PROA Comunicación

The firm was founded in 2009 by the Cantabrian journalist Lucía Casanueva and takes its name from the magazine Proa a la mar.^[3] After working for the newspapers Expansión and Actualidad Económica, she became acquainted with the Spanish business world and worked in Spanish and international agencies like LLorente y Cuenca, Kreab and Edelman.^[4]

In its early days, the agency specialised in corporate, financial and crisis communications.^[5]  In 2015, it was relaunched with the entry of Valvanuz Serna and expanded into the large consumer and professional services sectors. In 2020, it adopted a different strategic positioning with a new image, website, slogan and logo.^[6]

In 2022 it inaugurated its headquarters in Montalbán Street and presented a report on communication in times of crisis. It has international alliances with Vae Solis Communications and Corpcom.^[4]

It won the Ana Baschwitz Award for Best Communications Agency (2023) at the Eduardo Úrculo Cultural Centre in Madrid.^[7] The consultancy is part of the Woman Forward Foundation. It is the patron of the Woman Forward Awards for Corporate Governance and Gender Diversity.^[8]

"Observatorio PROA" are meetings with opinion leaders on topical issues, moderated by the consultancy's management team. The speakers are followed by a debate with the audience.^[9] They were created in 2017 to address current events from a communication point of view. They have covered various topics with the involvement of experts including politicians, businessmen, lawyers, journalists and military personnel.^[10]

Participants included José Luis Martínez-Almeida,^[11]Javier Ortega Smith,^[11] Jordi Sevilla,^[11] Cristobal Montoro,^[12] Ana Pastor,^[13]Juan Carlos Campo,^[14] Javier Zaragoza,^[15] Pau Molins,^[16] Manuel Sala,^[17] Borja Bergareche,^[18] Mirian Izquierdo,^[19] José Antonio Zarzalejos^[20] and Raimundo Herráiz,^[21] among others.