How Will BFBS Contribute To The Aims And Ambitions Of The Integrated Review And Command Paper?

Military charity and media organisation BFBS has publicly responded to the Integrated Review and Command Paper in its first official white paper, BFBS - A Key Partner.

The Integrated Review is a 100-page-plus document billed as the most radical reassessment of Britain's place in the world since the end of the Cold War.

BFBS' white paper outlines how the charity recognises and aims to support many aspects of the major transformation being planned for defence, particularly those affecting patterns of deployment and people’s wellbeing.

Global Britain 

The Integrated Review highlights the increased emphasis on Global Britain. Projecting Britain on the world’s stage calls for great storytelling and targeted distribution. 

The white paper documents BFBS’ long history of championing the UK armed forces’ work globally, and its focus on telling positive stories on multiple platforms about the UK armed forces’ role in supporting media freedom, democracy and human rights. 

People 

The Integrated Review promises to "further invest in our people’s health, wellbeing and welfare." In response to this, the white paper outlines BFBS wellbeing services, such as BFBS TV, which gives the UK armed forces community overseas access to the best of UK TV, premium sports and movies. 

In BFBS’ recent Audience Satisfaction Survey, 90% of the BFBS audience agree that BFBS TV and BFBS, the Forces Station raise morale and make living away from home more bearable. Meanwhile, 90% would be disappointed if BFBS TV and Radio were not available. 

New Patterns Of Deployment 

BFBS is a flexible and agile developer of new technology to meet the media needs of the modern military and their new deployment patterns, which look likely to involve smaller and more dispersed groups of military-based overseas: from an “internet-connected" experience where there is no internet connectivity, to more than 40 channels of content live and on-demand for internet-connected audiences via BFBS TV Player. 

BFBS already anticipated the Indo-Pacific tilt in 2018 by increasing satellite capacity in the Far East, ensuring Royal Navy ships there can receive BFBS TV and Radio. It plans a new broadcast base and content gathering resource in the region and having long recognised the strategic importance of the Royal Navy to Defence, has invested heavily to deliver services at sea, as well as supporting shore bases, particularly Bahrain and Duqm. Plus, work continues on media and content solutions for submarines. 

Internal Communications 

BFBS is a key player here, with reach on multiple platforms to amplify Defence messages in an accessible and engaging way. The organisation’s creative agency, BFBS Creative, also works across Defence to help deliver strategic communications and recruitment campaigns and content. 

BFBS sees the Integrated Review and Command Paper as vital blueprints for its future planning and confirmation of its own strategy. And, as the organisation has shown, it already has many of the tools and capabilities needed to meet the needs of UK plc in the future. However, it continues to work hard devising new solutions in response to a rapidly changing world. 

You can read the full white paper here.