is approachable, but not overpowering. Above all, he communicates with his calm words, his strategic caution and his curious gaze. He is 48 years old and created in 2009 a communication company with many marine echoes. Proa Communication is born from his own (and his partner's) geographical origins and uses terms such as helm, course, crew and navigators. We chat 'on board' about his business, which looks, above all, to the world of entrepreneurship and good ideas.
Tell us in the words of a communicator what Proa Comunicación is, a name closely linked to the sea.
Actually it comes from my origin, I am from Santander, I was born in a house suspended over a bay. I wanted a company linked to my essence. Head out to seaThe Spanish Naval League was a magazine that was received at my parents' house. I saw that this domain was free. That's how the journey began. I have a member called Valvanuz Serna, and with that name you can't be from anywhere else but the mountains, she is the patron saint of the Pasiegos.
¿What is the segment where Proa Comunicación works?
We are dedicated to strategic communication consultancy. We support the reputation and communication management of companies and associations and entrepreneurs of different activities. We are the outsourced communication department of many companies and associations. In Spain there is a very large section, which may make up the Ibex 35, and which have large communication departments. And then there is a very broad universe of companies and subsidiaries of multinationals that prefer to outsource or have a strategic partner managing that communication. In this sense, Proa is a very effective solution provider. Most of it comes from a large company in our sector, Llorente & Cuenca, where we learned the trade. We decided that we wanted to follow the methodology of the multinational, but with a more boutique format.
We try to ensure that everything that carries our brand exudes excellence.
Are they like the Chanel of communication?
We aspire to be, I think it's a bit pretentious to be the Chanel of communication, but we try to ensure that everything that carries the Proa Comunicación brand oozes excellence.
Your team is predominantly female: there are six men and twelve women. Is that a coincidence?
It is a coincidence, both my partner and I are in favour of balance and teams made up of men and women. Personally, I believe in people, I believe in human beings, and I also believe that diversity is richness.
Are we still confusing the concepts of advertising and communication?
This question used to be easier to answer than it is now. To make a very simple distinction, advertising is what you say about yourself, I pay for a page here or there and I tell the goodness of my service or my product. In communication, I have to persuade a third party, usually a journalist or an opinion leader, about the benefits of what I do or say. We are paid to convey and communicate the value offered by the company and the employers we work for.
We aspire to be like a good doctor and make a good diagnosis of what is wrong with the patient.
In order to be effective, does this relationship and service have to be neutral, and does Proa impose limits on working with certain sectors or clients?
We have said no many times. I think we are not exactly neutral, we aspire to be like a good doctor and make a good diagnosis of what is wrong with the patient. Sometimes the client doesn't know what is wrong or what he needs. We need to analyse the situation, to get everything right. Money doesn't pay for everything. I own half of the shares of my company and if the potential client is engaged in something that goes against my principles and values, I recommend him to go to another provider, of which there are many. I will not do anything that makes me uncomfortable.
What issues have been rejected in your company?
In the last few years, we have rejected paedophilia issues and worked on political communication issues. At this point in the company we are focused on corporate communications.
Speaking of politics, Fundeu has defined polarisation as the word of the year. Do you consider it the term of the year? Do you have your own?
I think polarisation is the word of the year. We are living in a society that is becoming more and more polarised, in an absurd way. There is nothing more beautiful and enriching than dialogue between people who think differently, and there is nothing more boring than a single way of thinking. But that said, always from the point of view of the other and from the point of view of respect for the other. We are becoming stultified in society. The word that we at Pro would like to highlight is Faro, a lighthouse that gives light.
In my opinion, the political class fails because it does not put the citizen at the centre of what needs to be done.
Politics is not one of his businesses, as he pointed out, but there is clearly something wrong with the way he communicates. But there is clearly something wrong with the way he communicates. What is it, in your opinion?
In my opinion, the failure is that the citizen is not put at the centre of what one has to do. The narrative, the strategies, the frenetic pace of the different political parties, what they need to do is to put the citizens at the centre. Spain is a great country, I have travelled a lot, I have lived abroad and we have an extraordinary middle class. The political class should get closer to the citizens and see how we communicators, lawyers, doctors, factory workers... Let's think about the common good and cross-cutting elements that benefit us all. We are living in a time of maximum tension. Let us go back to common sense and have a vision of the State. In saying this, perhaps I am a bit naïve.
What does a good communication campaign have to have in order to make an impact: a good text, an accurate image, a solvent advertiser, a good theme...?
All of that is valid, but the first thing is a good idea translated into a good message. Speaking of political communication, Miguel Barroso comes to mind. He passed away a few days ago and reading his obituaries, I remembered that, I think it was in '93, with Felipe González, he had a Pyrrhic victory. Barroso created a message for him that was something like, 'I have understood the message'. It is an example of good communication.
