McWane Your Brain
The Birmingham News
Michael Tomberlin, News staff writer
Now that the McWane Science Center has taken a new name, the hands-on children’s museum is launching an advertising campaign that aims to emphasize what’s old.
Big Communications Inc. has created the campaign, which seeks to remind children and their parents of the center’s permanent exhibits and features such as ScienceQuest, the World of Water and Just Mice Size.
The campaign also emphasizes the center’s new moniker and creates a new verb in the catchline “McWane Your Brain.”
Tim Ritchie, president of McWane, said the center has become known for the rotating film features shown in the IMAX Dome theater and for its traveling exhibits. He believed a reminder was in order.
“In the past we have emphasized so much our traveling exhibits, the community may have gotten the idea that was all that was important,” he said. “We wanted a campaign to focus on what’s here all the time.”
To get the message across, Big’s campaign – which includes television, radio and print advertising as well as a revamped Web site – uses “McWane” as a verb in the slogan “McWane your brain.” “I like the idea of McWane being a verb because we want people to be doing something when the visit,” Ritchie said. “Our mission is education, though we do it in an entertaining way.”
John Montgomery, president of Big, said the agency jumped at the chance to work with the McWane Science Center, even though the nonprofit’s advertising budget is not large. The campaign budget is about $150,000, said Tom Grasse, McWane’s marketing chief.
For Montgomery, it had more to do with McWane’s role in the community.
“McWane is definitely an institution that you want to be associated with,” he said.
Montgomery said shifting the marketing focus from the changing exhibits and IMAX movies to the permanent exhibits was radical and risky.
“Management took some chances with some things we did,” he said. “But I think we all realize that people love McWane Science Center and what they love most are those things that are always there.”
In terms of the new image, Montgomery said Big’s staff wanted to add lots of color and lots of fun. A new robot spokesperson is also included as part of the campaign , which began on Jan. 17.
He said about 50 percent of the campaign’s message is reminding the community of what is there. Another 30 percent is devoted to the traveling exhibits while the final 20 percent is spent dealing with the IMAX movies.
Grasse said the success of McWane Science Center will ultimately be measured in learning.
“Hands-on learning through fun, interactive experiences helps to develop better thinkers and problem solvers, and that’s McWane Science Center’s gift to this community,” he said.
For more information, please contact Robin Oliver, Director of Public Relations, at 205-322-5646, ext.103 or email her at robin@bigcom.com.
