The battleground for multi-billion dollar defence contracts building high-speed weapons, armoured vehicles and submarines was once a classified world. But over the past decade, something curious has happened: Defence contractors increasingly need to build brand campaigns and need to reach very public audiences to do so. Two very big and expensive projects over the past decade – the now shelved French submarines contract and the ‘future frigates’ project – illustrate the change. Former BAE Systems exec and Chandran Thinc founder Chandran Vigneswaran and Tory Shepherd, a journalist at The Guardian, explore how recent bids have lured top marketers, and leveraged social media, journalists and mainstream ads to reach the right audiences.

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