Background
AAL approached BLUE at a critical moment in its history, as it prepared to rebrand from Austral Asia Line to AAL Shipping. Founded in 1995 and headquartered in Singapore, AAL has grown into one of the world’s largest multipurpose shipping operators, serving the breakbulk, heavy lift and project cargo sectors.
Objectives
The decision to rebrand to AAL Shipping was led by the need to reflect the global strength of the business and its future ambitions, in order to consolidate AAL’s position as a leading global ocean transport operator and to prepare for its next phase of growth.
BLUE’s brief was to support AAL as it entered a more active phase of communications to support the unveiling of new brand, to showcase AAL’s industry-leading expertise, to promote AAL’s value proposition, particularly within key local markets and target sectors, and to support the ongoing process of building a single, overarching global brand.
Approach
BLUE designed and delivered a bespoke communications strategy and programme, built upon a clearly defined set of messages for AAL’s audiences in different sectors and thought leadership positions on a number of key industry issues. This programme encompassed an active media relations campaign, drawing upon BLUE’s extensive relationships with leading shipping media, as well as ongoing strategic communications counsel on individual campaigns, such as AAL’s co-operation agreement with Peter Döhle.
Results
BLUE has helped AAL to deliver a smooth, effective and impactful transition to its new corporate identity and to rapidly establish the AAL Shipping name across the international shipping industry. Through an active media relations programme, AAL spokespeople have led industry debate and championed a range of important issues, such as the imperative of maintaining quality and safety standards in the MPP market.
Utilising a wide array of channels, including media announcements, bylined articles, interviews, media briefings, award submissions and support at a number of leading industry conferences, BLUE delivered media coverage that was consistently supportive of AAL’s brand strategy and corporate values. In doing so, BLUE also helped AAL to secure the leading share-of-voice among heavy lift operators within the specialist titles for this sector, as well as a sizeable share-of-voice in such industry leading titles as TradeWinds, Lloyd’s List and IHS Fairplay
