Publicity surrounding awards for pioneering scientists
For more than five decades, the Alfred Heineken Funds Foundation has honored a group of distinguished researchers and outstanding young scientists every two years. But does the public know who these high-flyers are and why it is so important to honor their scientific research? From the KNAW and the administration office of the Heineken family, the question came to support the team in making the laureates more widely known through publicity. Given our experience in the field, including PR for the science prizes of New Scientist and Ammodo, this was a job we were immediately excited about.
Approach: connection with current affairs
In the Netherlands, there is increasing attention to science and there are also more awards that honor scientists. If we want to strengthen the contact with the general public and show that it is not ‘just another award’, we have to give the laureates a face and make the story personal and relevant. Fortunately, we feel at home in the scientific field and have always gone beyond approaching science journalists. We look for connections with current affairs so that scientific news also becomes relevant to media consulted by the general public. Our challenge is therefore to translate (with an eye for the scientist) scientific content into content that is relevant for the general public: what is the impact of the work on your daily life?
Result: a wide audience
The stories of the laureates prompted publications in a diverse group of media: from newspapers to magazines and from national to regional and in the trade media. This resulted in beautiful scientific articles, such as in the NRC and the Volkskrant. But also think of a more personal approach in a regional medium like the Leidsch Dagblad and a niche player like Filosofie (Philosophy) Magazine. A very nice score was also the publication on nu.nl which directly reached a large and young audience.
"Of course, my work cannot be compared to that of the laureates of the Heineken Prizes. But the fact that we can make more people aware of the impact of their work through publicity releases extra energy in me to really go for it. Moreover, extra valuable because this visibility creates more knowledge and understanding in society to keep investing in science."
Jill Bakker, PR Advisor
