The need for endorsement
3rd Aug 2010
"Last week the Cycle to Work Alliance was launched in the House of Commons with speeches from the British Heart Foundation and Chris Boardman MBE.
Every public affairs and communications campaign has to be meticulously planned, as do the individual elements of a campaign, and none more so than an event involving third party endorsement and celebrities.
Endorsement by a charity, an academic or a celebrity provides some campaigns with legitimacy in the eyes of MPs and stakeholders. This legitimacy is created by advocates, who do not personally gain from doing so, endorsing a campaign.
For this campaign the messages that trying to be conveyed were of cross departmental working between health, sport and transport, thus there were representatives from a health charity and an Olympic gold medallist putting the Cycle to Work Alliance's case for them.
However it is easy for people who are engrossed in the workings of Parliament to assume that the contributors to an event know what is expected of them. Each endorser had to be fully briefed on background to the event, the role the sponsoring MP plays and how best to phrase their messages to a political audience.
If this support is given, then you have the recipe for a brilliant event!"