EUROPEAN SECTOR ASSOCIATION · COMMUNICATION PROGRAMME AND MEMBER INVOLVEMENT
Turning member knowledge into a communication programme the whole association can use.
EUMEPS needed to connect European policy priorities, sector expertise and national member participation within one coherent communication system. The communication programme shaped through facilitated work with the communications team, management, members and working groups was adopted by the Board. #inextremis has since been entrusted with its annual implementation, including campaign development and support for a member-powered social media task force.
At a glance
- Client
- EUMEPS — the voice of the European expanded polystyrene industry
- Context
- European association representing the EPS value chain, including national associations, companies and recyclers
- Challenge
- Turn multiple political, communication and member priorities into one programme that works at European and national levels
- Contribution
- Facilitated workshops, programme architecture, campaign foundations, member involvement model and social media task-force structure
- Result
- A Board-adopted communication programme and an ongoing annual mandate for #inextremis to implement it, develop campaigns and support the social media task force
The challenge
An annual programme has to do more than fill a calendar.
EUMEPS works in a politically exposed environment where technical performance, circularity, energy efficiency, affordability and public perceptions of plastics intersect. Communication therefore needs to connect policy timing with evidence from the sector, while giving members practical ways to participate and activate shared messages nationally.
The difficulty was not a lack of possible topics. It was choosing what mattered most, organising the relationship between campaigns and recurring content, and making member participation operational rather than symbolic.
The approach
1. Start from the association’s real strategic tensions
The work examined the mandate, political environment, priority audiences and the issues on which EUMEPS needed to be recognised as a credible contributor. This created a common frame for deciding where communication should lead, support or deliberately remain selective.
2. Involve the people who hold the knowledge and the ownership
The communications team, management, members and working groups contributed to the process. Their perspectives helped connect European ambitions with national realities, sector expertise and the practical capacity to contribute content or activate campaigns.
3. Turn priorities into a connected programme
The emerging direction was structured across complementary blocks: signature campaigns, publications and video storytelling, digital platforms, internal communication and member support. The aim was to make each action reinforce the broader narrative rather than compete for attention.
4. Define roles and governance
The workshops clarified how the Secretariat, leadership, members, working groups and agency partner could contribute. For social media, this resulted in a task-force model with allocated roles, a shared editorial logic and a practical basis for coordination.
What the programme makes possible
A shared framework for European visibility and national activation.
- 01
A strategic vision connecting reputation, policy relevance and member value.
- 02
Campaign foundations linked to major European debates and sector priorities.
- 03
A coherent relationship between campaigns, publications, video, digital tools and recurring communication.
- 04
Clearer opportunities for members to contribute expertise, examples and local activation.
- 05
A social media task force with defined responsibilities and working practices.
- 06
A basis for review, learning and adaptation rather than a fixed list of outputs.
The impact
Communication becomes collective capital — not a service delivered at the edge of the association.
The programme has moved from a proposed framework to an annually implemented communication system. Board adoption gave EUMEPS a shared basis for choices, while the continuing mandate enables #inextremis to carry those choices into coordinated campaigns, content and member participation year after year.
Most importantly, the strategy remains EUMEPS’s. The organisation retains ownership of its expertise, priorities and approvals, while #inextremis provides continuity from programme governance and planning through to annual implementation.
Does your annual communication programme express the choices your organisation needs to make?
Bring us the competing priorities, member expectations or programme question. We can help create a shared basis for choices, roles and coordinated delivery.
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