# 135 - We need to talk about spirits, Ulrich Adams, spiritsEurope

Pour yourself your favourite drink for this week’s episode. Communicating under the influence is not without challenges, and so is communicating about alcohol. More precisely, we are talking about spirits, with the person who represents one of Europe’s most valuable agri-food export sectors.

Ulrich Adam is the Director General of spiritsEurope, the Brussels-based association that represents the interests of 29 associations of spirits producers as well as 10 leading multinational companies, supporting 1m jobs from farmers to distillers and bartenders.

What sounds like a fun job also harbours many communications challenges. Ulrich has also modernised the association’s communications, making it more agile and digital.

In this episode, we dive into the rich tradition of spirits in Europe and gain insights into:

‼️How to protect yourself against criticism with the right messaging and strategies such as premiumisation.

🔐 How to effortlessly switch between the strategic and operational as a top communicator and why twitter has replaced monthly reports in Brussels.

☑️ Why advocacy is always about solving the problems of policy-makers first, before bringing your own topics to the table.

This episode is sponsored by HeyViz.

Get in touch with Oliver: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliver-aust/