VILNIUS UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGN “IN ANTICIPATION OF NOBEL”

TitleVILNIUS UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGN “IN ANTICIPATION OF NOBEL”
BrandVILNIUS UNIVERSITY
Product/ServiceSCIENCE / UNIVERSITY
Category A08. Public Sector
Entrant FABULA | HILL+KNOWLTON Vilnius, LITHUANIA
Idea Creation FABULA | HILL+KNOWLTON Vilnius, LITHUANIA
Media Placement FABULA | HILL+KNOWLTON Vilnius, LITHUANIA
PR FABULA | HILL+KNOWLTON Vilnius, LITHUANIA
Production FABULA | HILL+KNOWLTON Vilnius, LITHUANIA
Credits
Name Company Position
Aidas Puklevicius Fabula Hill+Knowlton Strategies Creative Director

The Campaign

International talks about “CRISPR Nobel” let us choose a strong message – Vilnius University Professor V. Šikšnys is a candidate to win a Nobel prize. The chosen way to communicate let us speak about achievements of Lithuanian scientist and make Lithuanians proud of them.

Execution

Campaign was launched with the interview by professor Šikšnys and rector of Vilnius University at the most popular topical news talk show on national TV. The story was immediately picked up by the other media. And it went viral in social media as well, with thousands of people sharing the recording of the show. Further activities included creation of short movie explaining CRISPR/Cas9 and prof. Šikšnys role in it and sharing it on social media. As attention of target audiences was already grabbed, we continued active communication in social media by creating Facebook event “In anticipation of Nobel” and invited everyone to wait for the results of the Nobel Awards together. The event FB page streamed the Nobel Price Announcement while the story was extensively covered in the media. An event T-shirt was manufactured featuring custom art for inspired scientific invention.

Documented results: - The launch interview – one the most viewed talk shows in three months: 4,6 TV rate, more than 20 000 online views - Facebook event: 49 000 people reached, 1900 event attendees, 4100 views - A home-made popular science movie went viral: 171 000 views, 1100 shares, 2400 positive reactions, more than 510 000 people reached Never before any science issue was so widely discussed in Lithuanian media and in social media. Never before any science event was so anticipated and talked about. And though the Nobel Prize last year went to authors of different invention, prof. Šikšnys became a household name in Lithuania and the story of Lithuanian science acquired a completely new angle.

The Situation

In 2016 talks about CRISPR as a potential Nobel winner were starting. But in Lithuania just few knew that one of potential winners – Vilnius University professor Virginijus Šikšnys. To promote the name of Vilnius University and to make people aware of Lithuanian scientists’ potential a strong message was communicated - Professor V. Šikšnys is a candidate to win Nobel. Communication activities included TV interviews, social media, viral video and management buzz in the media. Never before any science issue was so widely discussed in Lithuanian media and social media. Never before any science event was so anticipated and talked

The Strategy

The main goals of the campaign were to promote the name of the Vilnius university as also to make people aware of Lithuania’s scientists’ potential. When planning the campaign one more goal was set by ourselves – to make science interesting and understandable for wider public.