In multi-market public affairs campaigns, the craft is not the constraint

I recently sat down with a journalist to talk about how the Brussels public affairs scene is developing. At one point I was asked what actually makes multi-market campaigns so difficult.

My answer was that, beyond a certain scale, individual public affairs craft is rarely the main constraint.

Most conversations about PA sit at the tip of the spear: stakeholder interactions, navigating procedure, acquiring intel, securing access. The craft itself, and usually how you perform it personally.

But when you are coordinating several Brussels team members and consultancies, 10+ member state offices, and alignment with HQ and regional functions, the challenge changes. It doesn’t matter how well connected or individually skilled you are if you can’t get the wider organisation moving in the same direction.

Three key learnings I’ve picked up:

1. Design for execution, not theoretical elegance

Multi-market campaigns easily become theoretically clever but operationally stupid. Your smart Brussels theme may make no sense at a stakeholder roundtable in Paris.

Design the objective around outcomes that are both convincing and aligned with local realities. Sometimes, for example, a mid-sized member state can deliver more supportive MEPs than a large one. And be honest about incentives: give people artificial objectives, and the only ones who will execute them are those with enough spare bandwidth for work that mainly looks good internally.

2. Build alignment through co-creation

The best way to make an organisation want to work with you is to make people co-creators. Present the plan to key colleagues, take their feedback seriously and improve it, partly because they know their markets, but also because involvement creates ownership.

The real prize is getting the campaign reflected in the performance objectives of the people you depend on. That only happens when their management is genuinely committed.

Local priorities always come first, and your job is to become one of them.

3. Coordinate centrally, but trust locally

How things are done in Copenhagen is not how things are done in Bucharest. Check in, listen, offer support and give recognition where it is deserved, and then trust people to know their own political environment.

Having worked at both Brussels and member state level, one lesson has stayed with me: central or regional colleagues rarely improve a campaign by inserting themselves into local execution. Where intervention is needed, the issue is usually resources, prioritisation or strategic alignment, not how the local team conducts its stakeholder engagement.

Running a multi-market project through local corporate teams and running one through a consultancy network are two different models, sometimes complementary. They come with different strengths and trade-offs.