Our articles are full of draft reports, chairmen, plenary sessions, commissions, agreements… But we try to keep it short, I promise you! In fact, it’s not always easy to find a “citizen friendly angle” (one of our key words in the unit…). Fact and figures: that’s what we’re talking about. But it doesn’t interest people or journalists sometimes…

Is that really what people expect to see at the European Parliament? © takitimu on flickr

I’m always happy when, in the morning, listening to the radio, I heard something about the European Parliament. Well, we’re communicators, we pay attention to the result of our work, and we’re defending the brand we stand for! But if – fortunately – we heard something about the European Parliament, it’s not about the decisions it took but about… the prank of a MEP, political divisions or spectacular events.

Let’s take three examples to make it clear. In August last year, the ceiling of the hemicycle in Strasbourg collapsed: huge topic for the mass media, which are waiting for spectacular and symbolic events. In December, the Sakharov Prize was awarded to the Chinese Hu Jia; newspapers, radio and television spoke about not because of the prize itself, but because of the Chinese diplomatic protest. And more recently, the EP draw the attention of the press because of Jean-Marie Le Pen, who called anew the gas chamber during World War II a “detail of history”.

And what about the climate change package? The roaming directive? The cod stocks? Their attendance in the media couldn’t be compared with their significance for the all-day life of the citizens…

On the one hand, it’s a bit disappointing for us. Is our work insubstantial? What do people want to hear about the EP? Is anybody interested in what MEPs decide? Aren’t policies as important as politics? We could feel useless sometimes.

On the other hand, political controversy is highly needed in Strasbourg and Brussels, in order to raise the curiosity and the interest of people toward the European policy making level. That’s perhaps the way to show the voters that their choice has an incidence on the direction the European Union takes. And finally: as civil servants, we work for the MEPs, who are directly elected by the citizens. We’re the tool, not the brain! And we can’t take the role the MEPs have to play…

So, let’s be cool, let’s put a virus in our life. It is the trend of the moment. You just need a good and powerful one, it will spread all around and reach people you never though it would. Don’t think I am crazy. Even if the favourite season for our not-so-dear friend Influenza just started, I am talking about a very different kind of virus. A non seasonal one: a marketing virus.

Viral marketing is the advertising El Dorado: viruses are cheap, they spread easily, they normally get to you through a trusted source. There is only a problem: how to create a virus? Some examples have been surprising even to the ‘parents’ of the creature. Others are well thought products. In any case, it is clear that the favourite environment for these viruses to spread is the internet, and we know a bit about it, so why not create a virus?

Some of the most creative members of the team have already come with some ideas, some attempts that have not been able to become stronger than the institutional vaccination. But WebComm creative laboratory never sleeps; sooner or later we will manage to break the barrier. Until we do so, you can start tasting watching our Christmas greetings video “Friday I’m in love” that ended up being an unexpected Brussels virus.