Over the past three decades, we have witnessed the digital transformation, the rise of social media, the proliferation of communication channels, the emergence of new formats and, more recently, the advent of artificial intelligence. However, if there is one lesson that has remained unchanged, it is that communication is not about speaking louder than others, but about building solid and credible relationships with the people who matter to an organisation.

After more than 20 years as a communications agency in Madrid and Barcelona (27 years, to be precise), we have found that the companies that communicate most effectively are not necessarily those with the largest budgets or those that appear most frequently in the media. They are the ones that know who they are, what they want to convey, and how to do so consistently over time, supported by the best advisors.

Strategic communication begins with listening

There is a belief that communication consists of sending messages. Our experience shows exactly the opposite.

The best strategies stem from listening. Listening to customers, employees, shareholders, the media and all those groups that influence a company’s reputation.

Before designing a communication plan, it is necessary to understand the context, identify expectations and pinpoint risks and opportunities. Listening enables us to craft relevant messages and foster meaningful conversations.

This has been one of the most valuable lessons that we have learned by working with companies from various sectors over the course of these 27 years.

A reputation is not built in a single campaign

Another key lesson is that reputation is not the result of a single action. It is the cumulative result of hundreds of decisions made over time.

Many organisations turn to an agency when they need greater visibility or when they find themselves in a difficult situation. However, a reputation is built long before a crisis arises.

Our experience in corporate communication has taught us that the companies best prepared are those that work their positioning on a constant basis, maintain a narrative that is consistent and build relationships based on trust with their groups of interest.

Communication can boost a company’s reputation, but only when there is a consistent strategy behind it.

Experience brings more than just knowledge

People often talk about experience in terms of years. At comma, we believe that experience has more to do with the ability to interpret complex situations.

A communications agency with 27 years’ experience has seen markets evolve; it has supported companies through periods of growth, transformation and crisis; it has learnt to distinguish between passing fads; and it has witnessed major technological transformations and truly significant changes.

Experience provides perspective. It enables you to make informed decisions, anticipate scenarios and tailor strategies to the specific needs of each organisation.

And that value is particularly important in an environment where speed often takes precedence over reflection.

Communication must be aligned with the business

One of the most significant changes we have observed is the increasingly strategic role of communication.

Years ago, it was seen as a support function. Today, it plays a key role in major business decisions.

Communication helps to attract talent, build trust among investors, strengthen customer relationships, manage crises and consolidate a brand’s positioning.

That is why an effective strategy cannot be developed in isolation. It must be aligned with the business objectives and serve as a tool for creating value.

How to choose a communications agency

After many years of working with organisations of all sizes and from various sectors, we have also learnt what factors make the difference when choosing a communications partner.

If a company is wondering how to choose a communications agency, our recommendation is to consider factors such as:

• Genuine experience in similar projects.
• The ability to understand the business and not just communication.
• Knowledge of the media and communication and the digital environment.
• Specialisation in strategic areas such as reputation, corporate communications or crisis management.
• The quality and experience of the consulting team that will be involved in the project.
• The ability to provide strategic insight and independent judgement.

The best agency isn’t always the biggest or the best known. It’s the one that understands the organisation’s challenges and is able to support it over the long term.

What remains important even after 27 years

Technology will continue to transform the way we communicate. Communication channels will continue to evolve. And artificial intelligence will continue to change our habits and processes.

However, there is one thing that will remain essential: trust.

Organisations need to build credibility, generate meaningful dialogue and maintain strong relationships with their audiences. This has been the cornerstone of communication for the past 27 years and will likely remain so for decades to come.

Experience has taught us that a good communication strategy combines judgement, active listening, knowledge of the environment and a deep understanding of business objectives. Because communication is not just about being visible. Above all, it is about being relevant and credible.

In a world where information overload coexists with a growing demand for transparency, companies need communication based on trust, consistency and expert knowledge more than ever. That is precisely the main conclusion we have drawn after 27 years of working with organisations across a wide range of sectors.

Agencia comma, a communications agency based in Madrid with 27 years’ experience helping companies and institutions manage their corporate communications, reputation, media relations, financial communications and crisis situations, continues to learn every day because communication is constantly evolving. And it is precisely this combination of accumulated experience, adaptability and strategic vision that enables us to continue adding value for our clients almost three decades on.

La entrada What we have learned as a communications agency in 27 years of experience se publicó primero en Agencia comma.

Professional success is not just about technical knowledge or industry expertise. There is an essential part of performance that has to do with how we structure our days, what we decide to do first and how we anticipate the unexpected. How we manage our tasks says a lot about our ability to achieve results. In short, good planning is a strategic tool that boosts productivity and paves the way to success.

What is planning?

