History

“Before the history embarks on an international voyage, it has to have a starting point.”  The phrase coined by Jacques Seguela is quite symbolic: for the Europeans communication is not only a matter of judgment; it also has a flavor of imagination to it, some sort of an alchemical confluence of rational and emotional.

Our history was born in Paris. It was brought about due to transformations that changed the whole world of communication.

The fall of the Iron Curtain, emergence of new nations and evolution of values, such as ecology of life, national and personal identity, had a great impact on the strategy, techniques and models of communication at the turn of the XXI century. Professionals in international communication, we faced the world in the heat of its evolution and united our efforts to develop communication as a resource for the world’s own development.

Changes brought about with the emergence of new nations and along with their industrial development, placed the issue of the brand image and reputation development into the spotlight of our professional interest.

Some time ago, a Canadian, named Marchall Maccluen, proclaimed the beginning of the era of global village. According to him, the world would turn into a global village and people will become global villagers.

He was wrong: global communication networks facilitated distribution of information, ideas, images and events, but people did not become global villagers. On the contrary, they seek to retain their own identity and their roots just as eagerly as they yearn for cooperation.

Realizing the importance of the three resources of the XXI century – openness, cooperation and communication, the latter being the best incarnation thereof, – we developed programmes in 1996, initially called public relations programmes, combining the academic expertise of top European universities and the professional skills of communication groups.

Thenceforth, our expertise and our business models have rested on these two pillars – the academic and the professional ones.

So, in the late 1990s, we started developing our first communication programmes, aiming to promote the European public relations doctrine that had a great impact on the development of communications in the world. The doctrine, pioneered by French PR school professionals, had a significant effect on the perception of communication on the part of international organizations, states and companies. And it’s not by accident that we started cooperating with the respective divisions of UNESCO.

Lucien Matra, one of the founders of the European PR doctrine, believed communication was the main management resource at all levels, whether corporate, international, intergovernmental or administrative. We are lucky to have among us someone who, along with Lucien Matra, pioneered the European PR doctrine. Philippe Boiry won the prize of the French Academy of Moral and Politics for his “Humanistic company”. In his work, whose title is very symbolic, Philippe Boiry studies a XXI century company from the point of view of the corporate social responsibility.

It is in line with the European PR doctrine that we carried out research, methodological and advisory programmes pertaining to the sustainable development.

Later on, seeking to leave a trace both in the professional domain and academic circles, we launched a number of publishing projects.

Through our publications published in Europe (for instance in Romania in collaboration with Editura Institue European), as well as through our own ones, such as Antologie de la communication modern and Collection exclusive, we focus on methodological approach to brand values, multicultural perspectives, reputation and other key features of our profession.

Promoted by Director d Harmattan (Paris-Montreal-Milan-Budapest-Bamako) Denis Pryen, this domain proved to be quite important for the international development.

Mission

Our mission reflects the tasks of communication in the XXI century, multicultural and changing, and rests upon human values and our vision of the professional moral code.

To a large extent it is based on the European PR doctrine, where it is viewed as a management resource.

It boils down to what we can contribute to the development of communication at the international level in accordance with the principles of freedom of communication and exchange of information, democracy and respect for human rights.