Challenge

Under the tobacco advertising directive, the EU Commission’s goal was to hunt down ‘insidious forms’ of tobacco advertising. For this reason, the directive had addressed both direct and indirect advertising to close loopholes. Davidoff and Lancaster had been accused of indirect tobacco advertising through the marketing of perfume products. The challenge was to convince the EU Commission in particular and the EU institutions in general that promoting the Davidoff brand image was not tobacco advertising.

Strategy

The strategy focused on the differentiation between direct and indirect tobacco advertising which the directive had established. The latter being mainly based on a brand diversification strategy of companies. In most cases these brand diversifications were meanwhile brand products of their own, not connected to tobacco products in any way.

But the directive’s wording not only addressed the marketing and advertising of such a diversification product like perfumes or clothes. It actually also addressed the diversification product itself, considering the sheer existence of the perfume as indirect tobacco advertising.

Results

We prevented the EU Commission from getting entangled into a wasteful litigation that would have compromised legitimate economic activity. Insofar as issues for Davidoff remained unresolved by lobbying we successfully executed a CJEU case.

Challenge

Relativity Space is a U.S. launch vehicle manufacturer developing Terran-R, a next-generation heavy-lift rocket designed to expand global access to space. As Europe accelerates its industrial and defence space agenda, new policy priorities around strategic autonomy, security screening, and institutional procurement created a complex market-entry environment for non-European launch providers.

For Relativity Space, the challenge was to build credible EU positioning and identify realistic cooperation pathways while navigating fragmented EU and national competences across space, defence, and industrial policy.

Strategy

Alber & Geiger developed a tailored EU market-access and government-relations strategy for Relativity Space. We mapped relevant decision-makers across the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Council, and key Member State authorities, and aligned Relativity Space’s value proposition with European priorities on resilient launch capability, supply-chain security, and transatlantic cooperation.

Our team supported targeted outreach, prepared policy messaging, and advised on structuring engagement with European stakeholders, including space agencies and defence-related interlocutors, to establish a clear pathway for long-term institutional acceptance.

Results

Relativity Space secured stronger visibility and strategic positioning in Europe, with a clear engagement roadmap across EU and Member State stakeholders. The company established a credible narrative linking its launch capabilities to Europe’s evolving access-to-space priorities and laid the foundation for sustained cooperation discussions with European institutions and national authorities.

Challenge

Vivacom, the former telecom monopolist in Bulgaria, sought Alber & Geiger’s help in tackling the Bulgarian Communications Regulation Commission’s (CRC) arbitrary and disproportionate mobile termination rates. Concurrently we were tasked with addressing the problem of illegal cables in Bulgaria, while the Commission’s position was that this issue ought to be handled solely at national level.

Strategy

The strategy adopted, demonstrated how broad ranging Treaty obligations should be translated into government actions. It had a strong EU public law and policy element, with consumer protection at the forefront. It helped Bulgaria understand and implement its EU law obligations. It enhanced the notions of fairness and proportionality in the civic realm. We used sophisticated fact-finding and law and economics analysis, to outline where subsidiarity pointed to, regarding the illegal cables.

Result

Vivacom has now been put in a position where it is better able to serve the public. Alber & Geiger’s lobbying activity resulted in the European Commission asking CRC not to discriminate when setting the level of termination rates between fixed and mobile networks. CRC significantly lowered Bulgaria’s termination rates to the benefit of consumers. Equally the EU Commission came on board with us to address the issue of illegal cables, exerting pressure on Bulgaria, demanding their immediate removal. A remarkable process of removals is now underway.