PM signals success for Keep Britain Afloat campaign

Frame from CSEU video

When it comes to measuring the success of a campaign, there can’t be many greater arbiters than an announcement by the Prime Minister. 

This is exactly what happened earlier this month when, during his speech at the Conservative Party Conference, Boris Johnson indicated that the Fleet Solid Support (FSS) vessels which will supply Britain’s next generation of aircraft carriers will be built in British shipyards.

This marked a huge success for the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Union’s Keep Britain Afloat campaign which DTW has been working on to produce video and social media content for since it was launched in early 2019. 

The campaign had been launched when it looked likely the contracts to build the FSS vessels would be issued to foreign shipyards, potentially putting thousands of jobs at risk.

We filmed in some of the locations most synonymous with British shipbuilding including yards on the Forth and Clyde in Scotland, Tyneside and Plymouth, but the greatest privilege of being involved in the campaign was being able to capture and relay the stories of the workers who would have been directly affected had the contracts gone abroad.

Video was the perfect medium to communicate these stories directly to government and provided the platform for a coordinated social media campaign coordinated by the CSEU and amplified by trade unions, garnering thousands of organic views and huge reach.

This was coupled with media coverage and direct lobbying from the CSEU which ultimately created an unignorable momentum for the campaign that drove it to success – one which we’re delighted to have played a small part in.

You can read more about our work on the Keep Britain Afloat campaign in our campaign case study.