BLUE Communications acquires Saltwater Stone
BLUE, the UK-based global B2B PR, digital marketing, brand and communications consultancy for the commercial maritime and renewable energy sectors, has acquired 100% of Saltwater Stone , a PR agency specialising in the marine leisure, white boat and superyacht market.
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 Stone (to be renamed 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.
Alisdair Pettigrew, Managing Director of 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 super yacht 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.
Pettigrew continued:
“It’s an approach that we know works. 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.”