The Brief

Educational charity Techniquest is one of the UK’s first science discovery centres. In November 2016, it celebrated its 30th anniversary.

Techniquest appointed jamjar to the raise its profile, with the following objectives:

  • Use its 30th anniversary as a platform to generate social media reach/engagement and positive media exposure about Techniquest
  • Raise awareness of Techniquest’s income generating opportunities to support the charity’s fundraising targets

What we did 

We designed five distinct news generation phases that would keep Techniquest at the top of the media agenda and maximise awareness of its charitable aims:

  1. TQ on tour – Techniquest’s science communicators were sent on a tour of Wales with some of its best loved exhibits and a selfie frame. Regional news releases were distributed and a video was created to support the tour’s promotion via social media https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RPIzpg4w2s
  2. Smartie pants – we worked with Britain’s Got Talent’s food artist Nathan Wyburn to create an anniversary portrait of revolutionary scientist Albert Einstein out of Smarties. Media were invited to the official unveiling and Nathan, who has a high social media following, charted his progress via his and Techniquest’s social media channels https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lTcmOnv8QY
  3. Tim Peak touches down at Techniquest – British European Space Agency astronaut Tim Peake visited Techniquest as part of his post-flight tour of the UK. Challenged with the fact that Tim wouldn’t do media interviews, we maximised this media opportunity by inviting six schools from across Wales to hear from Tim first hand.
  4. Rocketing high  – Virgin Galactic’s commercial director Stephen Attenborough was invited to speak at Techniquest’s flagship anniversary event, who addressed over 200 local business people and dignitaries) about how the company aims to make human spaceflight accessible. At the event, Techniquest’s CEO spoke about the charity’s future direction and guests were treated to science-themed canapes.
  5. After Hours – historically a venue for children, we worked with Techniquest to promote its adults only ‘after hours’ event to appeal to all the STEM geeks out there. As well as being able to interact with all of the exhibits, the 80s themed event (to tie in with its founding year) included a pop-up rooftop cinema where guests could watch ‘Back to the future’.

In addition, we activated a ‘no-stone-unturned’ media/blogger strategy that included:

  • Interviews with Techniquest’s CEO and targeting profile opportunities such as BBC Radio Wales’ Science Café show
  • Reviews of new exhibits by family/mummy bloggers
  • News stories about improvements, new exhibits, events etc
  • Listings for ‘what’s on’ sections
  • Tagging onto key calendar events such as ‘British Science Week’, Christmas and Half Term

What we achieved

  • Media203 pieces of broadcast, print & online coverage. Highlights include features on BBC Wales Today, ITV Wales News at Six, BBC Wales Radio Science Café, front page coverage in the Western Mail and South Wales Echo
  • Social media3,397,386 impressions8,692 engagements2,145 new fans

What this meant for our client

As a result of this campaign, we have not only raised the profile of Techniquest, but helped it secure new funding. Due to the success of the campaign, Techniquest committed to a long-term retainer with jamjar.