Planning is not simply making a to-do list. Planning is setting priorities, charting a clear path and making conscious decisions about how to spend our time. This practice allows us to focus our efforts on what really matters and reduce the feeling of constantly putting out fires.

Having a concrete and well-structured plan also helps to anticipate potential obstacles. It gives us room to react quickly, make more informed decisions and resolve situations strategically. More importantly, it allows us to stay focused, avoid unnecessary distractions and not fall into the trap of indefinitely postponing what we know we need to do. Solid planning is often the best antidote to procrastination.

Structure and clarity: keys to good planning

Structure is the foundation of all good planning. Having the workspace in order, both physically and digitally, speeds up access to information and avoids wasted time that, added together, can add up to hours over the course of the week. This basic organization is the starting point for working smoothly and without friction.

In addition, having the right tools to facilitate task management, assignment of responsibilities and project tracking contributes to more effective team coordination. But beyond the tools, what is really decisive is knowing how to prioritize. Identifying what is a priority, what can wait and how time should be distributed allows you to work with a clear perspective. In a communications agency, for example, having client materials well organized and accessible is not a minor detail: it is a question of operational efficiency and quality of delivery.

How good planning optimizes your work

When planning is done with a clear head, the work is aligned with the objectives and the teams are organized in a meaningful way. Duplications are avoided, errors are minimized and each professional knows what to do and when to do it. This order allows a better distribution of the workload, avoiding unnecessary saturation and ensuring that the most critical tasks receive the attention and time they require.

In addition, planning ahead allows us to identify the times of the day when we are most productive and make the most of them. It is not a matter of filling agendas, but of designing days that allow us to move forward efficiently. Reserving time in the day for highly concentrated tasks, alternating them with spaces for meetings or reviews, and leaving room for unforeseen events is a smart way to balance intensity and sustainability. A well-thought-out schedule not only improves results, it also improves the work experience.

Maintaining planning for unforeseen events

Planning well does not mean doing everything to the millimeter, but leaving room for the unexpected. Because if there is one thing that is certain in any professional environment, it is that unforeseen events will arise that will force us to implement certain changes. That is why good planning must include room for maneuver. That flexibility is what allows us to adapt when plans deviate, without the team losing pace or motivation.

In our industry, for example, it is not uncommon for a client to request a last-minute modification to a campaign or launch. If you have planned well from the beginning, reorganizing tasks, reallocating resources or changing deadlines can be done nimbly, without creating tensions or jeopardizing the backlog. The key is to build a system that is solid, but not rigid.

Great benefits for mental health and well-being

Beyond productivity, good planning has a direct impact on well-being. When tasks are clear and orderly, the stress level decreases and the mental load is lightened. Knowing what you have to do, when and how, allows you to work with greater serenity and focus. This feeling of control has a positive influence on motivation and the confidence with which you face each day.

In addition, being well organized allows you to preserve personal time, which is essential to maintain a healthy work-life balance. It’s not just about performing better, it’s about living better. And in an environment like communication, where rhythms are demanding and deadlines are tight, this balance becomes a strategic asset.

Good planning, the key to efficient and satisfactory work

Planning and organizing is not an operational issue, it is a philosophy. It is a way of understanding work from the respect for one’s own time and that of others, from the commitment to results and from the awareness that the urgent should not overshadow the important.

Investing time in planning well not only improves processes and raises the quality of work, but also strengthens the team, reduces daily pressure and allows us to enjoy what we do more. It is an investment with a guaranteed return: in efficiency, well-being and satisfaction.

La entrada The importance of good planning se publicó primero en Agencia comma.

We used a lot of paper then. And also fax, two lines, just in case. And many photocopies, for each media outlet, for each journalist, for each dispatch. Every morning the messenger would bring a thick envelope with hundreds of photocopies of newspaper clippings and the porter would hand us all the paper newspapers that the newsagent on the corner would bring. Reading the press took time; it offered a thousand scenarios of opportunities. And two clients, one financial, the other technological. Both were benchmark companies. A new revolution had just broken out: the dot coms. Being in the right place at the right time. Playing cards well.

My children were young. My marriage, unstable. The challenges, many of them unimaginable. Daring, daring.

Not even a year had passed and Pardiñas had already become too small for us. We went to Princesa Street, to a first floor of a mixed building with friendly neighbours, a smell of stew and scarce light. In the bathroom there was a bathtub. We never put up curtains. It was a flat of the past and passing through. From there we build a thousand stories, invent adventures and enjoy a job well done. Very well done. We went from brand to brand, evolving to try to find the suit that best suited us.

