Engaging with Government and the Media through Parliamentary Showcase

Effective engagement with government and media stakeholders is essential for companies looking to influence legislation and public policy. Hosting strategic events, like a Parliamentary Showcase at Parliament House, Canberra provides a powerful platform for direct interaction, visibility, and advocacy. By leveraging such events, companies can enhance their influence, and gain support for their legislative goals.

Project Overview

Our client, a leading global cosmetics, beauty, and health company, sought to enhance their engagement with government decision-makers. The client was particularly interested in raising awareness of their broad portfolio of brands, promoting their environmental sustainability initiatives, showcasing their advancements in beauty technology, and influencing specific legislative changes around packaging.

Challenges

The client faced several challenges in their efforts to engage effectively with government stakeholders:

Visibility: Insufficient visibility and presence within government circles, hindering the recognition of their concerns and innovations.
Direct Engagement: Difficulties in facilitating meaningful interactions with Parliamentarians and staffers across political parties, including the crossbench.
Journalist Awareness: Need to raise awareness among journalists to ensure accurate and informed reporting on the client’s key issues in the long-term.

Implementation

To achieve the client’s objectives, we proposed and executed a ‘Showcase’ event at Parliament House, meticulously planning each aspect to maximise engagement and impact.

We focused on creating a compelling and well-organised event that would attract a broad audience, including Parliamentarians, their staff, and the working media. Key steps included:

Parliamentary Engagement: Sending personalised invitations to Parliamentarians from all political parties, including crossbench members, as well as their staffers. Pyne & Partners utilised its existing relationships with stakeholders working at Parliament House to not only increase visibility of the event, but to also ensure a high turnout on the day of the event.
Program Design: Providing strategic advice to our client on what a successful Showcase should include, such as product demonstrations, and opportunities for direct interaction with the company’s executives.
Engagement with the Working Media: Aiming to increase journalists’ awareness and understanding of the client’s key issues, Pyne & Partners utilised its existing relationships with the working press to facilitate their attendance at the Showcase.

Outcomes

The Showcase event at Parliament House delivered significant results for the client:

Broad Parliamentary Engagement: The strategic event successfully attracted hundreds of attendees, including Parliamentarians, staffers, and media representatives from across the political spectrum.
Confirmation of Legislative Reform Support: Several Parliamentarians who had previously discussed the legislative issues with the client raised these topics during the event, demonstrating their engagement and support.
Brand Awareness across the Working Media: Enhanced journalist understanding of the client’s key issues, leading to more informed and accurate reporting in the future.

Conclusion

By proposing and executing a high-profile Showcase event at Parliament House, we enabled our client to engage effectively with government decision-makers and journalists. The event not only raised awareness of the company’s broad labels, sustainability efforts, and technological innovations but also advanced their legislative agenda on packaging.

Our strategic approach demonstrated the power of targeted engagement and advocacy in influencing policy and public awareness.