A lot of people in Brussels run campaigns. Fewer win them.
There are models, strategies, and tactics that you can adopt that will increase your chances of winning. Here is a simple checklist to consider before you start off on your next campaign.
A Simple Checklist for A Successful Campaign
- You have funding for the long term. Campaigns cost money. If you want to bring about system change, you are looking at a 10-year time horizon. That means you need to have the funds at hand, or committed to for the duration. If you come up short, your chances of getting what you want fall. Many good campaigns fail because they lack the funds or long term funding.
- The best way around this is to find a good fundraiser, they are worth their weight in gold, or make sure your organisation/firm, signs off the budget for the duration.
- A campaign is about changing things. It’s going to be disruptive. If your client does not want to change the status quo, it is going to be hard to campaign. There are plenty of organisations, for and not for profit, who want to bring about change.
- Campaigns that want to “educate” people will fail. Campaigns that slogan seems to be “I want them to understand the/our science, and act on it”, will fail. Campaigns are not about education. They are political.
- Make sure what you are asking for does not come as pure self-interest. Most officials and politicians won’t back you to help make you richer.
- Make sure that your allies are not politically marginalised or cranks. You need the support of the mainstream to win.
- Make sure you have a good campaign team. Amateurs and academics don’t make good political campaigners.
- Work out the decision you want to change. You need to be very clear about this. Identify the problem and offer a ready-made solution. Put it down in legislative text.
- Work out who makes that decision
- Work out how to change that decision. In Brussels speak, is it an ordinary legislative proposal, secondary legislation, or another process. If you don’t know the processes, and where you are in the process, your chances of success are low.
- Who do you need to convince to get the option you want?
- Who is the best person to convince them? If you are not the best person to persuade the person(s) making that decision, and that is likely, who is the best person to influence? Will they work with you?
- What is the best way to motivate your audience. What values resonate with them? What is the best angle to approach them with?
- Have the right materials available to motivate that? If they are a fan of Vaclav Smil, has he written on point?
- Are you prepared and able to genuinely communicate with and listen to people? If you are not, your chances are limited.
- Are you prepared to communicate with humans? Will you use images and good visuals, or are you stuck using data and words?
- Do you have people on your team who can convert your ideas into powerful images?
- Do you have a strategy that you have tested before launching?
- Do you have an accurate and honest market and political strategy? Would it stand up to scrutiny?
- Have you written down your pathway to getting from where you are, to where you want to get to? Is this plan real and honest, or an act of self-deception?
- Do you have the independent evidence to back your ask? Are the experts you are mentioning respected and trusted by the people making the decisions?
- Do you have a ready-made solution that can be co-opted by decision-makers? Will it deliver what you want?
- Does your written plan spell out your communication strategy, your political strategy, the activities and resources needed, and is it all signed off by whoever needs to sign it off.
- Is the roll out-executed well, and progress monitored? Can you re-calibrate to take into developments?
- Before you start, have you done your research, mapped the issues that interest you, and worked out when and where you will intervene to bring about change?
- Do you know the key 500/200/and 20 people deciding and influencing the decision?
- Do you know the people with the power of the pen writing and signing off decisions?
- Do they trust you? Are you seen as credible and honest? If not, you will have a hard time.
- Do you know what media they watch and read?
- Do you meet and speak with them on a regular basis? Can you pick up the phone and speak with them.
- Do you know their “values”?
- You need to adapt your messages into packages for “settlers”, “prospectors”, and “Pioneers”. If you just want to talk to them in terms of your own values and interests, you’ll fail.
- When you do your issue map at the very start, do you really know the real issues that count and how you can change it?
- Is your objective feasible?
- Is your judgement sound. A lot of people let hope get in the way and deceive themselves.
- Is there any political coalition of interests that working together that will get you the proposal you want out the door, and backed by the Member States and European Parliament?
- Does the evidence back up your judgement? Do the laws of political reality and voting outcomes support you?
- Are you serious about delivering on your objectives? Do you have the resources and evidence to back your case?
- Do you have a competent team in place to get what you want?
- Do you have skilled and articulate messengers in Brussels and 27 national capitals to tell your story?
- Do you have access to key decision-makers and influencers both Brussels in and in the 27 national capitals?
- Are you able to harness opportunities when they come?
- Do you have a network that makes good luck happen more often? Does a colleague’s Dad offer to introduce you to a leading country’s leader to discuss the issue? And, are you able to drop everything to take up that opportunity?
- Do you have leadership who can persuade political leaders?
- Are you able to work creatively and opportunistically with the media to make help promote your case?
- Can you get a documentary series placed in key political markets within 3 months?
- Do you have a trusted relationship with the media? Can you get your story covered from the trade press to the FT/Economist/National Geographic?
- Do you have the machinery to execute this plan across the EU 27? Do you focus most of your time on external engagement and delivery and not on internal meetings.
- Do you have the votes to get what you want? Don’t fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. If you can’t get what the votes you want, it does not matter.
- If you get what you want, will it really bring about the change you want, or is it just the start of a long second stage journey to get the law implemented?