The health and financial crisis has had a savage impact on countless areas of society, across France and Europe. Businesses and associations from a range of sectors such as tourism, transport and events are in serious trouble. And although support from government, in France especially, was decisive at the peak of the crisis, it is absolutely vital that we get the economy restarted.
It can be complicated, particularly for pan-European organisations, to make their voices heard by policymakers, owing mainly to the variety of different contact points and decision-making systems. In these circumstances, the Worldcom Public Relations Group network’s presence in almost 20 European countries — and around fifty worldwide — is a great asset for targeting decision-makers with a public relations strategy that is solid, consistent and concerted, tailored to the unique features of every local market.
For example, as a member of the Worldcom Public Relations Group network, we had the opportunity to work with the best independent agencies from across Europe to support the European Major Exhibition Centres Association (EMECA), whose members were feeling the full force of the consequences of the Covid pandemic.
With an on-going absence of visibility about the possible date when they may be allowed to restart their activities, it was becoming critical for the association’s members — 24 major sites in Europe — to sound the alarm about the urgency of reopening on 1 September at the latest. EMECA was looking for an agency that could act in France but also coordinate with other agencies in Europe located in their target markets of Germany, Spain and Italy.
A joint, reactive action by four Worldcom network agencies, coordinated by Maarc in France, successfully generated very wide media coverage, with over 200 media mentions in Europe. All the coverage referred to the massive 125-billion euro losses facing the sector and referenced the association’s call for significant financial support from national and EU authorities. The strategy used to generate this level of visibility? Emphasize and demonstrate that exhibition centres are simply the tip of the iceberg, that they support an entire ecosystem of SMEs (stand builders, caterers and restaurant owners, logisticians, translators and interpreters, hoteliers, reception staff, etc.).
The upshot was that exhibitions centres were authorized to reopen on 1 September 2020 in France and many German Länder. At the time of writing, constructive discussions are underway with authorities in Spain and Italy.
The agility of the Worldcom Public Relation Group network, which combines a broad range of skills with unfailing responsiveness, is more vital than ever in times like these. We are proud to be one of the network’s 85 partner agencies that work every day to further the interests of their national and international clients by providing the flexibility and excellence of service that is the hallmark of independent communications agencies.
