Castro Belgium is happy to help you navigate the complex world of Belgian politics smoothly and effectively. Our experienced team, with a strong network in Belgium and at the European institutions, is ready to guide you through Belgian policy and communication challenges in Flanders, Wallonia, and Brussels. We support clients in Corporate Affairs, Government Relations, and Policy Communication & Campaigns. This includes lobbying advice, communication advice, and policy events. In addition, together with our partner New Balls Please, we organize events with and for policy stakeholders, bringing the right people and topics together at the right time.
In a complex and constantly changing political landscape, an effective policy strategy is essential to represent your interests. At Castro, we take a strategic and engaged approach to ensure that your voice is heard by the right policymakers at the right level.
Castro is happy to help you strategically deploy communication to achieve your goals. We do this by guiding you through your communication strategy, taking care of the practical implementation, and providing media guidance so that you come across as strong as possible.
We develop strategic policy events that bring together content, timing, form, and experience to convey your story powerfully and position it sharply. We tailor the process to your objectives and ensure a clear approach, with a single point of contact from briefing to follow-up.
How do we work?
Castro is eager to get started with you. Together, we determine the goals and the strategy to achieve them. Our team of experts can, of course, also support you in the implementation. Castro has been around for seven years and we have already worked with and for more than a hundred companies, organizations, and governments, from large to small and from multinationals to local companies and organizations.
Short lines of communication are important for successful collaboration. We like to coordinate closely with our clients to achieve the right result.
Castro believes that you are most successful when you have a clear focus. Together, we determine what the goals are and how we can and want to achieve them, in a measurable and concrete way.
Castro is quick to respond and eager to actively contribute to achieving your goals. We are pragmatic and goal-oriented. We make a difference for you with concrete actions.
The world of corporate communications and lobbying is dynamic. It doesn't fit with a 9-to-5 mentality. So you won't find that at Castro. We are always available.
Uber | Communications
Uber is a technology company best known for its ride-sharing app, which connects passengers with drivers of private vehicles through a mobile app. In addition to passenger transportation, Uber also offers delivery services such as Uber Eats, which allows people to order meals from local restaurants and have them delivered. Uber's EMEA headquarters is located in the Netherlands.
We developed and implemented targeted lobbying and communication campaigns aimed at the Commission, Council, and European Parliament on important European legislation, including the Platform Workers Directive. In doing so, we combined policy strategy, positioning, and visibility in an international context.
Castro has been working with Uber since 2021. The collaboration started with strategic communications advice and grew into a broad role in corporate communications. We advise on important announcements and social issues, handle media requests, and maintain contacts with the press. This has led to extensive interviews with CEO Dara Khosrowshahi in several major newspapers and magazines.
"I have come to know Castro as a very hands-on agency in that they are always accessible and quick to respond. It is nice to spar with Castro on strategy and they have an excellent network."
Rick Janse Kok | Uber, Head of Communications Northern Europe
J&J Innovative Medicine Netherlands | Communications
Johnson & Johnson, together with Amgen and MSD, called on Castro to develop the content and organize the EU election debate in 2024. In the run-up to the European Parliament elections, we brought four MEP candidates together at the Brussels Square Convention Center for a professionally organized and substantive debate on topics such as innovation, healthcare, sustainability, and Europe's competitiveness.
With Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy (D66/Renew Europe), Dirk Gotink (NSC/EPP), Jessika van Leeuwen (BBB/EPP), and Lennart Salemink (VVD/Renew Europe) as speakers, a balanced debate ensued, skillfully moderated by Frits Wester and Frits Huffnagel. The debate not only reached the audience in the room, but was also broadcast via livestream, ensuring wide visibility both inside and outside the Brussels bubble. In the weeks that followed, the debate was rebroadcast in its entirety on public television.
The result was a substantive debate at a crucial moment in the campaign, with clear focus on the clients' themes and a strategic point of contact with the next generation of decision-makers in the European Parliament.
Castro also organized the 100-day event for Johnson & Johnson, a gathering in Brussels focusing on the first hundred days of the (then) newly elected Members of the European Parliament. This evening program focused on the first few months in Brussels. In a panel discussion, Anouk van Brug (VVD/Renew Europe), Brigitte van den Berg (D66/Renew Europe), and Jessika van Leeuwen (BBB/EPP) shared their experiences of starting out in Brussels. During this 100-day event, Castro brought together politics, policy, and practice, with room for reflection and exchange about the first steps in Brussels.
"I experienced the cooperation with Castro and New Balls Please as incredibly pleasant. It was a conscious choice because they combine an excellent network in politics and media with a lot of experience in organizing events and all the technology involved. Castro and New Balls Please do not settle for a six, they go for a top result and, as far as I am concerned, they succeeded."
Koen Venekamp | Lead Government Affairs & Policy at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine
Smart Delta Resources | Communications
Smart Delta Resources is a cross-border collaboration between companies, ports, knowledge institutions, network operators, and governments in the Scheldt Delta region. Partners from this region are working together toward the ambition of evolving into a competitive, climate-neutral, and circular industry by 2050. This ambition also presented a clear communication challenge: how do you make a shared mission and vision clear and recognizable, both for the broad network of members and for policymakers?
To bring structure and direction to this, Smart Delta Resources called on Castro. By working on clear positioning, a coherent storyline, and a clear communication strategy, Castro helped to make the joint ambitions understandable for different target groups and contexts. Today, this positioning forms the basis for all communication by Smart Delta Resources.
Castro then supported Smart Delta Resources in the further rollout, with a coherent communication approach, targeted communication tools, and a focused media approach.
"Castro Communications' expertise and hands-on approach enabled us to translate our message into a clear and compelling strategy. Many people are impressed with how well our vision is now articulated and further implemented. It really felt like Castro was part of our team."
- Onno Sinke | Communications Manager Smart Delta Resources
