Busting graphene myths

Brief:

The Graphene Flagship is the EU’s biggest research initiative. With a budget of €1billion, the project’s objective is to take graphene from laboratories into manufacturing. Now entering the second half of a 10-year funding period, the Graphene Flagship must accelerate the uptake of graphene for industrial applications. Communicating messages from the world of academia, however, can be challenging.

Campaign objectives:

• Raise the profile of graphene by generating 100 clippings in five-months, targeting UK, Spain, Italy, France and Germany (one clipping per £100 media relations spend)
• Increase consumer interest in graphene by generating 10 consumer-facing national clippings. Measure this using searches for ‘graphene’ in Google Trends, hoping to increase the score by 25% in worldwide science searches.
• Align the Graphene Flagship with graphene as a material using SEO/PR, generating 60 backlinks to Graphene Flagship website, improving domain authority and search visibility by 10%

Measurement and evaluation:

1. Raise media profile of graphene

149 clippings: five print, 144 online (149% of target)

• 114 clippings in target regions; United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, France, Germany
• 35 further clippings in USA, Australia, New Zealand, Columbia, Mexico, Cuba, Israel, Estonia, Poland, Korea, Iran, Singapore
• 2.27 million combined circulation
• 1.5 million combined online views
• 26,200 social shares

One clipping per every £70.30 spent, exceeding target by 29%.

2. Raise consumer interest in graphene

15 pieces of national media coverage in 9 countries (150% of target)

• Coverage included national newspapers in target regions:
  • Metro, Forbes (UK)
  • De Bild (DE)
  • Corrierre Della Sera, Il Fatto Quotidiano (IT)
  • El Pais, El Independiente (ES)
  • L'Équipe (FR)
  • Additional national news media coverage in Poland, Brazil, Mexico, Portugal

• 1.96 million combined circulation
• 911,000 combined online views
• 21,400 social shares

Google Trends data helps quantify the impact of national coverage, monitoring the popularity of searches such as ‘graphene’:

• 111% increased Google Trends score following MWC, from 43 (Dec-19), peaking at 91 (Mar-19)
• 51% average increased Google Trends score during campaign, averaging 75 (Dec-18 to May-19), exceeding target by 26%

3. Align the Graphene Flagship project with the material

93 backlinks generated to Graphene Flagship website (155% of target)

• Average domain authority of 55, creating valuable backlinks
• Graphene Flagship domain authority increased by 18%, from 49 (Dec-18) to 58 (May-19), exceeding target by 8%
• Increased search visibility by 41.3% following MWC, from 75 (Dec-18), peaking at 106 (Mar-19)
• Increased average search visibility during campaign by 10.7%, averaging 83.1 (Dec-18 to May-19), exceeding target by 0.7%

For more information on Stone Junction’s scientific PR services, or to arrange a meeting to discuss how we can help you, email sayhello@stonejunction.co.uk.