Making Waves/
Charting a Tier 1 Media Campaign
Introduction
A leading supplier of critical maritime defense equipment and services experienced rapid growth within just a few years through organic geographic expansion and multiple acquisitions. The transformation created an opportunity to elevate the CEO’s profile, establishing him as a thought leader on issues impacting the defense industrial base and, in the process, highlighting the company’s new capabilities.
Challenge
One of the biggest topics impacting maritime defense and the defense industrial base is the state of U.S. shipbuilding. The company CEO had unconventional insight and several meaningful ideas for addressing industry labor and supply chain challenges that would appeal to the media, but his comments had to be presented in a way that would not come across as criticizing the company’s main customer – the U.S. Navy.
Solution
Mercom established a series of story angles related to the challenges of shipbuilding in the U.S. and developed controlled talking points highlighting the CEO’s thought leadership and expertise on this topic. These angles were used to execute an intensive, six-month Tier 1 media outreach campaign. To further support this campaign, Mercom produced a multipurpose sample interview reel demonstrating the CEO’s expertise and ability to address hard questions.
Results
Within just six months, Mercom secured four interviews with Tier 1 media, which included Politico, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and Voice of America. The topic also resonated with trade media, resulting in background interviews, podcast interviews, profiles and digital coverage with top-tier trades such as Defense News, Breaking Defense, MarineLog, and MarineLink.