The logistics of media management

One of the biggest challenges when generating ongoing interest in a client from the professional media is how to bring something new to the table, time after time.

In the shipping and logistics sector, companies are largely operating in highly commoditised markets and are process driven, leaving little room for innovative developments and headline grabbing announcements.

Office openings and current spate of mergers and acquisitions provide some limited news value to the trade press and serve the purpose of informing client's customers and the market of these developments, but this is largely for the record-type news.

The shipping industry however is a dynamic and vibrant industry and a vital cog in world trade providing all of us with the goods we buy and use everyday. The logistics industry ensures that we have the range of products we expect to see in retail outlets in the right size, colour and price. Without effective supply chain management, transportation, storage, distribution and delivery the global economy would grind to a standstill.

The current estimated size of the global logistics market stands at around US$3.43 trillion dollars. The value of the outsourced logistics market is around US$400 billion and growing at a rate of 10% a year.

These figures are, I am sure, a surprise for many outside of the industry. For too long shipping has hidden its light under a bushel and public opinion is largely indifferent and uninformed about how the industry works.

The general perception is that of ugly warehouses, trucks clogging up the roads ands and ships that frequently disgorge their contents onto a pristine coral reefs or fishing reserve. This negative perception of the industry has had a dramatic impact on attracting the brightest and the best to work (and stay) in the industry and it is an image problem that needs to be addressed.

There are however many entrepreneurs working in this essential industry and there are many jewels that can be mined to provide great stories for the professional and business press.

A IT client we are working with, TradelinkOne Technologies, has been growing at 30% a year for the past five years and has some of the world's leading brand name apparel and footwear companies like Liz Claiborne, Timberland and the GAP as clients.

The reason for this success story is that the entrepreneurial owner Dan Entac worked out that by moving the distribution software back to the production centres in China and India, brand name manufacturers could by-pass US distribution centres and deliver direct-to-store, in one case a global brand name apparel company saved US$6 million a year in distribution costs.

The company has the innovative technology and the client list, but has focused previously on the IT aspect of their services and concentrated on niche selling.

Now our client is ready to expand into other markets and industry verticals we have helped to focus on how the company is helping to re-shape the supply chain through a simple but innovative solution.

The focus will however remain on the strategic shift now underway to reduce reliance on expensive distribution centres in the US and Europe and emphasise the value of the service in terms of cost savings made and how this passed on to the consumer.

This helps to broaden the appeal of the company to all relevant customer-focused media and overcome the techno-phobic inclinations of many editors.

Vikas Khan, president and CEO of Emirates Shipping Line, invariably never talks about the mundane operations of moving ‘pieces of steel' around the oceans of the world, but has focused on how emerging markets can thrive through the introduction of scheduled shipping service and how by connecting them to the global economy can help stimulate economic growth and investment.

His media profile has resulted in him receiving the Personality of the Year Award at a shipping industry awards ceremony in Dubai recently and the company has scooped two regional industry awards in the last year.

By developing this thought leadership and a strategic message that differentiates companies operating in these commoditised markets, we have been able to pique the interest of industry associations, customer groups, business roundtables and editors, not just in the specialist press, but also in business publications who rarely look at this exciting industry.

Russell Green is managing director of RTG Communications.

Pull quote

"For too long shipping has hidden its light under a bushel and public opinion is largely indifferent and uninformed about how the industry works." Russell Green.