‘Evolution’- the gradual development of something.

‘Revolution’ - a very important change in the way that people do things.

I think it’s fair to say that it has been impossible to avoid the impact of COVID-19, emotionally, physically, politically or financially. But how we have reacted and been able to adapt has been the difference between people, companies and countries.

This memo is essentially a personal and strategic update to our friends, clients and customers across the globe, to give you an honest, candid and clear update to what the future looks like from The Superyacht Group’s perspective.

From the early stages of the crisis when all eyes were on Wuhan, I’m not sure anyone was expecting the impact to be so dramatic or rapid. But within a few weeks the word “pandemic” was as ubiquitous as its definition, and there were shockwaves felt across the world. It was not until I received cautionary WhatsApp messages from Italian friends and colleagues, did the true scale of the crisis hit me.

I’m not going to comment on the UK government’s action or the US president’s initial rhetoric. It is what it is, and we now have to look ahead to what the future holds and review how we have evolved and stabilised our situations.

At The Superyacht Group, we took a very pragmatic view and decided to take stock and look at what made sense from our perspective. We decided not to jump into the ring with virtual events or webinars, but we recognised that everyone was in the same boat and the key influencers didn’t have time to sit through predictable discussions, but were intensely busy putting their house in order. So we put all our focus and energy into delivering valuable, topical and relevant journalism, opinion, insights and intelligence, allowing our audience to consume as much as they wanted, when they had the time, without a fee attached. This complimentary content strategy was designed to keep our growing audience engaged and invested in our portfolio, and gave our team an opportunity to demonstrate the quality of their independent and intelligent journalism.

The result of the “access all areas” complimentary content strategy, coupled with the remote working regime of our industry, delivered some very interesting results. Our audience during the initial phase of lockdown grew to over 100,000 unique visitors (with 240,000 overall individual visits to SuperyachtNews.com in March), consuming 820,000 pages of content. In addition, we also saw over 5,000 digital copies of The Superyacht Report downloaded for what I would describe as ‘remote reading’, with perhaps a bit more time on our audience’s hands. If you haven’t already signed up for the “access all areas” campaign click here and gain unlimited access to our expert portfolio.

So, perhaps this crisis has led to both our evolution and revolution, allowing The Superyacht Group to explore some innovations in terms of content delivery with a more interactive, upgraded and customer focused digital portfolio. Watch this virtual space.

Due to ‘The Pandemic’, we have obviously had to postpone a variety of events in Q2 and due to our clients’ marketing shift, we have also decided to merge our next two issues of The Superyacht Report into one strategic issue for July, when we are more confident that the market will be moving more freely. The Superyacht Captains Report - incorporating The Superyacht Tenders Report, will over the coming months, deliver some incredible premium content online and a super issue both digitally and physically, ideally in time for owners, captains and guests being back on board in July and August. If you’d like to know more or have something you’d like captains to know, or even a new tender or toy that needs to be covered intelligently, contact our Editorial Director, William Mathieson.

The other major shift for 2020, based on COVID-19, is the evolution and revolution of our Events strategy for the second half of 2020, when our largest conference takes place in November, alongside METSTRADE.

The Superyacht Forum 2020 will not only be a three-day conference this year; it will evolve and deliver, from June onwards, a revolutionary interactive experience that will engage, inspire, inform and educate the market with a series of virtual engagements, debates, discussions, interviews and conversations that will build up to the physical Forum in November, in Amsterdam. At the 2020 Superyacht Forum, we will continue the online interaction with live streaming and a digital dimension that will bring together the in-person and on-line audiences across the world, at one time.

This is an exciting evolution and while we are confident that we will continue to deliver the industry’s most powerful physical forum in Amsterdam, we recognise and have learned that the virtual interaction can add a new dimension and increased value to a wider audience. We are already seeing delegates register for The Superyacht Forum in November, so that’s a good sign that the market is building in confidence for Q3 and beyond. So, if you know you’re coming and would like to join this new virtual and physical community, click here to register your place today.

Over the coming weeks more evolutions and revolutions will be announced. However, we would like to reinforce that our objectives, mission and goals are always and will always be, to support the whole of the superyacht sector with quality journalism, invaluable intelligence and unique, interactive experiences that will build a stronger, leaner, wiser industry for the future

Click here to become part of The Superyacht Group community, and join us in our mission to make this industry accessible to all, and prosperous for the long-term. We are offering access to the superyacht industry’s most comprehensive and longstanding archive of business-critical information, as well as a comprehensive, real-time superyacht fleet database, for just £10 per month, because we are One Industry with One Mission. Sign up here.