Senior members of the German shipowning community found themselves in a fully-simulated crisis as CEOs, communications professionals and directors faced up to Triton.
Navigate Response’s training platform was in its element as multiple teams of shipowners and operators tackled a crisis scenario involving a terrorist attack on a tanker in a major European port. Triton, as an interactive social media simulator, generates the realism of what is being communicated beyond the room.
Whether it’s an emerging Twitter storm, or a sensational news image posted on Instagram, ship operators in the depths of a crisis can often find they are working in a bubble. So, Triton brings the whole narrative of a breaking story into the operations room.
Teams were keen to get their statements agreed and their side of the story out there, but soon realised that having an effective statement also depended on monitoring the online chatter. It took a judgement call to gauge what to respond to, what to track and what to simply ignore.
The Triton platform was developed by communications consultants at Navigate Response, based in London, UK. Three years ago, the maritime crisis comms specialists looked at other simulation platforms available in the market.
“We wanted a system that was easy to use, highly realistic and cost effective,” says Dustin Eno, Chief Operating Officer at Navigate. “We didn’t find a platform in the market that met our requirements, so we built our own.
“Today we saw a room full of senior executives fully grasp the communications risks they face and the speed at which modern stories develop. If we made a few of them sweat under the collar and remember a few key strategies, then Triton has proved its relevance in today’s media circus, when smart phone journalism dominates any crisis.”
In the German Shipowners’ Association’s offices in Hamburg, the room was buzzing. The vivid crisis scenario saw a major fire engulf a vessel and one of the quays at the Port of Rotterdam. The images were incendiary, as tweets by eyewitnesses, port workers, local residents and activists – all generated by Triton – were picked up by simulated news agencies.
Headlines force a reaction as stories fill Triton’s built-in news feed. And be in no doubt, as real as this can seem, the content posted is all entirely fictional and accessible only to those involved.
