Most lobbyists love to skip the research. There is a natural desire for action. If you ignore the research, you build your work on shallow foundations.
Too many campaigns grind to a halt because they skipped the research. They get the core facts wrong, misunderstand what was driving decision-makers, or do not understand how the issue got started. They get vital things wrong: the real details of the process and votes they needed to win or block a proposal.
Every time I do research, I learn something invaluable, vital that changes the direction of the work and helps bring about a win.
Good research helped me identify an MEP whose support became vital for the success of the reform of the CFP.
Early research identified an obscure procedural error that sidelined a proposal for many years.
A good piece of research by world-class experts helped accelerate the reform of a policy the Commission never wanted to reform.
A good piece of research by world-class experts, mirroring the Commission’s guidelines, revealed glaring gaps in the Commission’s assessments.
It led to a costly campaign reboot because some important points in a report were wrong.
If you don’t do research at the start, it increases the chances that a great campaign will fail. Too often, it falls at the first hurdle and never recovers.
If your client does not like the research output, just let me know. You need the data and information to refute your findings. It is inevitable that those same points will come up during the passage of the legislation.
Indeed, it is why many political candidates will have their own side do opposition research on themselves. It is better to know in advance what could come up and get prepared rather than be left unaware and ill-equipped to answer when the issue comes up.
It has the advantage that you may discover at the start you have little to no chance of getting what you want. So, you then have the chance to stop spending scarce resources and close down early. Why spend a small fortune that you realise is unwinnable? If you want to fight on the principle, do so, but don’t do it with the realistic idea that you can win.
Listen to David Ogilvy
David Ogilvy highlighted the importance of research to his firm’s meteoric rise down to research.
If you don’t do the research at the start, you’ll be left scrambling around too late in the day, trying to get the right objective data and information. It will be the core for your defeat.
Step1: Objectives
- What is the issue you are campaigning on
- What are your objectives
- What are your KPIs
- Do you have secondary objectives/fallback positions
- What does success look like
- How long do you think it will take to succeed
Step 2: Preparations
- Where is the file/proposal at
- Do you have reliable operational intelligence to keep you updated on where the proposal is at all times
- Do you have a clear timeline for the file clearly showing all key moments
- What is the legal form /type of proposal is it: legislative, secondary, non-legislative (See Annex for adoption)Commission
- Do you know who in the Commission is dealing with the issue?
- Do you know who in the Commission is in ISG
- Do you know who holds the pen on the proposal
- Who is the Commission’s negotiating team for the proposal
- Who is making the decision on the issue in the Commission
- In the Commission, who are the Special Chefs
- Do you know them/have a working relationship with them
- Do you have a working relationship with the lead VP Commissioner special chef/head of cabinet
- Do you have enough support to get the proposal through/objections in ISC
- Do you know what the key decision-makers in the Commission need to know to back you
- Do you have evidence at hand to get the key decision-makers in the Commission to back you
- What is driving the Commission – DG to act
- What is driving the President & VP to actCouncil
- Who is the current and next 3 Presidency’s team dealing with the proposal
- Who are the Member State expert group (committees) members
- Who are the Member State committee members
- Who are the Council Working Group members
- Who are the Council expert working members
- Who are the Perm Reps officials
- Who is making the decision on the issue in each member state
- Who is influencing the decision in each Member State
- Do you have a working relationship with national PM office leads
- Will your PM leads intervene in the final stages of inter-service consultation
- Did your national government allies intervene during the public consultation
- Did your national government allies raise the issue bilaterally with Commissioners during planned and ad hoc meetings
- Did your national allies raise the issue in Council Conclusions
- Do you have a working relationship with the Minister and their teams in each country leading on the issue
- Do you have a working relationship with the opposition spokesperson and their team in each country leading on the issue
- Do you have a working relationship with the key ministers/officials who decide on your issue in each country
- Do you know the inner-circle of each key ministerEP
- Do you know the actual or likely rapporteurs/ shadows
- Do you know someone with the points to become rapporteur
- Do you know the key group advisers and committee secretariat on your issue
- Do you know the key national/group co-ordinators in the EP
- How have they voted on your issues in the recent past
- Does your network have a connection with any of the key decision-makers in the EPOther Influences
- Do you know the key media outlets that influence the key decision-makers, that they watch, read and listen to
- Do you have a good relationship with those journalists and think tanks
- Are there any other key influencers on the file that you are aware ofPolitics & Data
- Do you know the reasonable worst-case outcome if a vote were to be held today in the EP and Council
- What voting scenarios/ blocks are going to get you the vote you want in the EP and Council
- Do you have allies you don’t usually work with who could bring on board the votes you need?
- Do you have people who are persuasive to the target groups
- What are the politics on the issue
- Can you reframe the debate on the issue to favour you
- What are the “values” of the key decision-makers? See Chris Rose’s “What Makes People Tick”.
- Can you re-articulate your messages to their values
- Do you know your opponents
- What is driving them
- Do you have information to hand that will address their pointsInternal
- Do you have the available funding to support the campaign over the next 3 years
- Are you prepared to be public
- What is the visual image that symbolizes your campaign
- Do you have the evidence to support your position
- Can you tell a powerful story to make your case
- Do you have the right team in place: spokespeople, communicators, experts, scientists, legal drafters, story tellers, project manager
- Do you have a campaign plan written down?
- Have you done the necessary research before starting to campaign, enough to answer the first 67 questions
- When is the best time for you to step in to influence decisions
- If on time, can you retro-engineer what success looks like
- Do you have enough flexibility to shift resources to where they need to be, even if it diverts from a plan
- Do you have the mechanisms in place to generate the internal buy-in and support needed for sucess
- Do you have real solutions as well as just messages
- Do you have objective evidence to support your position
- Do you have legislative language that can be tabled/incorporated
- Do you have a draft directive/regulation in your filing cabinet that would, if adopted, deliver the changes you want
- Do your solutions stand up in public and in the cold light of day
- Would you look reasonable, civil and look human if your meetings with Commissioners, Politicians, etc were live screened publicly without you knowing about it
- Do your advocates abide by the highest ethical standards in private and in public
- How are you going to get your message out
- Do you use an information management platform
- Do you have the right campaign team with clear roles and responsibilities
- Who is going to be the face of the campaign
- Do they have the time available to front the campaign
- Are they able to deal with difficult meetings with officials, Commissioners, opponents, and journalists
- If they are not, can you train them in time
- Do you rehearse for key meetings
- Can you re-calibrate your campaign in light of developments/intelligence
- What does success look like – be as specific as possible
- Who decides when you throw in the towel
- Do you have people who want to speak for you but you know will harm your case
- What can you do to stop them
- Is there any country or other interest who if they step into the debate will harm your interests
- Have you asked “why are you in this place”
- Why have you not solved the issue already, or why don’t enough key decision-makers trust you
- Is there something that has happened in the past that taints the whole debate and nobody is telling you, but it is driving the debate
- Why did you win or lose relevant votes before
- Can you repeat the conditions that led to success or reverse the conditions that led to defeat before
- Do you know what winning looks like? Put it down in no more than 200 words.
Links
Chris Rose, How to Win Campaigns, Chapter 4