University of MA, Lowell Out-of-Home Marketing Program Design

PROJECT: Out-of-Home Marketing Program
CLIENT: University of MA, Lowell


A Life-Sized Bird Helps Humans Understand a City-Sized Problem

Global warming will affect neighborhoods all around the Boston-metro area. Science-to-Go, a project of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, developed a public outreach program to raise awareness of the risks Boston will face in the near future. Science-to-Go selected Image 4 to develop the outreach program because of our Environmental Sustainability focus, and our project capacity.

PROJECT SERVICES


  • Industrial Design
  • Engineering
  • Graphic Production
  • Fabrication
  • Program Management
  • Installation


Project Overview

Science-to-Go, a Boston-area non-profit, has the goal to “interest people in climate change, represent clearly and accurately what science has revealed, help us all think for ourselves, and explore science education outside of the classroom.”

Image 4 was asked to design, produce and manage a community-facing program to teach about the effects of climate change on the entire metropolitan-Boston area. We created a flock of life-size, graphical-printed ostriches to be placed around the Boston area. They had to withstand weather, vandalism, and general day-to-day damage commensurate with a city deployment. As part of the safety process, Image 4 selected the materials, created build and fabrication drawings, and managed the engineering and wind load review.

Image 4’s ostriches were placed in high traffic locations related to the environmental messages: Public Transit stations, Boston’s Harbor Walk, and Copley Square. The birds garnered tens of thousands of impressions, hundreds of Facebook postings and tweets, and a number of press stories. This helped the extensive transit poster campaign and other “out of classroom” educational experiences created by the program to gain greater awareness.

With a 3-year project grant in place, Image 4 managed the permitting process for ultimately 21 locations (those birds got around!) and then produced and installed the birds in their locations.

Science-to-Go was delighted by the project, the funders were thrilled with the response and the ostriches outlasted the crowds, resisted potential vandals and are currently hunkered down in a warehouse at the University awaiting their next “deployment”. For more information: https://sciencetogo.org/about


 

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