Public Affairs Archives - Cullen Communications PR & Marketing Agency in Ireland Fri, 25 Apr 2025 09:33:53 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://cullencommunications.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-CullenCommunicationLogo-32x32.png Public Affairs Archives - Cullen Communications 32 32 Lobbying & Launching E-scooters SPIN in Ireland https://cullencommunications.ie/project/spin-mobility-ireland/ https://cullencommunications.ie/project/spin-mobility-ireland/#respond Tue, 23 Nov 2021 12:50:54 +0000 https://cullencommunications.ie/?post_type=project&p=6833 The prospective regulation of e-scooters on Irish roads brings with it a huge degree of competition from private hire schemes attempting to enter the market.

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Lobbying & Launching E-scooters SPIN in Ireland

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The Irish e-scooter market is shaping up to be highly competitive, with a number of operators having already signalled their intention to launch e-scooter sharing services once the legislation has been passed. We represented SPIN, a subsidiary of the Ford Motor Company, to heighten national attention of who they are and the benefits that their scooters can have for everyday commuters.

We developed a two-stranded campaign. On the Public Affairs side, we’ve developed a comprehensive list of stakeholders and decision-makers for Spin to target. This included the Departments of Transport, Environment, Enterprise, Opposition spokespeople, Joint Committee members, the National Transport Authority, local councils and authorities, community groups, relevant media, and the influencer community.

On the Public Relations side, the key objectives was to introduce SPIN to the Irish market, ensuring the brand is properly positioned and correctly understood by stakeholders, and generating positive media coverage that reflected the brand tone, values and proposition. A PR campaign for SPIN began with a launch event and creative media outreach programme designed to catch the eye and stimulate interest among relevant media in mobility, lifestyle, and environment.

Media Relations

PR and press office service including client consultation, development of press materials and proactive and reactive local and national media relations.

Public Affairs

Lobbying the government on behalf of the client on the introduction of e-scooter legislation that will make them legal on Irish roads.

 

Event management

Creating drive events, giving key journalists and stakeholders the opportunity to trial the SPIN fleet

Spin Scooters set up in a row
A press fleet Spin Scooter parked at Cullen Communications office

Results

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Through positive, consistent stakeholder engagement, we not only established SPIN’s positive reputation in a relatively short space of time but also contributed to a wider understanding of the key technical and operational issues around e-scooter use.

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Successfully lobbied Department officials to change draft legislation, increasing power output wattage that ensured Spin would be able to operate in Irish market.

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During our campaign, SPIN was directly mentioned by Cathal Crowe TD in Dáil proceedings while we engaged via lobbying register with 15 TDs.

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Secured more than 30 pieces of media coverage through our public safety demo with titles including Irish Independent, Irish Daily Star, The Herald and Sunday World

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Lobbying for the Introduction of Personal Injury Benchmark

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]]> https://cullencommunications.ie/project/spin-mobility-ireland/feed/ 0 Lobbying for the Introduction of Personal Injury Benchmark https://cullencommunications.ie/project/enterprise-personal-injury-lobbying/ https://cullencommunications.ie/project/enterprise-personal-injury-lobbying/#respond Mon, 12 Dec 2016 17:31:44 +0000 http://cullencommunications.ie/?post_type=project&p=5547 Our work that successfully helped Enterprise lobbying for an Irish introduction of personal injury benchmark in 2016.

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Lobbying for the Introduction of Personal Injury Benchmark

Enterprise Rent-A-Car is an American car rental company with vehicles and vans worldwide, offering local and airport car and van rentals in more than 30 countries with over 7,200 locations. In addition to car rental, Enterprise also oversees commercial fleet management, used car sales, and commercial truck rental operations. In Ireland, the company has over 30 locations.

Cullen Communications has been handling Enterprise communications and public affairs since 2015. We successfully helped Enterprise lobbying for an introduction of personal injury benchmark in 2016.

Strategy

The rising cost of motor insurance is a major problem in Ireland. Today, the average motorist is paying around 70% more for their car insurance than they did in 2013. This is a critical issue for our client, Enterprise Rent-A-Car: as the cost of insurance goes up, the cost of renting a car goes up. This in turn is threatening Ireland’s reputation as a cost-effective visitor destination.

As an expert, Enterprise feels that the introduction of an EU benchmark for personal injury claims would help to address the rising cost of insurance in Ireland. They asked us to develop a Public Affairs campaign that would put forward this solution.

Why has the cost of motor insurance risen so sharply in such a short space of time?

One of the main reasons is the staggering amount of money being paid out for personal injury claims. To give some context, 80% of all claims in Ireland relate to ‘whiplash’. Here, the average pay-out for a whiplash claim is €15,000. In France, Germany and other EU countries, the average pay-out for the same injury is just €3000. With so much money in the system, it’s no surprise that the volume and value of personal injury claims is rising all the time. It’s also no surprise that, according to the Car Rental Council of Ireland, 20% of all claims are spurious – or downright fraudulent.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car is an expert on insurance claims, with unrivalled comparative data on the claims/awards process in all EU markets in which it operates. The company is strongly of the view that the introduction of an EU personal injury benchmark would bring Ireland into line with France, Germany, Spain and other jurisdictions. This would significantly reduce the average pay-out. It would remove the incentive for people to try and cheat the system to secure a ‘pay day’, and it would bring normality back to the insurance market.

This was the central argument of our Public Affairs strategy.

Execution

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January 2016

In, the Irish Government announced an investigation into the rising cost of motor insurance. Immediately, our Public Affairs division began developing a communications toolkit for Enterprise.

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June 2016

Enterprise had a feature article published in the Irish Times, pointing out the impact of rising insurance costs on the tourist/business sector. The article highlighted an EU personal injury benchmark as a possible solution.

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July-August 2016

We facilitated meetings between Enterprise and key Government officials including:

  • Department of Finance (leading the investigation)
  • Department of Transport
  • Department of Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation 
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September 2016

Enterprise made an official submission to the Department of Finance, again highlighting an EU benchmark as a possible solution.

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October 2016

Enterprise made a submission to the Department of Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation providing information on Ireland v EU personal injury trends.

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November 2016

Enterprise made a further submission to the Department of Finance (this time at their request) providing comparative data on claims in Ireland v EU.

As the Exchange planning progressed we worked with our client on defining key messages organising media training for their two key spokespersons in preparation for media interviews, panel discussions and presentations at the Exchange. Speakers were also engaged with for media interviews and features secured in advance as well as on day of the event.

Following the Exchange a report was collated for the client as an overview document covering all elements of the event and a separate report was prepared specifically for media coverage.

Final Result

In November 2016, the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform published its report on the rising cost of motor insurance. Among the recommendations put forward was item 32:

“The Committee recommends that personal injury awards be benchmarked internationally and indexed against EU average awards.”

This is what our client asked for. Enterprise has also been invited to work with the newly-formed Personal Injuries Commission, whose report is expected before the end of the year.

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