The American influence in Telefónica´s public relations strategy during the 20´s and 30´s.

The Compañía Telefónica Nacional de España (CTNE, `Telefónica´ in colloquial speech then) was incorporated in 1924. It was a strategic move of New York-based holding ITT. In contrast with a landscape of State-owned networks across Europe, Telefónica was the subsidiary of an American corporation, with internal organization, procedures and ideas that revealed that origin. We study the influence in Telefónica´s early development of public relations policies created by American Telephone & Telegraph. Although the environment was quite different, the new organization faced the same challenge that gave birth to the brilliant AT&T´s communication strategy, from 1907 onwards, to create the image of a “beloved monopoly”, in expression of the classical work of Roland Marchand.