Barbara Helfferich, spokesperson for EU Environment Commissioner Dimas, warned that an overly aggressive communications campaigns can be “counterproductive” for companies when dealing with the EU institutions.
“If a company puts an ad in the newspaper criticising the Commission, or brings up an issue that we didn’t know about in the press, then that creates an atmosphere where cooperation becomes difficult,” she said calling for public relations and communications efforts to be better integrated, Helfferich stressed that such an uncoordinated approach can often result in the two efforts canceling each other out.
The Commission spokesperson admitted that it did not happen in the “majority of cases”, but she warned the assembled communications professionals, that once it happens “it heightens the mistrust” felt by the Commission.
Roberto Zangrandi of the Italian utilities company Enel told the seminar that public affairs and corporate communication make for good bedfellows, with many professionals moving between the two fields during their careers.
Enel takes the integration of public affairs and public communications into a single PA sphere very seriously, according to Zangrandi. “We chose three years ago to merge public affairs with corporate communication,” he revealed, noting that ENEL public affairs professionals even coordinate with ENEL’s advertising department to see if a new advertisement can be used advance a Brussels-to-Brussels message.
But, while Zangrandi would consider using media relations as a lobbying tool, he would “never go beyond the threshold, in terms of aggression, or attacking a Commissioner,” said the Italian lobbyists.
Ben Atfield, director of Ellwood and Atfield, suggested that there could be a conflict between the long-term orientation of public affairs and the short-term goals of corporate communications short-term.
However, Zangrandi pointed out that it would be counterproductive to split the public affairs and corporate communication departments, reiterating that a director of communications cannot “renounce responsibility for public affairs”.
Adding that it is often a matter of making efficient use of resources, Fiona Wilkinson of Visa Europe argued that, “public affairs and public relations works very well as a whole because we need as much fire power as possible”.
