Our work with the Catlin Arctic Survey
14 May 2009
Polar Press Office
Polar explorers Pen Hadow, Ann Daniels and Martin Hartley have completed their epic 73 day trek across the Arctic. The team have prevailed over food shortages, technological failures and frostbite to gather measurements of sea-ice thickness in a bid to help scientists better understand the changes taking place at the highest latitudes and the implications that has in relation to climate change.
H&K developed a communications strategy with the in-house team and provided issues support during the twists and turns of the expedition. We also carried out extensive media outreach work; helping to organise an international media conference at the Foreign Press Association, a radio day, a press trip and a royal send off from Prince Charles at Clarence House.
The initial survey results show that seasonal melting is much more extensive than previously thought with an average ice thickness of 1.774m in the region which indicates a lack of thicker Multiyear Ice. The data collected will now be delivered to scientists to interpret and the findings will help inform international decision-makers gathering at the United Nations Climate Change Conference of Parties, at Copenhagen, in 2009.
As part of the Hill & Knowlton pro-bono team I supported the Catlin Arctic Survey, along with WWF International, UNEP and some of the world’s foremost scientific bodies. I was asked to work from the UK operations centre one day a week which was a busy newsroom where we dealt with international media on a regular basis. It was also a really unique experience working closely with such fascinating and driven people and being ‘on the ground’ with the client really does help add a greater depth to the way you can communicate with the media.
The expedition has achieved fantastic media coverage through intelligent use of the outstanding audiovisual collateral that the team sent back from the ice after each resupply flight. The campaign also harnessed the potential of online media to engage with its target audiences with regular blogs and constant content updates on the expedition site. There was also the option to follow the Catlin Arctic Survey Ice team in a variety of ways including twitter, facebook, YouTube, Google Earth, RSS news feed and through i tunes downloads. The flexible and regular engagement that we had with the media and the public enabled the team to adapt the messaging about the expedition over time to minimise the any negative press and at the end of the expedition the team pulled off a world first for the BBC with an interview live from the ice with Martin Shukman which you can see by following this link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7897392.stm Working on the Catlin Arctic Survey account was like a breath of fresh air and the achievements we made as a team have strengthened our sustainability credentials so here’s to more clients like this.
