"Repute” receives award for Issues and Crisis Management
"Repute” receives award for Issues and Crisis Management
The public relations agency "Repute" has been awarded second place in the largest Baltic communication competition "Mi:t&Links" in the category Issues and Crisis Management for the managed advocacy project “The fight to preserve 5% VAT on fruits, vegetables, and berries.”
At the end of 2023, on behalf of the client " Zemnieku saeima", we launched farmers' advocacy campaign "Hear us!", activating several communication tools - public relations, advertising and working with stakeholders. Our aim was to prevent the return of the 21% VAT on quintessential Latvian vegetables, fruits and berries after December 2023, when the 5% VAT programme came to an end. While all economic indicators pointed to the positive impact of the reduced VAT on the agricultural sector, including a reduction of the presence of shadow economy, in the context of the change of government, the 2024 tax policy plan foresaw a near quadrupling of VAT on a number of product groups, returning to 21% VAT.
"We had a very short period of time to influence legislative changes in favour of farmers. With a visible publicity campaign in the media, a farmers' video sent to decision-makers, advertising support on the radio, “Repute” managed to create public pressure and change the opinion of policy-makers, reaching a certain compromise for 12% VAT.
At the same time, it should be emphasized that this project would not have been possible without the involvement of farmers, who were affected by the threatening scenario of tax changes. The sector proved that it can mobilize and engage to make their voices heard. I am also pleased that the strength of Repute's experience in crisis management and advocacy has been recognised in an industry competition and judged by a professional jury as the second best project in the Baltics in 2023. Behind any such project there is a vast and tireless team effort, working to achieve client's goals," says Iveta Dzērve, founder of “Repute”.
The story of the case study can be found below!
