Navigating the New World Order

The shipbuilder became my first maritime client and, as Polaris expanded in the industry around the world, a few patterns became clear to me. Knowledge of PR and marketing was limited – operations came first, many organisations preferred a low profile and PR was often viewed as a risk or an expensive tactical tool lumped in a vague box marked ‘marketing and sales’. Management, meanwhile, was mostly male, middle-aged and drawn from finance or engineering backgrounds. When Twitter and LinkedIn arrived, businesses were cautious about using social platforms, indicative of how traditional firms like to wait and observe – in this case for years – before engaging. 

The media, meanwhile, was viewed warily, and few maritime businesses proactively engaged. Others were more openly hostile, having been burned by negative headlines – unsurprising given the media rarely promoted positive industry news. I frequently heard (and still hear), ‘Why bother dealing with them when they just publish what they want anyway?’ The irony was that here was an industry made for the media: highly visual, fundamental to global trade (making stuff and transporting 90 per cent of visible goods), underpinned by entrepreneurs and steeped in jaw-dropping history. While maritime sat on this mountain of marketing value, we found it was our rather less dramatic professional services clients who ‘got’ PR, investing in strategic campaigns and devoting senior management time to it.

Nevertheless, a long-overdue correction is emerging where maritime and engineering firms are having to consider PR in the same way they are having to decarbonise – and becoming more receptive to PR out of necessity. With the advent of ESG, maritime companies large and small are having to be greener and more transparent. And there is a growing understanding that the companies who are elevating PR to the C-suite and using it as a listening tool to keep in touch with stakeholders who really count have a considerable advantage over those who are not.

A group of major finance houses, for example, has clubbed together as the Poseidon Principles, responsible for half of ship finance and worth around $158bn, with a clear message that ships that do not decarbonise in line with International Maritime Organisation targets risk not being mortgaged. We are also hearing that companies bidding on major tenders are expected to demonstrate green credentials, including cycle-to-work schemes, equipment recycling, commitment to ISO 9001 management standards and ISO 14001 management environmental standards. The firm message from the big players? Green up or ship out. For these firms to hit their own green targets, their SME supply chains must also pull their weight.

Over the past year we’ve also seen a rising number of reports on the maritime sector’s carbon footprint in the Times, New York Times, Telegraph and BBC. More people now know that maritime accounts for 2.4pc of global carbon emissions, which the reports claim could rise to a fifth of all carbon emissions by 2050. Now big retailers are pushing back on shipping lines, with Amazon and IKEA pledging in October 2021 to only use zero-carbon-fuel ocean vessels by 2040. For shipping companies this trend means active listening in order to pivot strategy and horizon-scanning how the mainstream press and public opinion could affect their reputations.

Honest Relationships
Maritime’s PR weakness was exposed in March 2021 when the vast container ship Ever Given blocked the Suez Canal, thrusting the sector onto the front pages and news bulletins of media worldwide. A stinging editorial in the famous maritime title Lloyds List said the response saw ‘faceless’ shipping executives “hide in the shadows” when there was “a unique opportunity to explain shipping’s key role as the economic backbone of world trade”. Lloyds observed that few executives gave media interviews and hid behind “limp updates”. 

On a positive note, I have observed how receptive the public and mainstream media can be to maritime stories. At Polaris we worked with Cammell Laird and the British Antarctic Survey press team to stage three events with Sir David Attenborough around the building of the new polar ship that bears his name. Thousands of people attended the events and the mainstream press descended en masse to press calls, with BBC One, the Today Programme, Sky and ITV all broadcasting live. And in Oman, we promoted events at the Gulf state’s vast new shipyard in Duqm; Omani national newspapers ran lengthy reports showcasing growth and investment. Other clients who consistently grab mainstream media and public attention include the hovercraft builder Griffon Hoverwork in Southampton and the campaign to build a memorial to the WWII Battle of the Atlantic in Liverpool.

This is why building strong relationships with the media remains critical for traditional industries. I fear media relations is becoming a dying art as newsrooms are hollowed out and more relationships exist purely in the digital sphere. But sectors like maritime cannot complain about sea blindness – public ignorance of the sea – if they fail to properly engage the media by inviting journalists into their businesses to build relationships. And it will be particularly important to explain the huge difficulties involved in decarbonising shipping alongside showcasing the work already being done. This story is told endlessly in the trade press, and the brilliance of that work must now be reflected in the mainstream press for the public. Failure to do this could see entrenched views turning against maritime, which would be a real travesty.

The world is a very noisy place. It’s harder than ever to pierce through that wall of sound. This is not the era to be quietly tapping on the doors of government and the media with a sponge. Traditional industries like maritime will need to be bolder with public relations and accept that, in order to grow, mistakes will inevitably be made on the journey into public consciousness. This is a PR battle for hearts and minds that shipping, so synonymous with centuries of innovation, risk-taking and exploration, has to win.

Ben Pinnington is managing director of Polaris Media, a maritime and industry specialist PR firm based in Merseyside. His book Making Waves: PR strategies to transform your maritime business is published by Rethink Press and is available in print, Kindle and audio book formats at all good online booksellers.