The light was too insistently absent and we decided to look for more space. The family continued to grow and, despite the dot-com bust, our experience had multiplied our knowledge and recognition. Pharmaceutical companies, real estate, law firms, transport, industry, regional administration, tourism… We were the first communication consultancy to talk about and in social networks and to consider a digital world, not without a lot of criticism for being so geeky and unaware. Life, which is so keen on its demonstrations, has ended up accompanying us, with a resounding force.

Thus we arrived at Fuencarral street, “between Bilbao and Quevedo” as we used to say to our visitors to situate them in space. Our neighbourhood, our territory. From there we went in and out pandemoniously, while our landlord avoided talking to women – “they are not suitable interlocutors”, he claimed – and steadfastly maintained an unconscionable rent. Our trust in people has been broken, only in bad people.

We had outgrown our own name. Our suit found its best model. “I am sorry I love you” or “I am sorry, I love you”. The important thing is the detail, the well done, the excellence, the craftsmanship. The comma does matter: comma.

Dressed to the nines, in September 2022, we opened Atmosphere comma, a space for freedom, for change, for transformation. At street level, neighbour to neighbour, friendly. From here, we have discovered that the comma story is born from the team, from its diversity, which puts communication at the service of the customer. And today it is our turn to blow out the candles with pride. It’s 25 years. Not one more. Not one less. A thousand learnings and one certainty: communicating is power.

25 years, 25 reasons

And it is power…

1. because it honours the profession
2. because it brings brands out of anonymity
3. because it breaks the established script
4. because it is passion
5. because it makes the brands become real
6. because it breaks down barriers
7. because it allows constant learning
8. because it is transparency
9. because it convinces
10. because it opens up the thinking of the members of the organisations
11. because it is courage
12. because it consolidates the reputation
13. because it is art
14. because it connects people, emotions, purposes
15. because it makes you fall in love
16. because it allows for influence
17. because it consolidates the pillars on which to build
18. because it is listening
19. because it shows stories about what is possible
20. because it guides the purpose
21. because it inspires
22. because it is generosity
23. because it accompanies growth
24. because it requires curiosity
25. And because it is pure vocation.

25 years later, I am still proud to belong to this sector. I feel part of it and responsible. I am happy to have met wonderful professionals, good people at the root – heartfelt thanks to all of them – and I accept that, in order to appreciate the good, you have to go through the not so good.

I can only feel grateful. Special thanks to each and every one of the companies, entrepreneurs and institutions that have placed their trust in our way of doing things. Some of them have relied on comma for 25 years. Now that’s a test of excellence.

But today I am only thinking about today, and about the cake with 25 candles that I will blow out together with those who believe that another way of doing communication is possible: with passion, with craft, with power.

As the great Violeta Parra used to say, thanks to life.

La entrada 25 years, 25 reasons. se publicó primero en Agencia comma.

It’s been a fun year, I’ll say that; And not because it has not been free of difficulties, hardness, intensity, threats… but because it has not allowed us to stop or stop learning; At this stage of my professional (and also personal) life, to continue learning and having fun with what you do and what you are involved in, seems to me a luxury;

I have asked our friends, the intelligent but artificial ones, to tell me what they think are the barriers we have been working with this year and the challenges for the coming year; And, it turns out that for these girls, the past and the future are similar; This we are told: “the fragmentation of the media landscape, making it difficult to reach target audiences with traditional methods such as advertising; the increasing use of social media and other digital platforms by consumers, requiring communications and PR professionals to be more innovative in their approach; and a shortage of talent, as there are not enough qualified professionals to meet demand”;

Grammatically correct, I think this approximation could be an approximation for last year, for this year, for two years from now… Although it can serve as a reference, that is not what I was looking for; I wanted enlightenment and this, I’m afraid, comes from our experience, our work, our research, our practice… That AI is here to stay, there is no doubt about it; But it is firmly linked to two coordinates that we must not lose sight of:

1. The danger of content by weight: quality versus quantity? And what will make us able to distinguish the true origin of a content?
2. Will it mean the disappearance of content creators (read writers, journalists, bloggers, editors, designers, artists…) I’ll leave it there and go back to the subject of this last post of the year: perspectives of communication 2023;

Communication challenges in 2023

1.- Uses of technology

To continue to deepen in identifying how all these new tools are transforming the practice of our profession; and, as a by-product, whether we professionals will be prepared to face the multiple challenges;
With regard to the use of artificial intelligence, I think it explains it perfectly calvoconbarba in his last post. Beyond the coordinates outlined above, we will see how it can change the way we interact with information and how it will affect our decision making; I worry about whether we will be able to tell when we are being sold a bill of goods; We will have to be more awake than ever and never stop learning;

