Say the name Bayer and most likely the word aspirin or the brand Alka-Selzter comes to mind. Yet Bayer Corp., the Pittsburgh-based U.S. subsidiary of Bayer AG, Leverkusen, Germany, wanted the public and the media to make other associations when it launched its "Making Science Make Sense" program five years ago.
Recently, companies from a variety of industries have found that creating and implementing public service programs yield both community and public relations results (see PRN, 10/20/97, 8/25/97). Bayer initiated the programs primarily as a way to get kids, parents and teachers excited about science -- and through using several different platforms to execute its programs, won diverse media coverage along with a high degree of corporate visibility.
Its primary goal was to raise the science literacy level among middle school-age children and raise awareness of science among the general public.
Launched five years ago and continually expanding, the multi-pronged program, consisting of several hands-on science programs and a national public education campaign promoting science literacy, won an Arthur W. Page Society Merit Award this past September.
In creating a comprehensive public education campaign, Bayer used virtually every possible channel of communication including print advertising, radio, CD-ROM, a satellite media tour, a video media tour and a national competition.
"Science literacy is an issue that affects every American," says Margo Barnes, senior VP, corporate communications. "And by dealing with [the campaign] in a credible, creative and substantive way, it continues to attract considerable media attention."
According to Bayer Foundation executive director Sande Deitch, Bayer spends approximately $3 million a year on its in-school and public education programs. To help Bayer's three-person in-house PR team, Bayer hired New York-based Spector & Associates and Pittsburgh-based Dymun Nelson & Co. to assist with various components of the campaigns.
Diverse Media Help Spread Message
As part of its public education campaign, Bayer, the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation, Discover magazine and the National Science Foundation ran a national competition in '96-'97 that asked teams of middle school-age children to identify problems in their communities and use the scientific process to help solve them.
Three finalist teams received a total of $30,000 in savings bonds, while the winning team received $25,000 and all of the finalist teams received a trip to EPCOT Center. (The contest will run again in '97-'98.)
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Bayer Corporation
1996 Sales: $9 billion The Bayer Corporation is a division of the Bayer Group, a $32.4 billion chemical and pharmaceutical company. |
Bayer also has run a print advertising campaign promoting science literacy that has appeared in Pittsburgh magazine and in local newspapers in cities where Bayer has a presence such as West Haven, Conn.
Reprints of the ads are given out to teachers and kids in schools. It also runs a series of two-minute "Everyday Science" radio programs that airs daily over Public Radio International (PRI) in more than 50 selected markets nationwide. The company also has:
1. Distributed 15,000 copies of a Bayer-branded "Everyday Science" compact disc to public radio stations, conferences, workshops, science centers, zoos and in schools for classroom use, and is planning a second run of the CD next year.
2. Given out 200,000 "experiment guides" in the form of a full-color brochure.
3. Distributed a 58-page book, "Making Science Make Sense Experiment Guide," designed to help parents and teachers do experiments with their children.
4. Sent its corporate science spokesperson, Dr. Richard White, and its national science advocate and former astronaut Dr. Mae Jemison, to visit major U.S. cities.
Bayer even found a way to get the media to cover the results of a survey it conducted over the past three years that was designed to measure the attitudes of parents, teachers, school principals and kids toward science education.
When the survey indicated that kids thought science was cool, Bayer put out a press release entitled "The Top Ten Myths of Science Education" that apparently caught the eye of more than one science editor: the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, The Christian Science Monitor and Investor's Business Daily all picked it up and ran stories.
Since April 1995, the "Making Science Making Sense" campaign has generated more than 330 million print and broadcast impressions worldwide, says Deitch.
"I think we are identified as a smart science-based company and appreciated because our programs have credibility and substance. It makes good business sense and ties into a national need," says Deitch. (Bayer, 412/777-5733)
Doing Good, Looking Good
The Making Science Make Sense hands-on programs include: programs at 16 Bayer sites in the U.S.; a Science Curriculum Reform initiative at 5 Bayer sites that are part of a nationwide network of education and corporate partners implementing the National Science Resources Center curriculum that provides hands-on learning in the classroom; Bayer Volunteerism, whereby thousands of Bayer employees, including scientists, develop a nationwide volunteer program in Bayer site communities; an ASSET Inc. Grant, founded by Bayer in 1992 to implement a hands-on science curriculum in Pittsburgh.