#makeEUsafe campaign
Success achieved
The campaign brought together a large and diverse European ecosystem and showed consensus for the improvement of the 112 service within the context of European legislation.
- Website
- https://www.eena.org
- Project dates
October 2017
Project team
As the campaign touched upon different aspects of EENA’s work, the team contributed one way or another to the strategy and/or execution, including:
- Petros Kremonas, Media & Communications Manager
- Gary Machado, Executive Director
- Jerome Paris, Managing Director
- Cristina Lumbreras, Technical Director
- Benoit Vivier, EENA Public Affairs Manager
- Taviana Caminiti, Events Manager
- Amaury Suarez, Communications Intern
- Diana Jarnea, Communications Intern
Tools & Systems
Twitter and Facebook were selected as the most impactful social media tools. Twitter was selected to report live throughout the three days and provided a strategic tool as it allowed for the amplification of policy-related messages. It ensured decision-makers saw key demands and allowed them to join the discussion. People could also follow the conversation easily with the hashtag #makeEUsafe.
Facebook enabled EENA to reach out to citizens in countries where Twitter is not widely used. Another benefit was its natural integration with video. To leverage its power, EENA created a promotional video prior to the events that helped build up momentum, as well as organised on-site Facebook live interviews with high level politicians discussing key items. Moreover, the tribute to victims & emergency services was broadcasted live to share the unique sentiment.
Introduction
EENA’s mission is to improve the safety of people. To do that, EENA is working to improve emergency services functioning so that everyone receives the best service when they need it. Key work includes establishing public warning systems in the EU in case of a large crisis, improving emergency caller location so that lives are saved and ensuring people with disabilities have access to rescuers equal to their peers. EENA believes that when a person is in danger, they should receive help quickly and effectively.
The EU debates the European Electronic Communications Code (EECC). The EECC is a text that will update the Union’s telecommunications legislation. The proposal includes provisions on the 112 service and it can decisively address all the issues mentioned above.
The European Parliament is very supportive of the 112 service, including public warning, location and accessibility for disabled people. However, partly because of the vast scope of the legislation, public debate in political and press circles has largely focused elsewhere, leaving 112 less visible and more prone to insufficient progress. Improving 112 has significant implications. Except for the financial gains for the EU, there will be thousands of lives saved. The #makeEUsafe campaign was undertaken in this context with the aim to show not only the importance of the cause, but also to raise the visibility of 112 and its implications for Europeans. 112 deserves a high profile in any public debate related to telecommunications.
Discovery
On 16-17 October 2017, EENA organised an event where EU emergency services gathered in Brussels to debate how to progress in emergency response in twelve separate workshops.
On 18 October, emergency services met with Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to share their preoccupations in an event bridging decision-makers and rescuers on the ground. Over 220 MEPs joined, an amazing number for an EU event of its kind.
After their discussions, emergency services from across the EU joined top-level officials, survivors of terrorist attacks from around Europe, MEPs, civil society and citizens for a march in honour of victims of attacks and in support of emergency services.
Deep research specifically dedicated to these events was not needed as EENA is an expert on the issues. The EENA Public Affairs Manager worked with the communications team through the entire process.
Objectives
The objective of the communications team was to demonstrate the enormous support for the EECC towards improving 112 and increasing its visibility among decision- makers. To do so, many factors needed to be carefully managed:
- Identifying and coordinating a large and diverse ecosystem
- Translating complex items into understandable messages
- Finding the best channels to reach those audiences
- Securing the biggest amplification possible
Activities
It is important to highlight again that the success of the social media campaign was that it was an integrated part of the broader work of EENA rather than a standalone campaign. This allowed the team to focus on the substance of the events, producing content and welcoming key personalities. Having a great recipe already in place, social media then capitalised on this content and network. This is what made the campaign a success.
Three different events took place within three days, all under the same thematic umbrella. Although intertwined, there were three distinct spaces offering different opportunities as well as different limitations.
Firstly, the EENA Members Workshop lasted two days. This was a closed event for EENA Members to produce operational and technical recommendations for emergency services topics. The opportunities for massive social media impact were limited. The workshop was followed by a “Meet your MEP” event for the attending emergency services, as well as by a pan-European march in honour of victims of terrorism and in support of emergency services. Contrary to the workshop, the following events were open to a variety of people and communities. Spaces for all these different people to meet were created, all supporting the causes of EENA.
Ecosystem
The challenge then was to be able to mobilise such a diverse ecosystem. From emergency services to politicians, and from victim associations to citizens, each audience was part of a distinct community. If someone tapped into the power of all these communities, they would be able to send a very strong message that there is absolute consensus that 112 needs to be improved.
Mobilising this ecosystem was identified as a top priority. The aim was to ensure stakeholders would actively communicate on social media. In case of succeeding, it would prove unanimity when it comes to the improvement of 112. Below you can find a summary of the different stakeholders EENA targeted. Please note that the processes have been simplified for the convenience of the readers.
Audience 1: European Parliament political groups
Safety is not a partisan debate. All political groups support the safety of Europeans and visitors. EENA needed to show that political affiliations cannot work against 112 and that throughout the political spectrum, 112 is identified as a priority.
The events for European emergency services were kindly co-supported by political groups. For this reason, meetings were arranged with communication heads of the EPP, S&D, ALDE, GUE/NGL, ECR and Greens/EFA. They were briefed about the context and how they can contribute. To make the process easier, everyone received detailed reports with proposed positions adapted to their own audience, politics and overall style.
