Move into marine leisure and superyacht markets builds on strategy to accelerate growth trajectory through strategic B2B acquisitions in related specialist verticals
LONDON, UK – Thursday, October 17: BLUE, the global B2B PR, digital marketing, brand and communications consultancy for the commercial maritime and renewable energy sectors, has acquired 100% of Saltwater Stone (to be renamed Saltwater), a PR agency specialising in the marine leisure, white boat and superyacht market, a sector recently valued at over $43 billion globally.
The acquisition expands BLUE’s remit within the maritime market and builds on its model of marrying in-depth knowledge of specialist B2B sectors and access to influential stakeholder networks with a fully integrated brand and communications service offering.
Saltwater was founded more than 30 years ago and is an established and very well-regarded brand name within the specialist marine leisure market. Saltwater’s employees will continue to work from its Poole office under the Saltwater brand, with additional integrated services delivered through BLUE. Current key clients include Peters and May, a global yacht transportation and logistics company, Kongsberg Maritime, a leading technology organisation and ACR, one of the world’s leading global providers of safety technology.
Commenting on the acquisition, Alisdair Pettigrew, Managing Director, BLUE, said:
“Saltwater was founded by Georgina and Clive Bartlett in the early 1990s and built a great reputation within the marine leisure, white boat and superyacht market. Clive retired from the business in 2019 and as Georgina now moves on, we recognise we have both a great responsibility and opportunity to expand into another growing maritime sector. We’re really excited to work with the Saltwater team to help supercharge and invest in its growth with our additional services and resources.”
The development builds on BLUE’s strategy of driving growth, both organically and through acquisition in related B2B markets, where it can deploy its model of combining specialist industry knowledge with brand and communications excellence.
“It’s an approach that we know works,” continued Pettigrew. “We live and breathe our clients’ markets, and we know and understand the many challenges that they’re experiencing right now. They’re facing huge change and transformation, and with our in-depth specialist knowledge we can help them to develop and implement strategies that have real impact and genuinely cut to the heart of what they need in order to thrive.”
BLUE has deep experience in serving commercial maritime and renewable energy clients for over 15 years, with a 35+ strong team, working with over 80 clients worldwide, and ranking in the top 10 of UK B2B agencies.
