CASE STUDY

Stena Line

Stena Line wanted to increase its media presence amongst consumers in the UK, with a focus on promoting its North Sea route between Essex and the Netherlands.
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Client

Stena Line

Sector

Transport and Infrastructure

Professional Services

Events, Leisure & Tourism

Services provided

Public Relations

The Situation

Stena Line wanted to increase its media presence amongst consumers in the UK, with a focus on promoting its North Sea route between Essex and the Netherlands. While the offer for tourists in the UK is strong, the departure location of the route provided a logistical challenge for attracting national media to visit the vessels. However, new vessels launching on the route, boasting industry-leading sustainability features and an enhanced customer experience, presented a timely opportunity to build relationships with national, regional and travel journalists, and secure media coverage promoting their leisure routes.

What we did

To address the location-specific hurdles and enhance media engagement, PLMR developed a strategic, relationship-led media outreach campaign.

  • Tailored Journalist Engagement: We crafted a bespoke media list targeting journalists across national, regional and travel outlets, and undertook an engagement programme to assess the best way to align with journalists’ availability and preferences for engagement in order to arrange bespoke vessel tours and meet-and-greet opportunities.
  • Curated Press Trip Experiences: Understanding that immersive experiences drive impactful media coverage, we organised press trips aboard the new vessels. Working with partners from the Rotterdam tourism board, we created bespoke itineraries that blended onboard experiences with rich local cultural activities, ensuring each journalist enjoyed a memorable, end-to-end journey.
  • Sustainability-Focused Messaging: Journalists received briefings highlighting Stena Line’s work in the sustainability space, and the benefits of ferry travel as a low-carbon alternative to flying. This messaging aligned with increasing media and consumer interest in sustainable tourism, ensuring Stena Line is recognised by media as a leader in this space.

The Result

As a result of our targeted campaign, and adapting to the requirements of journalists learned in our initial outreach, PLMR secured impactful media coverage spotlighting Stena Line’s North Sea route and its modern, sustainable vessels in high-profile national and regional outlets, including a feature in the Daily Mirror.

Through our wider outreach programme, we also helped to raise awareness of Stena Lines commitment to delivering exceptional customer experiences, while being an industry leader in sustainability across the target media outlets that are most important to their brand.

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