Case study – The Royal Institution
Shooting for the stars with the Christmas Lectures
The brief
Deliver a high-profile media relations campaign for the 2025 Christmas Lectures from the Royal Institution, delivered by space scientist Dame Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock and broadcast on BBC Four and iPlayer, to boost the Ri’s profile and drive viewing figures.
Our approach
We worked very closely with Maggie to understand her career, childhood inspiration, passion for space, and the topics she planned to cover in her three Christmas Lectures.
Rather than competing with Maggie’s other projects – which included presenting The Sky at Night and an upcoming memoir – we positioned the Christmas Lectures as the pinnacle of her achievements and used that to secure once-in-a-lifetime opportunities such as the prized ‘Lunch with the FT’ slot.
We targeted a broad range of media outlets to engage parents and children from The Sunday Times to The Week Junior, secured broadcast including Sky News and BBC Radio 4 Start the Week, and placed an interview in the all-important Christmas Radio Times, vital for driving viewing figures over the holidays.
The results