Looking back at successful Owen marketing campaigns that made a big impact and ready to be repurposed for 2021

Video, training and employee relations

Making videos has always been one of the mainstay services provided in-house by Owen Superyacht Marketing and the Owen Group. Earlier in our history it was a major contract with Esso for safety training videos that gave us the profile to develop the video service further. Starting with many safety training videos for the Esso Fawley refinery led to being the PR Agency for Esso’s ‘Cat Turnaround’ programmes. Esso and Exxon saw our capabilities and we soon were working on Employee Relations programmes with a highly successful radio programme produced once a month for a year, hosted by UK TV and radio presenter Chris Tarrant and delivered to all Esso tanker drivers to play in their cabs. Each recorded episode was an hour in duration with management topics, safety messages, interviews, guest stars and music requests!

Our long-time client, Royal Huisman, were also instrumental in helping us to further develop our video offer through the period when they were building bigger and bigger yachts, including the 90m ‘Athena’. Photographing and producing brochures and several books for many of their yachts, up to the present day, the Owen team made multi screen video presentations for yacht launch parties as well as filming the launch events themselves for the owner. One launch covered by our four-person camera and sound team took place in Cannes and Nice over a four day period with two chase boats, a floating band and party events culminating in a massive firework display at the world famous Hotel du Cap – Eden Roc, Antibes.

Employee Relations

The Royal Huisman videos were also a cornerstone communication tool in their employee relations programme. With a large workforce mainly living locally to the shipyard there was a big gap between building the yachts and seeing them with their owners around the world. The final presentation was shown to all staff and craftsmen at the shipyard in a purpose built cinema over several days to minimise disruption. Along with this, the programme developed between Royal Huisman and the Owen team with a regular house magazine we named ‘inhuis’. The programme raised morale, reduced sickness days and improved measurable productivity.

Good communications programmes never date, the delivery channels may change but it is creative thinking that counts above all.