Among the bodies of the European union it is the European Parliament (EP) that directly represents all the Europeans, laying down the Union’s democratic foundation. In that context, its media presence is playing an important role if the Parliament’s political groups are to connect with their voters and effectively present to them the EP’s work. A communication strategy has to be set out in order to determine how to inform the audience and, of course, gain their support; essentially, we talk about political marketing. In my master's thesis, I analyse how the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) in the EP is doing that, how effective they are in communicating with the citizens, and what are the challenges and opportunities. I interviewed the S&D’s media team, which showed me that they mainly communicate in three ways: through traditional media – with press releases, with increased activity on social media, and through a political initiative in the form of interactive events across Europe. They try to make their communication as pan-European and understandable to everyday citizens as possible, no matter the channel of communication, which is often a challenge due to the complexity of European policies. Furthermore, the analysis showed that multiculturalism and multilingualism play an important role when trying to communicate on behalf of the 27 Member States. Finally, personalising their messages as much as possible proved to be a successful approach, for which they try to increase the cooperation with the Members of the European Parliament.
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