The Story
New research from the Raspberry Pi Foundation showed parents are re-discovering a passion for science, technology and coding. And it’s all thanks to their children’s homework.
The national survey was conducted to mark the Raspberry’s Pi Foundation’s European Astro Pi Challenge. This enabled children and teens to code experiments and send messages to the International Space Station.
The campaign also revealed that two new Raspberry Pi computers were being launched from the Kennedy Space Center for children to send their computer programmes into orbit.
What We Did
We supported Seven Consultancy and suggested something which we didn’t dare dream would ever be possible – but it transpired it was. We were discussing potential spokespeople and joked with them that Major Tim Peake would be amazing.
Reach for the stars
After a few months of radio silence (we presumed it was a no!) we heard that Major Tim would be delighted to oblige. It turned out he accompanied the two original Astro Pi computers to the International Space Station. That meant he’d seen first-hand experiments by children running on the space station as well as their messages and digital images.
Dream big
Sir Tim’s time was limited. Therefore one of our biggest challenges was managing interest with the limited time we had available with him. Raspberry Pi also wanted to be interviewed alongside Sir Tim, to ensure their key STEM messages were being communicated. Our strategy was to offer interviews nationally to TV and Radio and then dip down to BBC Regional/local stations.
Challenges
There was a delay on the main press release so to ensure the story made the all-important planning lists we sent out a brief ‘heads up’. This offered up Major Tim and Olympia Brown from Raspberry Pi.
Once we had the research we wrote different versions of the release to appeal to different outlets.
Outcome
We utilised Sir Tim’s time to the ‘max’ and secured 8 pieces of national radio and TV coverage including GMB, Sky News, Radio 5 Live breakfast, Times Radio. There were also 6 pieces of quality regional coverage. The reach was 10.8 million viewers and listeners.
The feedback from Seven Consultancy who commissioned us to support their client Raspberry Pi Foundation was heartfelt.
“I wanted to say a MASSIVE thank you for all your work this week and keeping everything so smooth this morning. The client is thrilled, as are we. “ Andrew McKay – Account Director, Seven Consultancy
Listen to some of our radio coverage here:
