Ashdod Port is Israel’s largest commercial port, the entry and exit point for the majority of the country’s containerized trade, and an institution whose operational significance to the Israeli economy is difficult to overstate. What is less visible, and what this engagement was built around, is the port’s Blue Ocean corporate venture capital and technological innovation hub. It is a structured program that recruits startup and technology companies with a working solution in security, energy, logistics, and maritime industries, to run live pilots within the port environment, while positioning Ashdod as an active participant in the global port-tech ecosystem. The innovation hub can later decide to invest in or implement solutions of the companies that successfully complete their pilots in the Port’s ecosystem. With this type impressive investment and validation infrastructure for a major governmental body, Ashdod Port needed communications to match. Learn more about Ashdod Port.

The Challenge

The gap between what Blue Ocean was doing and what the outside world knew about it was substantial. While the program’s leadership had a somewhat developed professional presence online via a personal LinkedIn profile, there was no mechanism to reach press at scale, and the significant milestones being achieved inside the port were not translating into external visibility or investor credibility. An institution of this size and ambition was, in communications terms, needing more visibility to the international audiences that mattered most. Global Upscale was brought in to close that gap across every channel simultaneously: social, press, newsletter, video, and international roadshow.

Our Approach

LinkedIn Management for the Head of Blue Ocean CVC

We managed the personal LinkedIn profile of the Head of Blue Ocean CVC, developing a consistent content program that positioned him as a recognized voice in port innovation, logistics technology, and corporate venture building. The strategy was deliberate and, rather than broadcasting announcements, the content was designed to build a professional identity over time, one that could carry weight with investors, potential portfolio companies, and international partners. Posts covered program applications, pilot launches, industry commentary, and conference activity, generating a sustained presence that tracked the program’s real momentum.

Press Release Writing and International Distribution

We wrote and distributed press releases covering the full scope of Blue Ocean’s activities from pilot launches to investment announcements to partnership milestones to startup features. Those releases were placed and validated across dozens of news outlets, maritime and supply chain industry magazines, cyber and security journals, and even TV stations, both in Israel and internationally. Published in English and Hebrew, these articles established the program as a credible and newsworthy player in the global port and logistics space. In a sector where credibility is built through documented track record, that volume of validated coverage gave Blue Ocean a visible history that spoke for itself to anyone conducting due diligence.

Quarterly Newsletter

Global Upscale launched and managed a quarterly newsletter for the Blue Ocean program, which grew to over 700 subscribers and maintained an average open rate of 42% across all editions. To put that number in context, the industry average for B2B newsletters in the logistics and port space sits between 20 and 25 percent. The figure is not a product of a large list but rather the product of an audience that found consistent, substantive value in what they were receiving each quarter. The newsletter served investors, stakeholders, and industry contacts as a standing record of the program’s activity and direction.

Video Production and Coordination

Global Upscale produced and coordinated a series of video content pieces for the Blue Ocean program, covering pilot activities, international milestones, and organizational perspectives. Among them was a landmark production documenting a first-of-its-kind drone pilot at the port, which brought five drone technology companies to Ashdod to test their systems in a live operational setting. The drone pilot was significant in its own right as a proof of what Blue Ocean could facilitate, and the video made that significance legible to audiences who were not in the port when it happened. Additional productions were coordinated throughout the engagement to support social distribution and event contexts.

US Roadshow: Press and Content Management

Global Upscale managed the full press and content operation for a multi-state, multi-conference US roadshow that brought seven Blue Ocean portfolio companies on an extensive tour of the American market. The roadshow launched at Manifest in Las Vegas, one of the premier logistics and supply chain events in the country, and continued across multiple states and conference venues in a journey that required coordinated communications at every stage. Pre-event planning, on-the-ground content capture, press outreach, and post-event coverage were all handled in-house, producing sustained visibility throughout and a documented record of the trip that continued to circulate well after the companies returned home.

Website and Lead Capture

We managed Blue Ocean’s web presence, building out multiple new pages and adding a dedicated lead-capture flow for pilot applications. We reworked the underlying infrastructure so the site actually captured and routed applicant interest properly, turning the website from a brochure into a working intake channel for the program.

The Results

• Over 300 validated news placements across Israeli and international media, covering the full arc of the Blue Ocean program
• Quarterly newsletter reaching 700+ subscribers with a 42% average open rate, nearly double the B2B industry benchmark
• LinkedIn presence built for the Head of Blue Ocean CVC with consistent content throughout the engagement
• Video production delivered for a landmark five-company drone pilot, the first of its kind at the port
• Full press and content operation across a seven-company US roadshow launching at Manifest Las Vegas and spanning multiple states

Conclusion

The Ashdod Port engagement required embedding ourselves in the organization’s spokesperson and communications operations and functioning at a scale and across a range of channels that most communications engagements do not demand simultaneously. Executive LinkedIn management, international press distribution, newsletter operations, video production, and roadshow support are each distinct disciplines. Running them in parallel for a single program, over time, and with results that compound across every channel is a different kind of work. The outcomes documented here reflect not only what was produced but the strategic coherence with which it was assembled and sustained.