The first week back to work in January is always a challenge, but this year it was less about getting back into work routines and more about coping with storm-like conditions!
With winds of up to 90 mph across the whole of the UK, many homes and businesses were left without power and some schools and businesses were even forced to completely close. The disruption extended to travel services in the UK, including our client DFDS Seaways, the Dover-Dunkirk ferry operator. The extreme weather meant that for a prolonged period, Dover Port closed and sailings were postponed.
We have plans and processes in place for such situations and so we set about putting them into action. One of our main considerations in this type of circumstance is to ensure passengers are made fully aware of the situation. So, after liaising with the Dover Harbour Board about the status of closure, we were able to issue an approved statement on behalf of DFDS Seaways, announcing the Port of Dover had been closed. The statement was issued to all our media contacts including national news desks and regional broadcast.
BBC South East were on their way down to the Port to film the waves coming and we used this opportunity to secure a pre-recorded interview for DFDS’ marketing manager. This then meant ensuring the necessary arrangements and preparations were made, including briefing our client and gaining agreement regarding the logistics from the Dover Harbour Board.
As well as monitoring for print press coverage that was appearing throughout the day (many news publications put online live feeds of weather updates) we needed to alert our broadcast monitoring agency of our client’s interview with BBC South East. A simple task that can be quite easily over looked when there’s lots going on.
With the weather around the Port of Dover calming down the Port re-opened, and we moved into phase two. After further liaising with our client and the Dover Harbour Board we issued a final statement announcing that the Port was now re-open and that sailing would commence.
Whilst we kept our client updated throughout with coverage, it was at this point that we took the opportunity to summarise the coverage achieved, as well as analyse what worked well and what could be improved on. This eventful start to 2012 highlights the importance of preparation and taking the time to put detailed and comprehensive plans in place. We were able to respond quickly and effectively thus maximising the PR opportunities for our client.
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