Anders Kopp

Follow my blog only about Public Affairs at

[Anders Kopp @Anderskopp]

Out now! Insights, case studies, hot takes and perspectives on new approaches to Public Affairs based on +60 qualitative interviews with Public Affairs Professionals from 29 countries in Europe.

Link to download in the comments.
#publicaffairs #lobbyism #politics

[Anders Kopp @Anderskopp]

New episode of the Persuaders Podcast!

Is the traditional perception of Public Affairs outdated?

The guest on this episode is the "lobby-professor", Arco Timmermans, Public Affairs researcher, writer, and speaker.

Together we look under the hood of Public Affairs, and among other things talk about:

🎙️Cultural shifts and the meaning of polarization in the public and political debate

🎙️Why businesses cannot stay in reactive mode – and they will lose to the proactive

🎙️Medias negativity bias towards lobbying

🎙️Why there aren't that many national Public Affairs associations

🎙️Does the DNA of PA make it impossible to create more transparency and thereby openness to what do and can do?

🎙️How do we speak the language of the organization? Should we even learn it?

🎙️The lack of resources spend on Public Affairs education and training

From Plato over Machiavelli and into the future, we discuss the state of Public Affairs today.

Link to the episode on Apple podcast:
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https://t.co/To4GUkYiHq

#publicaffairs #lobbyism

[Anders Kopp @Anderskopp]

Link to survey: https://t.co/nZGL1bbr9t

[Anders Kopp @Anderskopp]

Measuring and Public Affairs is still not a match made in heaven... 🤔

A few insights from the Public Affairs Manager Survey 2026:

🗣️ Most PA Pros are still measured and measure qualitatively. This picture is even more clear this year compared to last.

🔢 One observation is, that many PA Pros still consider “count of stakeholder interactions” as the most common way to measure quantitatively.

📈 Less than 10% reported measuring methods that more objectively would be considered actual quantitative like revenue targets, GMV, or EU-funding.

👔 Main reason for not measuring more is often, like on PA Pro put it, “that management do not request it”…

Interested in more insights from the world of Public Affairs based on 62 interviews with PA Pros from 29 countries across Europe?

#publicaffairs #lobbyism

Link to the survey in the comments 👇

[Anders Kopp @Anderskopp]

Link to free abstract: https://t.co/td9yU3oGuL

[Anders Kopp @Anderskopp]

A new organizational trend is unfolding as the Public Affairs function is increasingly mentioned together with or in relation to “Geopolitics”(>6%), as this term is making its way into the organizational chart in different variations. 

This was a new finding in the Public Affairs Manager Survey 2026, compared to last year.

The core question is, if this necessarily is net-positive for our discipline?

On one side it can elevate PA pros in the hierarchy as it increases the demand for political savviness, policy understanding or even history.

On the other hand, though, it further blurs the lines of Public Affairs as a discipline, as “Geopolitics” is defined ambiguously and many professions, with different educational backgrounds, can work in this area, thus creating more competition for previously PA-defined roles and tasks, when Geopolitics is added to the mix.

Find more brand new insights from the world of Public Affairs in the Public Affairs Manager Survey 2026.

Link in the comments.

#publicaffairs #lobbyism

[Tommy Goodwin @tommygoodwin]

Always a tremendous #publicaffairs resource!

[Anders Kopp @Anderskopp]

@tommygoodwin Thank you, @tommygoodwin! 🙌

[Anders Kopp @Anderskopp]

Link to download: https://t.co/td9yU3pekj

[Anders Kopp @Anderskopp]

Out now! Insights, case studies, hot takes and perspectives on new approaches to Public Affairs based on +60 qualitative interviews with Public Affairs Professionals from 29 countries in Europe.

Link to download in the comments.
#publicaffairs #lobbyism #politics

[Anders Kopp @Anderskopp]

Link to blog: https://t.co/9iW3rg2J1z

[Anders Kopp @Anderskopp]

Centralize or decentralize a Public Affairs function? That is actually the easy question to answer...

The hard question is rather *how* can you centralize or decentralize? And can you do it temporarily or on an ad hoc basis? And without changing the organizational structure of the entire organization (which is most often impossible)?

In this blog post, I provide 4 concrete examples of how you can organize; ranging from the fully centralized to the fully decentralized.
Link in the comments.

#publicaffairs #lobbyism #organization #management

[Anders Kopp @Anderskopp]

Link to blog: https://t.co/jJGfuj8PcH

[Anders Kopp @Anderskopp]

Coming soon: The Public Affairs Manager Survey 2026

Last year I kicked of an experiment and interviewed 93 PA pros from 27 countries across Europe and threw it all in a 40 pages report. I wanted to take the temperature of the PA landscape in Europe, and talk to the people on the frontline doing the actual work.