What factors favour the opposite, that a campaign will fail?
There can be many elements. First, what you have to communicate is not interesting or relevant. And often the story, the narrative, fails. We are overwhelmed with data, information in real time. What those of us who work in this field have to do is, as when you go to the bush, clear the brush, clean the bush well. We have to give the messages in an accurate but simple way. What is the impact of everything we receive? We are all at a time when our concentration is failing because we have so many stimuli, Whatsapp messages, visual messages, emails... Now more than ever, we have to go to the essence of things, which is very complicated. Summarising something in one and a half pages is the most difficult thing there is. It is much easier to have 20-page reports.
The threats I see with disinformation and 'infoxication', an intoxication by too much data.
Should communication have a cultural component?
I think so. The message we send has to be linked to the social, economic or cultural context. But we come back to the same thing. The threats are disinformation and 'infoxication', which is an intoxication by too much data, by the excess of information to which we are subjected.
What works are you most proud of since you created Proa, and why?
The Alhóndiga de Bilbao project comes to mind, a big project promoted by the Bilbao City Council, with the designer Philippe Starck, at a time when the company consisted of three of us and we had been working for a month. Since then, we have done many things and complex crisis communication issues, such as the Santiago de Compostela train accident, which, due to its enormous social impact, was very demanding, and we had to give our best. There are many more like these. And a product of which I am particularly proud is the Proa Observatory, a multidisciplinary forum in which we talk about the issues with the greatest social impact, beyond communication, where we want to reflect on progress, mental health, water, where the media are going. In other words, issues that are relevant to citizens. We try to bring together a diverse group of experts who know a lot about that area and invite the media, clients, prestigious professionals, politicians, friends... to generate debate and ensure that we all come up with at least one or two transformative ideas.
And on the other side, a campaign that did not succeed as expected?
When a client falls out of your portfolio, because you have not given 100%, because he considers that he has not fulfilled his objectives. You get to somatise it, but it is like life itself, we are not perfect. Consultancy has a hard part, a challenge: you work for a client for many years and you have to stay in love, motivated, and that is not always possible. Some clients sometimes fall out of the portfolio due to burnout.
Your company has many awards, which one makes you the happiest?
We are quite satisfied with the improvement in the ranking of the best agencies of the advertiser, it is a choice made by advertisers. We still have a long way to go but, year by year, we are moving up: we are now in 37th place out of 100. This year we have also been selected as the Best Communication Agency in Spain by the Ana Baschwitz Communication Awards. But the best award, really, is that your client is happy. And that new business comes from other clients who work with us and are happy.
Any clients you would like to have?
We have many challenges ahead of us, we are still a small company. We would like to work for Ibex 35 companies. And to get more involved in more complex projects with a greater social impact, which normally involve both communication and the management of public affairs. For example, the issue of nuclear energy, how to defend the use of this energy in an energy-dependent country like Spain, is necessary. And to create a committee of wise men, to explain the data to public opinion. There is a negative predisposition in public opinion. It is a challenge. The architect explained it very well. Norman Foster. He defended nuclear energy because he has reached the peak of his career and can afford it. Issues of that complexity are very challenging.
The monarchy is a unifying glue that has proven its historical efficacy in a country with a complex architecture such as Spain.
I give you a number of high-impact issues and you rate them from 1 to 10 on the extent to which the way they have been communicated effectively to the public.
Rubiales case: 4
Amnesty: 3
Pellets on the Cantabrian coast: 4
BenidormFest: I can't give my opinion because I haven't followed it, I have no idea.
Pre- and post-pandemic vaccination: 6
Masks yes or no: 6
Bitcoins: 4
Super Cup in Arabia: 6
The monarchy (they have just changed the head of the King's Household): a 6. I think that a good effort has been made recently with Princess Leonor and the extraordinary work that the King is doing, but much more effort needs to be made to communicate the praises of the monarchy for Spain. It is a unifying glue that has proven its historical efficacy in a country with a complex architecture such as Spain. The monarchy is a cornerstone, and much effort and resources should be devoted to communicating that our best ambassador is our King. It has improved, but much remains to be done. We have extraordinary kings.
What future actions do you have in mind?
We are going to make an Observatory on the water challenge. Another issue we want to address in the first quarter is disinformation and the role of editors and the media in defending freedom of expression and democracy. And how, in order to do so, they must be independent and financially sound. Why journalism is important and why independent companies are important. When I am now told that we are informed by tik tokers, influencers .... I say no. The media have to guarantee the viability of their own businesses. The media must guarantee the viability of our democratic system.
Are social networks friend or foe for communication?
We do not exclude social media at all, but the work of the media is more important than ever. How do we know what is going to happen if not in geopolitics, for example? There has to be a range of media that validate the facts. What is extremely dangerous is to mix opinion with information.
Source: 20 minutes