SAO PAULO—Hotwire has extended its offering to Latin America, after deepening its partnership with independent Brazilian PR firm Vianews.

The two firms have struck an exclusive co-branded partnership, after working together on an informal basis since 2011 on such clients as Rakuten, BMC, Intralinks and LogMeIn. Headquartered in São Paulo, Vianews has used partnerships to extend its own Latin American network beyond Brazil into Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Colombia and Peru.

That network of agencies will now be housed within Hotwire’s existing international footprint of wholly owned offices, exclusive co-branded partners and affiliates in more than 22 countries across the globe. Vianews adds the Hotwire logo to its existing brand identity and gains access to Hotwire's global sales, marketing and HR resources. Both companies plan to work together on supporting existing clients and on targeted business development across the region.

Hotwire group chief development officer Andy West believes that his firm's international expansion is a response to clients that "have been burnt by the large networks, but still require consistency, sector knowledge, coordination and team collaboration."

"We have clients looking for something different when buying international communications support," he said.

"We are building a true alternative to the established global PR order," added Hotwire global CEO Brendon Craigie. "In today’s global interconnected economy it is vital we can support our clients where ever their business growth takes them"

Vianews is the third Hotwire affiliate to join its co-branded partnership scheme, after Active in the Middle East and Yellow Communications in Amsterdam. Founded 30 years, Vianews is considered one of the LatAm region's top tech PR consultancies.

"We started working closely with Hotwire in 2011 and very quickly realised that we share similar values and a common approach to the work we do," said Vianews founder and MD Pedro Cadina. "We’ve seen tremendous value from our affiliation with Hotwire in recent years in terms of new business and knowledge sharing, so it is a natural next step to move even closer to the business."