The ABORA III reed boat expedition’s main goal was to cross the North Atlantic like in ancient times from North America to Europe. The project happened in 2007 and the starting point was New York.

The problems

We arrived in New York with the believe to support the marketing aspects of the project. At the beginning of the project, ABORA had local (German) media coverage and limited contacts within the US.

The second problem was existential for the project because the actual hull (which should be finalised in New York) was stuck between Bolivia and the US. A second ship (ABORA II) was on its way from Europebut an important material container was still missing. Many volunteers which should build the ship and making it ready for the voyage had arrived in New York but there was no work so far.

The third problem which occurred where funding issues.

What we did

Financing the trip was the first priority and MGC set out to secure funding. We researched and found people around the world who had sponsored projects like this in the past and also negotiated massive reductions on transport costs and equipment prices with suppliers. Working on a media strategy helped us to show enough evident media coverage to make the project interesting for sponsors.

In the beginning ABORA just had media coverage from some local German newspapers and later a local newspaper in New Jersey. We organised press releases and started to stream it through the international agencies/channels like AP, CNN news and the BBC. After a short while we got an interview from the New York Times and from that, many followed from all over the world. During the actual sea voyage we where the only contact between the ship and land. We handled all media requests, organised all events on land and organised any support needed from the ABORA III crew.

We were also put in charge of logistical challenges. Two reed boats had to go through US customs, which meant dealing with the NY Port authority as well as the Border Agency and US pest control. One reed boat was moved to Manhattan, which required a massive crane to unload and the George Washington Bridge to be closed. To get the important material container we hired ourself a truck and collected it from the port. We handled the logistics and huge volumes of paperwork and everything was delivered smoothly.

The results

MGC achieved great results for the ABORA expeditions. We sorted logistics and made sure that the project could start at the preferred time. We secured $150,000 so the expedition could go on its way. We improved media coverage from some local German newspapers to a massive worldwide coverage. 35 TV stations and well over 100 journalists covered the start of the expedition alone.

project details:

Project name: the ABORA III Reed Boat Expedition
Project size: $450,000
Employees, volunteers, partners: 100

Read more about the next project: ABORA IV Reed Boat Expedition