BREXIT, on January 1st 2021 propelled the SBAs in Cyprus into turbulent times as we figured out exactly what leaving the EU would look like. Most of the changes were in-line with the Republic of Cyprus, however, some of the non-EU legislation did not apply, or the Bases had special concessions. My job was to navigate this minefield.

Brief – Create a series of Facebook/newspaper adverts covering the major topics affected by leaving the EU. For a full explanation, ensure signposting is clear and links are provided.

The topics were supplied to me in various formats with lengthy explanations and signposting to find out more. I needed to collate these before I could work out a common theme and style. Eventually, I decided that the message should be posed as a question (where possible) as though I were asking for help myself. Being a member of the same community in which these rules apply, I wanted the same answers everyone else was looking for.

Over a course of two weeks we fed local Facebook pages and groups with a daily question (as above) adding links to the answers in the message. For example, ‘Will I still be able to buy duty free goods?’ linked to the fiscal office where their pages answered this and more.

This was a highly effective campaign as it solved many members problems before they even arose. The signposting preempted the questions so complaints and queries were minimised.

Some topics, such as the postal system required further explanation. The rules regarding tax on parcels was particularly intricate due to the import threshold on certain items. This flow chart was used to illustrate how it works in practice.