OBJECTIVE/BRIEF

The Maersk Group is a worldwide conglomerate operating in more than 130 countries and has a workforce of more than 89,000 employees. Being the world’s largest container shipping company, Maersk is involved in a wide range of activities in the shipping, logistics, and oil and gas industry.

A key requirement for the company is the need for in-depth, coherent and comprehensive media evaluation. A Forbes Global 2000 company, Maersk operates in numerous markets with highly diverse media landscapes. Winning the public procurement at the end of 2015, Retriever Denmark was tasked with tracking, measuring and evaluating the vast amount of worldwide media coverage the conglomerate generated.

Another important objective, and thus a focal point in the analysis, was to identify and analyse the media coverage of the company’s quarterly financial statements. Emphasis was put on the so-called ”Interim Reports”, which were to be coded manually. Further, the analysis had to include editorial media coverage from more than 30 countries and, critically, had to be delivered within 24 hours of the release of the quarterly financial statements. This kind of short-term, formative evaluation is of significant importance to Maersk, as it enables them to track areas requiring potential communication improvement immediately.

The main objective of the analysis can be defined as:

• Providing factual and empirical data to support the communication decision-making process.
• Facilitating the instant customisation and adjustment of PR communications strategies in relation to the release of the quarterly financial statements.

STRATEGY

The overarching strategic goal was to provide the conglomerate with instant analysis of the global media coverage relating to Maersk’s quarterly financial statements. Special emphasis was put on the analysis of key messages, key spokespersons and the various business units. This encouraged a strategic approach capable of assessing such coverage and similarly facilitating prompt customisation of communications strategies. Above all, it would enable key spokespersons to alter their communications scope and direction instantly.

With a methodological point of departure in the Barcelona Principles, which outline a best practice of measurement, Retriever set out to create a framework capable of encompassing a task of this magnitude. Emphasis was put on measuring and tracking coverage from the point of view of Maersk’s various business units, its proactive communications, such as key messages, as well as coverage of its desired key media and primary spokespersons.

In terms of measurement and evaluation, we put in place a number of quantitative and qualitative metrics to track and observe Maersk’s financial media coverage. More specifically, this basic level step of measurement was based on media content analysis, where numerous variables such as influence/tonality, messages communicated (and in particular key messages), prominence and visibility in coverage (based on business units) and spokesperson coverage, came into play..

Further, we developed a key metric named “Visibility Score”, which is based on the juxtaposition of a series of memory factors and tonality. This metric is particularly useful in that it disregards metrics such as readership, which was regarded as invalid because of widely varying cross-border methodologies.

EXECUTION/IMPLEMENTATION

A mixed method approach allowed us to identify coverage of Maersk’s various business units, as well as assess its tone. Furthermore, it allowed us to meet the exceptionally tight deadlines and provided common methodological ground for the coding and analysis of a vast quantity of multi-lingual media coverage.

Two interim reports were produced: the first of which was delivered within 24 hours of the quarterly financial statement and a second follow-up report 24 hours later. This approach links Maersk’s outputs to outcomes, facilitating the need for instant reporting, and enables the client to adopt and alter communication strategies concurrently.

We also produce half-yearly follow-up reports, which give Maersk regular benchmarks in terms of volume, tonality, prevalence of key messages, spokesperson coverage, share of voice and so on. This long-term perspective enables the identification of key metric performance, so allows Maersk to refine its communications strategy as appropriate.

In addition to the quarterly and half-yearly reports, Maersk also has access to numerous ad hoc reports providing further insights and analysis on specific topics if required.