Three orcas and a scenario already written

On 9 January 2023 Janssen de Jong Groep officially became JAJO: a new name for a top-fifteen Dutch construction group, with a new mission — closing the circle, together. Six days later a VO65 left Alicante with that name on the hull.

That was no coincidence. Taking part in the VO65 Sprint Cup within The Ocean Race was the launch platform for the new identity. You do not land a name nobody knows with an advertisement; you need a story people want to follow. Three legs over half a year, under skipper Jelmer van Beek, with the home finish in Scheveningen as the high point.

Formally we worked for the team. Team JAJO was run by Sailing Holland, with JAJO as title partner. That is exactly what makes a campaign like this demanding: the sponsor has a brand objective, the team a sporting one, and there is a single story that has to serve both — including on the days those two do not point the same way.

We handled the communications and the media. And we prepared for the worst.

Remote and on site

Not every leg calls for the same way of working together. During leg 1, from Alicante to Cape Verde, an experienced team member was on site, independently managing the day-to-day work. Thanks to our joint preparation, the framework was clear: what the campaign needed to achieve, which message was at its core, and which decisions were essential. We remained closely involved from a distance, acting as a sounding board to ensure that the execution stayed aligned with the client’s strategy and ambitions.

For legs 6 and 7 we were there ourselves. A Dutch team coming home to The Hague after months away, press on the dock, partners bringing their guests — you do not run that over WhatsApp.

The scenario nobody wants to use

Before the start we mapped the risks. Not as a formality, but as a working document: what can go wrong, who says what then, through which channel, and who calls whom first. Retirement, damage, a medical evacuation. And — in 2023 hardly theoretical for a boat that had to pass the Strait of Gibraltar — an encounter with orcas.

More important than the document was that we talked it through with the people who would have to carry it out. With the skipper and the crew: how you act, and what you say afterwards. And with Brend Schuil, the onboard reporter, we agreed what we would want to see in such a situation: which footage, from what moment, with whom in front of the camera. A plan only the agency knows is worthless a thousand miles away.

22 June, west of Gibraltar

On Thursday afternoon Team JAJO was hit by three orcas going for the rudders. The crew dropped the sails and slowed the boat down; after a few impacts the animals moved off. No damage, no injuries, animals unharmed.

Twenty minutes later Jelmer van Beek was in front of Brend Schuil's camera:

Three orcas came straight at us and started hitting the rudders. Impressive to see the orcas, beautiful animals, but also a dangerous moment for us as a team. We took down the sails and slowed down the boat as quickly as possible and luckily after a few attacks they went away. This was a scary moment."

Jelmer van Beek, skipper of Team JAJO

Within an hour, the footage came in, and we were able to get straight to work. There was no need to come up with anything. One spokesperson, a factual statement, and the three key points that needed to come first: everyone was unharmed, the boat was intact, and the animals were safe.

After that we kept control of the footage. We decided what went out from on board, in what order and through which channel. That is the moment a campaign is made or lost: let your footage leak out unfiltered and you spend the rest of the week correcting the record.

Steering on quality, not only on reach

The story went around the world: CNN, ABC News, CBS News, ESPN, Fox News, CBC and a long tail of international titles, with the footage from on board and Van Beek's words attached. On YouTube that footage has been watched more than 1.1 million times — a million on The Ocean Race's channel and 141,000 on the team's own. Putting the main version on the race channel was a decision: seven times as many viewers outweighs a prettier number on your own dashboard.

Reach was not the hard part here; orcas attacking a race boat sells itself. The content was. Orca reporting in 2023 was full of revenge stories, and a team that plays along with that loses the sympathy of everyone who cares about the sea. Including partners.

So every statement held the same line: impressive, beautiful animals, and at the same time a dangerous moment for the team. No sensation, no revenge, no blame on the animal. Van Beek's phrasing was quoted verbatim around the world. When newsrooms quote your words instead of inventing their own frame, you are holding the story.

What it delivered

In the Netherlands the campaign generated € 931,842 in media value, across 378 placements in 109 titles: NRC, De Telegraaf, AD, Elsevier, Business Insider, Omroep West, the regional dailies and the trade press.

On the water, Team JAJO finished second of six in the VO65 Sprint Cup and won the In-Port Race in The Hague in front of a home crowd.

With this sponsorship we enabled young people to realise their dream. At the same time the boat was used for team building, and the race helped enormously in giving meaning to our new name JAJO and to our mission, closing the circle, together."

Ivo van der Mark, CEO of JAJO

But the return that counts lies elsewhere. A construction company that changed its name in January was on CNN, ESPN and CBS in June — under that new name, in countries where nobody had ever heard of Janssen de Jong. Not thanks to the orcas: those were the luck. Thanks to there being a plan in place in case they turned up.