Engaging Europeans with social rights

The European Pillar of Social Rights aims to enhance citizens' rights through 20 key principles, reflecting a commitment to equality, high working standards, and social protections. To translate this into practice, the European Commission introduced the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan, setting concrete initiatives and targets for 2030.

Challenge

The European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan seeks to foster a strong social Europe through collaboration among EU institutions, member states, social partners, and civil society. It responds to evolving societal, technological, and economic challenges, including those intensified by the pandemic. The objective is to build fairer labor markets and welfare systems, ensuring better opportunities for all Europeans in the 21st century.

ICF Next was tasked with effectively communicating the principles of the Pillar of Social Rights across 27 member states and to diverse audiences including those not engaged in education, employment, or training (NEETs); job seekers; subject-matter experts; working parents; and young professionals. The aim of our campaign was to encourage these citizens to want to know more about the featured topics.

Solution

We launched the Let's Make It Work campaign in July 2022, and it runs until July 2026. This multi-channel approach involves paid media campaigns, events, earned and paid outreach activities, influencer engagements, website development, surveys, and media relations. Each wave of the campaign focuses on specific themes like skills, work and family, equality, and income—employing tailored strategies to resonate with the target audience.

Our implementation involved a mix of traditional and digital channels. We also used Twitch, a platform previously unexplored by EU institutions, to target NEETs. Twitch videos were in English, with videos subtitled in multiple languages to ensure accessibility across nine target countries. Influencer collaborations and media partnerships further amplified the campaign's reach and impact.

Results

The Let’s Make It Work campaign is successfully addressing the challenge of translating policy principles into messages that resonate with diverse audiences across the EU. The impact has been substantial:

Paid media impressions and clicks exceeded expectations, with excellent levels of engagement on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitch. The number of impressions reached the tens of millions in many cases, with cost-per-click rates at a reasonable level. As a result, the campaign benchmarks were increased with each new wave of advertising.

Partnerships with media outlets and influencers have significantly extended the campaign's reach, reaching millions of people across multiple countries. The average engagement rate of 3.8% demonstrates the effectiveness of influencer collaborations in driving audience interaction and awareness.

The Let's Make It Work website attracted over 2.4 million unique visitors, showing that we’d generated substantial interest in the campaign's themes. Our first survey results showed an increase in recall, awareness, and understanding of EU initiatives—particularly among NEETs—demonstrating the campaign's success in engaging and educating its target audience.

The Let’s Talk tour

To bridge the gap between EU institutions and its citizens, the Let’s Make it Work campaign has hit the road with an innovative engagement initiative: the Let’s Talk tour. Designed to connect with people across all 27 EU member states, the roadshow seeks to explore what social rights mean on a personal level, sparking meaningful conversations where they matter most—within local communities.

At the heart of this effort lies a unique and symbolic icebreaker: the conversation seesaw. Representing the delicate balance between various aspects of life (work, skills, equality, and well-being), it serves as both a literal and metaphorical platform for dialogue. Collaborating with local influencers and media partners, the campaign combines digital reach with on-the-ground impact, ensuring no corner of Europe is overlooked. This dual strategy not only amplifies the campaign’s visibility but also enables the collection of nuanced insights into the shared values and unique challenges across member states.

By creating spaces for genuine, face-to-face exchanges, the Let’s Talk tour is fostering a stronger connection between the EU and its citizens. With plans to extend these activities throughout the campaign, the EU is reaffirming its commitment to making social rights a lived and accessible reality for all.