NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC - MARS CAMPAIGN

TitleNATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC - MARS CAMPAIGN
BrandFOX NETWORKS GROUP GERMANY
Product/ServiceMARS SEASON 1
Entrant FOX INTERNATIONAL CHANNELS GERMANY Munich, GERMANY
Idea Creation FOX INTERNATIONAL CHANNELS GERMANY Munich, GERMANY
Media Placement FOX NETWORKS GROUP GERMANY Munich, GERMANY
PR FOX NETWORKS GROUP GERMANY Munich, GERMANY
Production FOX INTERNATIONAL CHANNELS GERMANY Munich, GERMANY
Credits
Name Company Position
Andy Baker National Geographic Senior Vice President
Tyler Korba National Geographic Creative Director
Karin Zipperling FOX Networks Group Germany Marketing Director
Rebecca Gauss FOX Networks Group Germany Senior Marketing Manager
Nicholas Economides FOX Networks Group Germany Creative Group Head
Stefan Wenhart FOX Networks Group Germany Marketing Manager
Sarina Baumann FOX Networks Group Germany Marketing Co-ordinator
Mirko Preugschat Flimmer Senior Project Manager
Andreas Grumbt Pilot Munich Consultant
Axel Jäger Filmwerk Cinematographer
Anne Rüttger Filmwerk Editor
Marc Czessack Schnittwerk Post Production Supervisor
Christian Peters Schnittwerk Editor

The Campaign

The central idea was to "make Mars home". In order to drive this message across multiple platforms and reach a diverse audience, our campaign centered around different ways we could bring Mars closer to the public than ever before, for example by giving insight into the first (fictitious) crew to travel to Mars, including Behind-the-Scenes videos, a digital web presence of the crew featured in the series, interviewing real astronauts from the European Space Agency on the feasibility and obstacles of a Mars colonization, and a listing for a vacant Mars apartment.

Creative Execution

A true 360 campaign was implemented. Through the cooperation with ESA, National Geographic created a web mini-series prior to the launch of the show in the same storytelling style as the original series that focused on the perils and processes of spaceflight exploration, Mars, and colonization. In addition, an interactive Mars consumer experience was set up in the Mall of Berlin, where visitors could enter sweepstakes, train like an Astronaut and pose in a photo opp. We also partnered with the leading real estate website Immoscout and created a special advert for an available apartment on Mars, provided with a complete description text, photos, videos and location information.

Mars was the biggest 360 campaign that has ever been done for a National Geographic TV program in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, including TV, print, radio, online, mobile, social, Out of Home, and POS promotion. The campaign had unprecedented reach on Facebook: 3 Million Reach and 160K Video Views. The cooperation with ESA increased awareness for National Geographic as trustworthy and relevant brand. The cooperation with Immoscout provided additional reach of 5m, generating an unprecedented reach of over 30m for the entire campaign.

Mars was the biggest 360 campaign that has ever been done for a National Geographic TV program in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, including TV, print, radio, online, mobile, social, Out of Home, and POS promotion.

Our core strategy was to make Mars a current and much discussed topic by creating local relevance for the German public through working with amplifiers, such as the European Space Agency and online real-estate service provider Immoscout. Through the cooperation with ESA, we were able to gain access to the European Astronaut Centre and conduct interviews with astronauts and other leading experts of the industry, which became a central part of the campaign. Additionally, the cooperation with Immoscout allowed us to create a listing for an available apartment on Mars, a more playful approach to the core idea of making Mars a current trending topic.