Publicity

We all want to be famous, or at least that's what I've gotten from people over the years. The question should be: what do you want to be famous for, and with what audience. And, of course, what will be the means to that end?



In Estonia, there's a big campaign to publicize the Sciences and to motivate more young people to participate in them, to take them up and study them. The vice dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology at the University of Tartu, Mart Noorma, is of the opinion that the sciences are the key to Estonia's future. He sees a future where the world is powered by Estonian inventions and programs and I agree with him, in most respects and I certainly would like to see a future with inventions I made or helped make.
Let's have a look at how this small northern country is going about this campaign. For one, there are very many magazines, which deal with the sciences and they're all good quality publications, which have articles from all sorts of interesting sources. In terms of reading material, there's enough to go round.
A very powerful tool for this cause is the science centre, "AHHAA", which is simply a BIG building filled with all sorts of interesting sciency and techy things that kids can mess around with. It's practically fun for the whole family! Just go there with the kids, unleash them on the centre ,let them learn, explore, invent and discover! And at the end of the day, the kids had fun and actually learned something!
Another very powerful and interesting thing that has been tried is a television game show, "Rakett 69", in which I have had the honour and pleasure of taking part. The idea is to get around 15 undergraduates and high school students, who have a passion for the sciences together and have a game show on the subject. In the end of each episode, one contestant gets kicked out until there's only one left. The winner gets a 10,000 euro prize and other cool stuff. This should show kids and teenagers how fun the sciences can be and, in some ways, it succeeds. Unfortunately, the outcomes are not exactly what the organisers would like, but it's a very good attempt, in my opinion.
And lastly, the country declared 2012 as the Year of Science and declared the university town of Tartu as Europe's Science Capital (or they're in the process of doing so, it's a little confusing). The idea is to have all sorts of people coming to Tartu to show their awesome inventions, thoughts, ideas... and to have the Estonian people learn from them. Kinda in collaboration with this is the BIG IPhO Physics Olympiad, that has young people from all over the world for 10 days or so in Estonia. These are VERY powerful motions these Estonians are putting in motion!

Now, I'm not only Estonian, but also Kenyan, as I try to tell some people (and what some people keep reminding me, in turn). In Kenya, unfortunately, there isn't a big campaign on the sciences or any field of knowledge, for that matter. So, I asked myself a quick question: What's important to a Kenyan? The answer, in my opinion, should be taking care of the family. Part and parcel of taking care of family is having a job, to put food on the table. And what's necessary, for a job to be successful? Clients! And the best way to get clients? Publicity in the form of advertisements!
So, how do these go in Kenya? We have billboards, radio, television (yes, dear first-world people, Kenya does have TV!), even cell phones are used for advertising things! Now, I chose to pick a company, that's relatively new, that's trying to strike it big in the IT field. I'll not give their name here (that would be mean) bu I'll have a look at how they're going about their publicity. They have been on television multiple times explaining their ideas and thoughts in an attempt to get people to understand the importance of their product (just as businesses do). I feel that they're forgetting a fundamental thing. Who are their targeted audience and does that audience pay attention to the medium of communication they're using? I find that the company in question is intently (oh, so very intently) shooting in the wrong direction! The TV times they get are less than ideal, because at that time, nobody who'd be interested in them is paying any attention! A waste of energy and time. They've also been trying to attract a user base in Facebook and Twitter. Now, Facebook might be an "OK" place to attract customers, but Twitter? No. I find that Twitter, for one, is a waste of time (I'm not going to deal with social networks right now, but expect a post on them soon!) and certainly not a place to try and promote a new brand. When it comes to social networks, there's a certain way of doing it and it depends on the network in question. Twitter is, in my opinion, more of a place to simply keep fans and followers entertained with witty sentences that make very little, if any, sense. Facebook works for a brand only as a base for viral ads. Facebook and a good viral campaign is like a forest fire in the dry season. The company in question doesn't have a very good viral campaign, but once it gets one, I'm sure it would be VERY effective.



But, why am I writing all this? I have very many thoughts and ideas and I need a place to put them. I hope someone gets an idea or two from reading this stuff!
Feel free to post a comment or ask a question! You may also criticize, should you see the need to do so.