Public Affairs & Relations
Shaping outcomes through access
Across parliaments, regulators, media and civic arenas, knowing how to navigate complexity is what makes the difference. We help organisations and institutions gain access and use it to shape decisions and outcomes.
Political outcomes and public perception are inseparable: how you are seen shapes what you can achieve.
Today's political and regulatory landscape is fragmented and volatile, with power distributed across networks and amplified through the media, shaping decisions beyond formal settings. Success depends on understanding these dynamics, building relationships early and actively managing public positioning.
Protecting a licence to operate requires more than good intentions. It demands sharp intelligence, credible relationships across political lines, and the ability to communicate under pressure. We help organisations gain access and use it strategically: positioning them to shape the conversation rather than respond to it.
What we do
Government Affairs & Advocacy
Monitoring legislation and regulation at national and EU level: positioning, access and influence with key decision makers. Building coalitions with government, NGOs and stakeholders for major projects and policy outcomes.
Policy Risk & Investor Communication
Explaining how policy and political risk affect businesses, connecting public affairs intelligence to capital markets conversations.
Public Relations & Media Strategy
Shaping the public and media conversation: ensuring your position is heard and believed. Building spokesperson platforms, managing earned media and protecting your narrative under pressure.
Crisis Management & Recovery
Managing communications in incidents, scandals, breaches and high-pressure situations: from immediate response to reputation recovery, war rooms, Q&As and media training.
Our work
Sector intelligence
Language as a leading indicator of risk
We analysed 86 CEO interviews from the country's top business press during Belgium's hardest year in a decade. The pattern was consistent: authentic but defensive - honest about pain, reluctant to commit to direction. A barometer for how leadership communicates under pressure.
Critical infrastructure operator
Digital resilience reframed as a board priority
An operator in a regulated sector needed its board to treat cyber resilience as a strategic rather than technical issue. We built the risk narrative, and actively engaged with media, shifting the conversation from incident response to continuity investment.
Foundation of Judicial Officers
Licence to operate rebuilt through repositioning
A profession carrying real social function was perceived as a threat. We repositioned it to parliament, media and civil society as a professional gatekeeper of the rule of law. The stigma was addressed and the licence to operate strengthened across the chain.
We're built around people and entrepreneurship
Only is a European network of autonomous teams, led by creative entrepreneurs and built for a world that demands entrepreneurial thinking, adaptive execution, and human judgement at its core.
Across our European network, our Public Affairs and Public Relations experts operate at the intersection of business, policy and public perception. They combine strategic advocacy, media intelligence and reputation management to navigate complex and high-stakes environments.
Insights
Report, Feb 2026
Belgian CEOs in 2025: what hedging language tells us about their crisis narrative
86 CEO interviews analysed on language, focus and risk perception. Authentic but defensive — a pattern with strategic consequences.
Case study, Apr 2026
Strict: positioning in critical infrastructure
How a campaign around digital resilience moved the conversation from IT incident management to boardroom risk strategy.