Members

Rene Nieva is founder and chairman of Perceptions, Inc. He put up the company in January 1987 and it has since grown to become one of the country’s leading PR firms. It counts among its current and past clients various leading Philippine and international organizations.

Perceptions has won numerous local and international awards, including a good number of Anvil Awards of Excellence and the top Grand Anvil Award three times from the Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP). It was also the recipient of several Golden World Awards from the International Public Relations Assocation (IPRA), one of which also merited a special United Nations citation.

Nieva started his PR career in 1962 with Business Relations International (BRI), headed by Filipino PR pioneer Jose Carpio rising to the position of PR Manager. From 1968 to 1976, he worked for the international PR firm Curtis J. Hoxter, Inc. in New York where he rose to the position of Vice President.

He returned to the Philippines in 1976 and was tasked to organize the Public Affairs Office of the Bancom Group, a leading financial/business conglomerate, and he headed said office as Director. In 1979, Exxon Chemicals Asia Pacific (ECAP) chose Nieva from among various candidates from Southeast Asian countries to be its Public Affairs Advisor for ASEAN based in Manila. In 1985, he was promoted to Public Affairs Associate of ECAP based in Hong Kong. In 1986, he opted for early retirement from Exxon and went back to Manila in 1986 to put up his own PR agency, Perceptions, Inc.

Nieva is a long-time member of IPRA, and has served four terms as National Chairman of IPRA’s Philippine Chapter of the IPRA. He has also been a member of the PRSP since the 1970s, and has been accredited by the organization as an APR.

Nieva was also one of the leading Filipino PR practitioners featured in the book “How to Make it in PR”, edited by PR veteran Romeo Virtusio.

He graduated with an A.B. degree in Economics from the Ateneo de Manila University where he was a consistent honor student from high school to college. He also obtained an M.A. degree in Corporate and Political Communications from Fairfield University in Connecticut, U.S.A., finishing at the top of his class with a straight A Average.

Nieva has also distinguished himself as a writer, having been Sports Editor and Columnist of the Ateneo College organ The Guidon, and having won writing contests at the Ateneo, and later nationwide when he won first place in the Knights of Rizal Essay contest.

Nieva also wrote the lyrics for the song Biyahe Tayo! which was used by Pfizer Bonamine and the Department of Tourism for its successful WOW Philippines Biyahe Tayo! campaign in 2004 to promote domestic travel. The song not only made Filipinos appreciate the many tourist attractions in their own country but instilled in them a renewed sense of patriotic fervor. He also provided the lyrics for the theme song “We’re All Just One” of the 23rd South East Asia Games held in the Philippines in 2005. He has also contributed articles to various publications and books and to the weekly PR column of the IPRA chapter in the Business Mirror, PR Matters.