2.- Sustainability, transparency and accountability

Can these words be more beautiful? Brands are (or should be) striving to communicate more clearly and transparently their commitment to ESG in the broadest sense of the word, not only in their speeches but also in their actions; Consistency is going to be closely monitored. The Global Alliance’s annual report explicitly states: “Knowing how to detect, analyse and counteract these unethical techniques has become key to maintaining trust and reputation in the long term. Trust and reputation are strategic issues for companies; Ethics must always be at the heart of our actions: integrity, objectivity, honesty; ESG criteria are here to stay and it will be the territory of communication to ensure their identification, performance and transmission;

3.- Data, data, data

Increasingly, communications work requires a deep understanding of data to demonstrate its true impact; Professionals will have to know how to interpret them appropriately and to make the most of them in an efficient and effective way; With data, possibly, we will be able to demonstrate the value of intangibles whose management depends directly on our work and which is not always sufficiently valued; Just look at the communication and marketing budgets; There is much to be done here and the work of associations such as ADC is going to be essential;

4.- Innovation and creativity

Our ability to imagine, to create narratives that capture the dialogue between technology and creation, adapting the content to the logic of the digital but without losing the essence of humanism, will be fundamental to break the limits and self-imposed rules; But “The challenge of innovation in the sector remains enormous.” and requires a change of beliefs; Are we prepared? Are we ready?

5.- Real-time communication

Agility; Everything is moving too fast; Although, as Mario Tascón (Prodigioso Volcán) in the latest episode of El elefante verde, “Thinking requires stopping. If you don’t stop, you don’t think”, companies must become more agile and be prepared to respond to social, technological and economic changes in a fast and at the same time effective way;

I could go on and on, but I think that with five references we can mark the challenges on which we should not lose focus in the year that is about to start;

From comma, with all the passion for communication that characterises us, we wish you a good end of 2022 and a powerful energetic charge to put the power of conscious communication at the service of people and the space we inhabit during 2023;

La entrada Five challenges for communication in 2023 se publicó primero en Agencia comma.

Although it may not be the first, it is however the only one to integrate partners who share our work ethic: proactivity, demand based on the close collaboration with our clients, entrepreneurial spirit, and high-quality strategic advice. As leading agencies in each of our countries, we are the benchmark thanks to our specialization and proven experience in corporate communication and public relations within the financial sector (banking, investment, asset management, fintech, venture capital…). All our partners have a solid knowledge of their respective markets and have formed privileged relationships with local media. We also share our essence: independence, which allows us to guarantee a customized and close assessment, as well as top quality service at all times.

All this started after many years working alongside Thomas Egger, our Swiss counterpart, on shared projects for international asset managers, who set challenge: “We work so well together. Why don’t we search for other agencies just like ours, the best in the financial sector?”  The rest was smooth sailing. Energy beckons energy. We joined forces to create this constellation formed by star agencies: ALL Comunicação (Portugal), Liminal (United Kingdom), Fargo (France), Mymediarelation (Italy) and TE Communications (Germany, Switzerland, and Austria) and us, Agencia comma (Spain).

The creation of this network has become even more relevant than ever in our current global context, characterized by the COVID-19 crisis. The rules for corporate communication may require a complete rewrite as a result of the coronavirus.  The financial services sector is becoming increasingly competitive, complex, and challenging. Its digital transformation is picking up speed. Experts in asset management have explained how they expect their way of working to change completely on different media outlets. Unnecessary travel will be cancelled, processes will be automated to improve efficiency and distribution will be transformed. In this new world, the financial industry will need to work alongside with communication and public relations professionals who can help them stay on track. International communication solutions thus become a vital matter.

One of the main goals of this alliance is to break down barriers and multiply our abilities to work alongside our clients in their international expansion with our same strategic assessment in the fields of communication, consolidated knowledge in the financial sector, and a network of local contacts.  Thanks to FINCOM, comma now can offer coverage in Spain, Portugal, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

However, while many other networks of agencies coexist as platforms in which to exchange business, FINCOM has a different focus: we seek to collaborate and co-create. We will share information, ideas, and focus on new trends in the communication sector and the financial industry in our markets to guarantee that our clients make the most of our collective intelligence.

We want to thank the comma family; each and every one of the wonderful professionals who are part of our team and our CEO, Silvia Albert, who guides our team, as well as our international partners, because you have make this dream come true. And the path that still stretches before us! It is a pleasure to create synergies and strategies with great professionals who work for communication.

All the information has been included on the FINCOM website, which has been designed by the creative team at Agencia comma (Global Design) creating the brand image of the network. We are sure you will love it.

It has been a pleasure to tell you all of this from home, with my children interrupting me constantly, thanks to the distribution of work and the wonders of technology. The new world is here already, and it makes us shine even brighter.

La entrada We have created FINCOM, a new European agency network specialising in financial services communications se publicó primero en Agencia comma.