Adfactors PR, India’s largest reputation and critical issues advisory firm, has taken a majority stake in SenateSHJ, one of Australia’s leading communication consultancies, bringing together complementary strengths in reputation, critical issues advisory and change communications across Asia Pacific, and marking a significant expansion of Adfactors PR’s presence in the region.
The transaction brings together two independent firms with complementary strengths, beliefs, a shared commitment to outstanding work and a common ambition to help their clients navigate reputation, stakeholder issues and change in an increasingly complex environment.
SenateSHJ will retain its identity and client teams under the leadership of Co-founder and Chair Angela Scaffidi AM and Chief Executive Officer Darren Behar. The business will continue to operate from its offices in Sydney and Melbourne. Chief Executive Officer of Adfactors PR, Nijay N. Nair, who also leads all M&A and global initiatives, will join the SenateSHJ board.
We feel a deep connection to the way they think and feel about the world, their people and the work they do with clients. There is strong alignment and great respect: Angela Scaffidi
Madan Bahal, Co-founder & Managing Director, Adfactors PR, said, “SenateSHJ is a formidable business with an outstanding reputation, exceptional leadership and proven expertise in solving complex communication challenges. There is a strong alignment in the way our two organisations think about the world, clients, people and the role we can play in shaping the future. India and Australia are emerging as a strategic business corridor, and we trust the new partnership will help clients in both markets to create new opportunities in the wider Asia Pacific region. We hope to explore more opportunities in the region to create a strong Asia Pacific presence,” Bahal said.
There is a strong alignment in the way our two organisations think about the world, clients, people and the role we can play in shaping the future: Madan Bahal
Rajesh Chaturvedi, Co-founder and Chairman, Adfactors PR, said, “We have had the privilege of serving India Inc. for the last 29 years through many cycles in the global and domestic business environment. I am happy that with this new partnership our relationship capital will expand to a significant market like Australia.”
Angela Scaffidi AM, Co-founder and Chair, SenateSHJ, said, “We’re incredibly proud of the business SenateSHJ has become over the past 24 years – our people, the work we do and our relationships with clients.
“We have built a relationship of deep trust with Adfactors PR over the past decade. We feel a deep connection to the way they think and feel about the world, their people and the work they do with clients. There is strong alignment and great respect. The problems clients bring us increasingly cross borders. Being part of a group with real scale across India, Asia Pacific and beyond means we can help them with more of those problems – without changing what has made this firm what it is.”
For Adfactors PR, the investment represents a significant expansion of its presence and capabilities in the Asia Pacific region. For SenateSHJ, it provides access to scale and an international network while creating new opportunities to grow its own expertise, intellectual property and impact. (Story continue below)
Also read/view: MVP podcast: Madan Bahal on building Adfactors PR as a national asset through Corporate Spirituality
Angela Scaffidi of SenateSHJ, and Global Chair – PROI, on Communications, Leadership, the evolving PR landscape
SenateSHJ describes itself as one of Australasia’s most successful independent consultancies, with capabilities focused on helping organisations address reputation, change and engagement challenges. Its stated purpose is to help people communicate so organisations can solve difficult reputation, change and engagement problems. Its work spans reputation, engagement, change management, social change, digital, research and insights, and creative services, with sector experience across financial services, health and care, infrastructure, energy and resources, education, the public sector, utilities and the circular economy.
Founded in 1997, Adfactors PR is the youngest firm among its top peers and is also India’s largest PR firm. A multi-specialist, full-service consultancy, it serves more than 700 retained clients across 40 cities in India. Its clients include large corporations, conglomerates, financial institutions and governments, as well as start-ups and unicorns. The firm has a track record of delivering complex and challenging PR briefs, often characterised by high stakes, urgency and uncertainty around potential outcomes. Its approach is rooted in robust problem-definition and customised solutions. In an industry built around standard templates and processes, Adfactors PR says it explores creative solutions for each brief, with superior execution among its acknowledged strengths.
Adfactors PR says its business is built on a few simple tenets. In a complex world with a trust deficit, it believes public relations is 90 per cent behaviour and 10 per cent communications. It also believes relationships are key to sustainable business, while integrity, transparency, purpose and fairness are critical elements of a successful public relations programme.
In keeping with its culture built on integrity, transparency, fairness and simplicity, with constant, incremental innovation for creating value for clients also forming part of its value system, Adfactors PR does not work for businesses like tobacco, alcohol, meat processing and gambling.
In 2020, Adfactors PR was named one of the seven Global Agencies of the Decade by PRovoke Media. In recent years, it has won multiple accolades, including PR Awards Asia’s, formerly PRWeek, South Asia Agency of the Year for four consecutive years — 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015. It has also won PRovoke Media’s Asia-Pacific Corporate-PR Consultancy of the Year in 2018, Asia-Pac Financial Consultancy of the Year in 2015 and 2013, Global Financial Agency in 2015, and Global Corporate Agency in 2016. In 2014 and 2016, the firm was recognised by Campaign magazine and The Holmes Report as India Consultancy of the Year. Since 2014, when it had started participating in industry awards, Adfactors PR says it has won more than 250 awards for campaign excellence at national and international forums.
MediaBrief view: This is a significant move for Adfactors PR, not only because it gives the firm a stronger presence in Australia, but because SenateSHJ brings complementary strengths in reputation, change, engagement and critical issues advisory. At a time when client challenges increasingly cut across markets, stakeholders and borders, the partnership gives both firms a broader Asia Pacific platform while allowing SenateSHJ to retain its identity and leadership.
