Day 59: Giraffe Karaka, Baby Clara, and a ship

Just a boring container ship or does it carry some beautiful stories?

On one of my shelves in my dorm room, I’ve used a sheet of old newspaper as a protective. Along with other news on the page, it had an image of a dock with huge containers stacked over each other. On many of these containers was the prominent inscription of the name Maersk.

Until today, this photo did not have much meaning to me. I had not even noticed it, even if I had the name wouldn’t have made much sense to me. But not anymore. Today in the B2B marketing class, we were exploring social media in the context of B2B marketing. Maersk Line’s use of social media was the case under examination.

For those like me, who don’t know about Maersk Line, it is a container shipping giant with operations in over 125 countries. Around the end of 2011, they decided to get into social media. But what will a company belonging to a boring, unsexy, rugged, conservative industry do on social media? Would they be successful at selling shipping container space on social media?

What they did was this:

1. On Facebook, they started to post photos from its 14000 strong photo archive of ships, seascapes, and ports, which until now was dormant. Being in existence from 1928, they had a rich history.
2. Photo of a Giraffe on a container ship. Karaka, the Giraffe, was moving from Melbourne to Auckland to join a breeding program. Read this excerpt from Taronga: “Despite the unfavorable conditions, Karaka arrived safe and sound, and since arriving in NZ is enjoying teasing the ostriches, getting to know a male giraffe ‘Zabulu’, and has seen one of the older females give birth. This all adds to her life experience which will be invaluable, particularly as she matures and becomes of breeding age herself.“
3. Told real stories. About the Maersk Norwich Whale Strike or the video footage on Clara Maersk rescuing Vietnamese fugitives in 1975. The teaching assistant played this video in class. A first baby born on the ship was named after the ship. So much about Clara Maersk, what about Truong Xuan?

It was about authentic stories. Being who they were. Who knew there were so much interesting going in a container ship! As my professor summarized, social media allows companies to humanize and let them have the human touch, which they can use to emotionally connect with people.

Reading about shipping excites my spirit. The image of the open sea and the sense of adventure is instantly kindled. Even more, reading and watching these heartwarming stories of Giraffe, Whale, and Vietnamese fugitives made my day.