Keep Britain Afloat – CSEU

When the Government announced it would put a £1.5 billion contract to build Fleet Solid Support ships for the Royal Navy out to international competition, the CSEU – representing thousands of skilled shipbuilding workers – needed more than a press release. They needed a campaign that could turn a complex industrial procurement issue into a story the public, the media and politicians would actually engage with.

Keep Britain Afloat was that campaign. We led the creative strategy and digital production, working in collaboration with design studio Stromberg, public affairs specialists Interel, and video production company DWT. That meant developing the campaign concept and messaging, building the campaign site, shaping the social media approach, and ensuring everything held together coherently across channels and audiences – from dockyard workers to defence ministers.

The campaign worked. Video content reached over 400,000 people with 80,000 engagements, generating thousands of emails to the Defence Secretary. The Defence Select Committee held two hearings, quizzing the Head of the Navy and the Defence Procurement Minister directly. The story broke nationally in the Mirror and the Telegraph. The Labour Party joined the campaign, introducing its own ‘Built in Britain’ test for defence procurement. Maritime UK came on board. Boris Johnson mentioned the programme by name at the Parliamentary Liaison Committee.

It’s a case study in what happens when creative strategy, digital and public affairs work together properly – and in how the right campaign infrastructure can take a niche industrial issue and put it at the centre of national political debate.