Trans-Tasman consultancy group joins leading international communications partnership

Scaffidi Hugh-Jones (SHJ) has been selected to join Public Relations Organisation International (PROI). 

SHJ and Senate together form the trans-Tasman communications group, SenateSHJ.

PROI is the world’s largest public relations partnership.  It is represented in 110 cities in 39 countries, with 50 leading independent PR partner companies and 3,000 experienced practitioners worldwide.   Founded forty years ago, PROI’s combined fee turnover of its partners is more than US$335m.

SHJ managing partner, Rupert Hugh-Jones, said “This is a major development for us and increases our ability to broaden our network and strengthen our client service capability – in terms of assessing issues relevant to our clients, creating best practice learnings, and providing wider international support for client’s off-shore initiatives. 

“PROI has long been regarded as the best global independent consultancy partnership, and we are delighted to become part of it.  Our involvement with PROI will provide our partners and staff with new opportunities to work with colleagues all over the world.

“An increasing number of SenateSHJ’s clients have multinational interests. As part of our involvement with PROI and its partner companies around the world, we now can offer our clients a truly seamless global service with intimate local knowledge, while maintaining our independent status and brand.

“In return we’ll be offering PROI partner companies’ international clients the benefit of our local Australian expertise.

“We have already seen the benefit of being part of the PROI team.  We have already been part of a successful Asia-Pacific new business pitch (details will be announced in the near future), and we are confident the relationship will generate further ongoing new business opportunities.

“PROI’s philosophy of quality over quantity, and firms working as Partners with each other was a natural fit with our own approach to business,” he said.  

Mr. Philip Roffey, PROI's Paris based President, welcomed SenateSHJ to PROI saying, “We are very pleased to have attracted a firm of SenateSHJ’s calibre to PROI.

“Strategically PROI will continue to expand its network of partner companies, to further extend our global reach and service offering to our respective clients.  SenateSHJ’s selection is an important step in strengthening our network in the Asia-Pacific,” he said.

SenateSHJ joins two other PROI Partners in Australia, consumer agency Red Public Relations in Brisbane and IR specialists Purple Communications in Perth.

SHJ is part of the trans-Tasman SenateSHJ communications Group.  It was formed eight years ago and now has offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, Wellington and Auckland.  It specialises in reputation management, issues management, healthcare, change communications and public affairs.  It was voted “Australasian Consultancy of the Year” in 2009 by the world ranking organisation, The Holmes Report.

PROI was founded forty years ago and is now represented in 110 cities in 39 countries.  Combined turnover of its members is more than US$335m and they employ more than 3,000 people.

Media release