It was an immediate success, so I will repeat it this year, only with more countries, sectors, industries, and countries represented!

The report will be out on the 18th of November. But: Subscribers to the blog, will get it beforehand.

So be sure to sign up, so you don't miss brand new insights around topics such as:

🏢 The organizational reality - where PA functions most often are placed, the relationship with Communications and new functions “pressuring” PA

🛗 The people in the function - the average size of the function, educational background, division of labour, average number of issues covered

🪂 Recruiting and “employability” - recruitment and skills in demand, salaries in PA and bonus levels

👔 Management buy-in & integration - budget trends in PA, C-level access, board involvement

🤖 Measuring & AI - the temperature on quant or qual in PA measuring, tech stacks, and AI adoption

🥇 Public Affairs in the future - top 3 skills needed to succeed in PA in 10 years
Perspectives - my takes on a few of these trends incl. the shift happening in Public Affairs along with a few hot takes

Don't miss it. Link in the comments.

#publicaffairs #lobbyism

[Anders Kopp @Anderskopp]

*The Public Affairs job market in the Nordics*

I cover the Nordics closely and talk to PA pros in these markets every week and thereby get a lot of fresh insights, so I thought it might be interesting to do quarterly updates on the job market for Public Affairs pros.

The blog now also gets thousands of views each month, so perhaps it can help some readers, who might be thinking about moving.

Below are some of the areas you can get updated on in this first quarterly update:

🔁 Public Affairs salaries in the Nordics

🔁 What elections mean for candidates (and employers)

🔁 The possible declining status of political advisors from parties and ministeries

🔁 Public Affairs maturity now attracts candidates

🔁 Brussels experience vs. national experience

🔁 Work/life balance in negotiations

🔁 Good vs. great candidates

🔁 Corporate experience > agency experience

🔁 Recruiters use of LinkedIn, and why you should be careful

🔁 Working from home is over?

Sign up for a quarterly update on the Nordic PA job market - link below.

#publicaffairs #lobbyism

[Anders Kopp @Anderskopp]

Link to blog: https://t.co/2qdhcUDXOd

[Anders Kopp @Anderskopp]

Why do Public Affairs functions look so much alike? Part II.

In this blog, I cover:

⚡️ The characteristics of most PA functions in Europe (organisation, size, position, reporting lines, eduction etc.)

⚡️What "isomorphism" means for a PA function like the one you might sit in, and how you perhaps also are copying what others expect you to do

⚡️The phenomenon “anticipatory socialization” and how it keeps new, modern PA pros out of an organization and retains Public Affairs in a negative spiral - often seen when HR, regulatory or senior comms execs recruit PA pros alone

⚡️The problem with the lack of common educational ground in Public Affairs. And how it creates a battery of related problems

⚡️The definition challenge - "Public Affairs" as a discipline is simply interpreted in a million ways, and this causes almost every organization to define it according to their own perception, and self interest, thereby handing over the power of definition to other professions

⚡️The problem with "decoupling" in Public Affairs e.g. by re-naming a department to appear more modern like adding “Sustainability” or “CSR” or even “Public Affairs” to the title, meanwhile the organization just continues to do what it was doing all along

⚡️The problem when other professions interfere with Public Affairs e.g. with legal providing the same value as “wearing an extra pair of underpants”

Find the link to the blog series, in the comment section
#publicaffairs #lobbyism

[Anders Kopp @Anderskopp]

Link to blog: https://t.co/j4JBKwo3mL

[Anders Kopp @Anderskopp]

I been pondering a lot about why Public Affairs functions often look so similar.

Especially as the organizations and their environments are often very different.

It seems very peculiar why these functions, should both 1) look so similar in both structure and behaviour, 2) and in people and skillsets.

I have written a bit about the term "isomorphism" before, about how organizations imitate each other for no (meaningful) reason.

But in this blogpost I go much deeper on the subject. Actually so deep, that this is (another) blog-post in two parts.

Link is in the comments 👇

#publicaffairs #lobbyism #management #organization

[Anders Kopp @Anderskopp]

Link to blogpost: https://t.co/2FjykTY1Tl

[Anders Kopp @Anderskopp]

6 strategies for enhancing the position of the Public Affairs function...

Insights from a recent PA team workshop and group exercise 👇

#publicaffairs #lobbyism #management #performance