Result: All political groups communicated their support, allowing the message to go to an incredibly large and diverse community.
Audience 2: Emergency rescuers
EENA has a strong community of members, representing emergency services everywhere in the EU and beyond – in a total of 83 countries. The strength of EENA lies in the strength of our network. As a result, key influencers from emergency services were identified in all EU countries. They were provided with detailed plans about EENA actions as well as suggestions on how they could contribute. Influencers were broken down to language groups to ensure multilingual coverage so that communities within the countries could be reached and utilised.
Result: First responders from all the EU countries actively shared their support.
Audience 3: Members of the European Parliament (MEPs):
MEPs were identified as a key community. The EENA communications team worked closely with the EENA Public Affairs Manager, who is in charge of institutional relationships. EENA contacted MEPs weeks in advance to ensure they were fully aware of the actions. They were provided with frequent detailed updates, as well as with tailor-made proposals on what they could communicate to their audience, taking into consideration their home countries, political groups, and more. A photo-booth was placed onsite at the European Parliament that allowed them to take photos with rescuers from their home countries holding support signs and to share them on social media. This made it easy and quick for everyone to share their support in a click of a button.
Result: Over 150 MEPs shared their support on social media, showing a strong political will for the 112 improvement.
Audience 4: Victim associations
After terrorist attacks around Europe, victim associations gained a renewed momentum in the public debate. EENA wanted to guarantee that their voice was heard by decision-makers, reached out to them and coordinated their participation.
Result: Victim associations from France, Belgium, Spain and the UK, as well as the European level, went on social media and demanded 112 improvement in the EU.
Audience 5: Top-level officials
EENA recognised the need for top-level officials to engage in the discussion and their involvement would allow for a multiplying effect. The team reached out to key people with information about the actions and with tailor-made requests for social media.
Result: The cause was supported by Julian King, European Commissioner for Security Union, Antonio Tajani, European Parliament President, Jan Jambon, Belgian Minister of Interior, and more.
Language
Legislation on 112 has a great impact on everyone’s safety but the language is technical and often requires a background that most Europeans do not have. The team concluded that the action’s hashtag should be simple, relatable and able to capture the essence of the debate: #makeEUsafe.
Three key-messages were agreed. They were incorporated in all communications and they were transformed to physical speech bubbles that anyone could take photos with. The messages were relatable, easy to understand and maximised sharing within different online communities:
- “public safety accessible to all” referring to accessibility for people with disabilities;
- “rescuers finding you in an emergency” referring to the need for accurate emergency location; and
- “Crisis? Quick alerts to all” referring to the need for a public warning system.
Innovation
Even though the events covered by #makeEUsafe are truly of a unique nature and magnitude, the success of the social media campaign was not thanks to a never-used-before innovative technique. On the contrary, it was a simple example of social-media-done-right.
Firstly, #makeEUsafe was based on valuable content. The three events produced newsworthy information.
Gathering emergency rescuers from all EU countries to work on public safety provided original content. The events welcomed over 200 MEPs (a record number for similar events), European Commissioners, as well as victim associations and citizens. The social media campaign built on the excellent work of the rest of the team: public affairs, events, and so on. Communications were an integrated part of the collective, not a standalone action.
Secondly, the campaign had clear objectives that allowed the team to focus on what is important: the ecosystem. The 3-day activities welcomed people whose network was critical to success. Rather than a non-profit asking for change alone, being joined by every part of the emergency chain (from decision-makers to rescuers and victims) allowed for a much greater impact. That is why resources focused on tapping into this network as a priority, as described in the “Activities” section.
In a nutshell, the #makeEUsafe campaign was a success for a simple reason: the team asked the right questions during planning.
- What do I want to achieve? - Let’s work towards that.
- What are my strengths? - Let’s capitalise on them.
- What are my weaknesses? - Let’s minimise their impact.
- Who can help me? - Let’s make it easy for them.
Achievements
A small team worked on a policy item that was low in the political agenda and managed to mobilise rescuers from twenty-eight EU countries, two hundred MEPs, top-level officials, European Parliament political groups, victim associations and citizens, and succeeded in showing that they unanimously demand a better 112 service from the EU.
Indicatively, the Twitter reach of the hashtag was over 600,000. The objectives, however, were not to spread the message as widely as possible. Instead, it was to make sure the EU environment engaged and joined the discussions. To achieve the set objectives, emphasis was put on providing tailor-made input to all stakeholders, selecting the right tools, creating engaging visuals, coordinating before/during/after the event a diverse community and guiding them towards one goal. This allowed to tap into communities that EENA alone would never have access to.
Targets & Statistics
No relevant statistics as this social media action was for a dedicated audience. All targeted political groups communicated with #makeEUsafe, together with high-level personalities (European Commissioner King, European Parliament President Tajani, and so on).
Financials
A total of around two hundred Euro was spent in various social media posts dedicated directly or indirectly to the events, for instance the pan-European march was disseminated in Belgium with a promoted post. There was no other direct investment.
Wider impact
After this action, 112 topics started appearing as priority items in several EECC-related infographics. The action led to press coverage in around ten countries and attracted journalists including AFP, El Pais, and more. This action undoubtedly contributed to the progress of EENA’s mission and to getting one step closer to the EU concretely advancing the safety of Europeans – and saving thousands of lives.
