This is Odyssey is Claire Hagen.
The founder
Claire Hagen
Founder and editor
I am a creative strategist and digital marketer: founder of This is Odyssey, editor of The Art of Yachts, and founder of Armada Club.
- Beginnings
- I trained as a designer and began as a motion designer at the London advertising agency Article 10, juggling jobs in retail and agencies and working in music marketing. At 23 I was selected by Facebook for its inaugural mentoring programme, trained by people at the top of social media. That is what started my freelance career: my first clients were local pubs, music venues and luxury hotels.
- Hotels
- Through referrals that grew into nearly a decade in luxury hospitality, overseeing 18 hotels and 11 restaurants, including the launches of The Dixon Tower Bridge, Hyatt Regency London, Holmes Hotel, The Trafalgar St. James, and Park Plaza's flagship London and Amsterdam locations. The Evening Standard featured the work.
- Publishing
- I led social media and digital consultancy for Penguin Books, on campaigns for authors including Rick Stein, Yotam Ottolenghi, Richard Branson, Tim Peake, Michelle Obama and Tom Hanks.
- Yachting
- I came into yachting at BOAT International, leading its social media through the pandemic, then ran social media and digital communications at Fraser Yachts. Today, as This is Odyssey, I work with yacht owners, Lürssen Yachts, Triton Submarines, YATCO and senior sales brokers, with previous campaigns for Edmiston, Heesen and Oceanco.
- Speaking
- I speak regularly on what AI means for UHNW audiences, most recently at the US Superyacht Association, the International Superyacht Society, the Superyacht Times Gulf Summit and the Miami Global Superyacht Summit.
- Life before yachting
- Studied design and marketing. Started as a junior in an ad agency. Freelance projects. Campaigner. Facebook Mentoring Program. Board member, Rockstar Start-Up Loans. Named among the key influencers in London's hotel scene after launching 18-plus hotels and restaurants (Evening Standard peer panel).
- Awards
- Best Use of Social Media, UK Hotel Association Awards 2018 · Best Creative Strategist (UK), Ucreate Awards 2014 · Runner-up, Best Creative Strategist (Europe), Ucreate Awards 2014
The record
- 18
- hotels and 11 restaurants launched in London
- 48m
- views on one yacht video, BOAT International on Facebook
- 600%
- rise in social traffic to BOAT International’s site, its second-largest source
- 50k
- TikTok followers, from launching BOAT International’s account
- 50p
- or less per pre-order for Richard Branson’s book launch, Penguin Books
- 1st
- CGI films in yachting: Triton, Heesen and Edmiston
- 23
- when Facebook picked Claire for its first mentoring programme
- 150
- years of Lürssen, told in films and reels in 2025
Worked for
Clients, past and present
Yachting
Hotels, publishing and more
Through agencies and subcontracted work
Case studies
In my own words
- CGI, first in yachting
- I made the first CGI films in the yachting space: Triton Submarines' Sub for Christmas, Heesen's Dubai Takeover, and Edmiston's hot-air balloon, which had people calling the brokerage to ask why nobody had told them about it. Some even commented that they had seen it. The best ones leave people asking whether it really happened. Aspen and Fort Lauderdale followed.
- BOAT International
- I entered the industry here and led the digital work through the pandemic: a virtual boat show, year-in-review packages, the launch of the BOAT Briefing podcast, commercial social packages and event strategies. I introduced designed Instagram stories for news, listings and themes, now common across yacht channels. Social media traffic to the website rose by 600% to become its second-largest source. I launched the TikTok account, which reached 50,000 followers, and one Facebook video reached 48 million views.
- Fraser Yachts
- Brokerage houses were behind hotels in using digital to find leads. I redesigned the guidelines and strategy for every social channel across boat shows, sales and charter listings, and introduced location-led marketing: local tips and restaurants first, then the yachts available for charter there.
- Dubai
- The brief was to build conversation before the Monaco Yacht Show for the “Why Dubai?” campaign. I pitched an influencer trip showing why Dubai is an emerging yacht hub, from captains and crew to owners.
- Penguin Books
- I was brought in to lift sales in a book's opening week. I moved the launches onto social, and replaced book covers in adverts with trailers and graphics made for the feed. For Richard Branson's book, pre-orders came in at under 50p each. Tim Peake answered live questions from children on Twitter, which made the national press. When Michelle Obama's UK tour had already sold out, I pitched extra visits to schools, and those drew more coverage than the tour.
Elsewhere
Claire’s other work
- Armada ↗
- A private members' club turning yachts into private venues for dining, business and wellness. armadayachtclub.com
- Hound ↗
- Luxury dog travel: dog-first yacht charter, private jets and stays. houndluxury.com
- Electric Foxes
- Her earlier work: music, arts, hotels and restaurants. Work · Electric Foxes
This is Odyssey
This is Odyssey is the name I work under. I am a creative strategist, digital and AI, and everything here is my own work. I do not have a menu of services: I work as an extension of your in-house team, with a team of humans and AI behind me, and I lead every project myself. This website holds my projects, my writing, my art and my events. All my yachting work sits under The Art of Yachts.
How I work
I am passionate about technology, and I have been bringing AI into my work since 2023. The aim never changes: work that feels human, from humour to emotional pull.
The creative ADHD in me
I have ADHD, and it is part of how I work. My mind jumps, connects and will not sit still, which is exactly what a campaign needs when it has to be noticed. I see the unexpected angle quickly, I throw myself completely into the work I care about, and I get bored of the safe version long before the audience does. The structure, the plans and the numbers are there to let that run.
On sources
Every figure in a report and every claim in the Journal is drawn from a named, cited source. Where a fact cannot be verified, it is left out. I would rather show a gap than an invention.
What is here
- The Art of Yachts
- The yachting section: the Monaco Yacht Show report, yachting pieces and the yacht calendar.
- The Journal
- Essays, opinion and interviews on yachts, art, AI and privacy.
- Insights
- Original research: intelligence on yachting, luxury travel and the audience that buys at this scale.
- Art
- Art on board and ashore: collectors, makers and studio pieces.
- The calendar
- Yacht shows, regattas, UHNW gatherings, art fairs, watch auctions and Claire's own events.
- The Newsletter
- New insights, essays and event dates, by email.
- Projects
- Claire's commercial projects, by year, and her other work under Electric Foxes.
Get in touch
Commissions · Press · Insights · Events