The Scheldt area is one of the busiest waterways in the world. We created an awareness campaign for Joint Nautical Management (JNM) that focuses on safe shipping traffic. Get on board!
Our client
Joint Nautical Management (JNM)
Our challenge
Creating awareness among waterway users about safe navigation on the Western Scheldt
Our solution
A striking campaign for and about the target audience
Every day, thousands of seagoing and inland vessels pass through the Scheldt area. However, guiding a ship safely through these waters is no easy feat. Different types of vessels cross paths on their way to a number of major international ports, encountering a broad range of regulations, two languages, and large tidal differences.
Through JNM, Flemish and Dutch authorities jointly manage the Scheldt area. We developed an elaborate awareness campaign for them that enlightens waterway users on what (safe) sailing in the Scheldt area entails. This campaign focuses on both awareness and behavioural change, two substantial goals of sustainability communication. Right up Pantarein’s alley!
Inland and seagoing navigation constantly cross paths in the Scheldt area. As such, there are different stakeholders, each with their own interests and wishes. During a workshop including pilots, mobile traffic controllers and those responsible for inland navigation, we came up with a shortlist of topics to be covered in the awareness campaign.
At this point, we put together the communication mix. We opted for a layered campaign, following the principle of the 3H model: hero, hub and help content. A beautiful hero video and a full-blown landing page constitute the centre of the campaign, supported by a range of other communication assets. Hub and help content attract visitors to the hero content, while also providing the necessary background info for those who need it.
To reach the target audience of waterway users, in particular seagoing and inland shipping, we invited press, partners and stakeholders to disseminate the ‘Get on board’ campaign both internally and externally. And this was highly successful: the campaign was well received, widely distributed, and picked up by a number of media outlets.
The linchpin of the campaign is a hero video, in which a river pilot, representing seagoing shipping, and an inland skipper board a ship together. For once, they do not sail past each other, but travel side by side. This sets the scene for a great conversation, peppered with the crucial elements of a proper preparation to navigate the Scheldt.
The campaign’s landing page combines all assets. An illustrative brochure reiterates the specific tips for all waterway users. Additionally, a social media communication kit brings partners and stakeholders on board, and keeps the campaign going after the launch. All of this combines into is a healthy mix of hub and help content, supporting the hero video. With features in the online magazine Flows, the Provinciale Zeeuwse Courant, Het Nieuwsblad and De Stem, this campaign received very positive reactions from various quarters.
By bringing seagoing and inland shipping on board a single ship, we completed our two main objectives for this campaign: to highlight the rules for safe traffic on the Scheldt and to create mutual understanding.
This campaign is not Pantarein's first. Our knowledge of climate and water policy is particularly extensive thanks to years of collaboration with the Sigmaplan, Antwerp Port Area Development, Havenland, Sparc (Space for Adapting the River Scheldt to Climate Change), Port of Antwerp, Pidpa ...
Moreover, we have been supporting the GNB in all its communications since 2019. We started that collaboration with a clear strategic exercise and positioning. In our insight on the sustainable narrative, you can read what ingredients belong in such a strategic document. From that overarching strategy for the GNB, numerous articles, an animation video, visual representations of the annual figures ... This campaign is a logical next step to further roll out the GNB's mission, which is to keep the nautical chain in the Scheldt area running smoothly.
