Digital Campaign
Meeting the moment with an inspiring learning experience
How my team engaged 1.1 million students and supported their families, teachers, and schools in the thick of the global pandemic.
Project Title: NASA Mission to Mars Student Challenge
Summary: I directed this NASA flagship campaign that engaged 1.2 million students and educators in the Perseverance Mars rover landing, collaborating with cross-functional teams to build an integrated experience across the web, social media, email, and live events.
My Role: Campaign Management • Digital Strategy • Email Campaign Management • UX Design • Copywriting • Social Media Strategy
The Opportunity:
NASA Needs a Plan
It was December 2020. The world was in lockdown. And in just under three months, JPL and NASA were scheduled to land the Perseverance rover on Mars.
With the world sequestered at home, NASA and JPL’s plans to bring audiences together for in-person events across the country had to be scrapped.
My team, JPL’s K-12 Education Group, stepped up with a mission to engage and inspire some of those hit hardest during the pandemic.
The Goals:
Engage and Inspire
Our goal was to create a virtual education experience that would:
Support and inspire educators, students, and families during an especially challenging moment.
Help JPL and NASA engage audiences in the Perseverance Mars rover mission.
Raise awareness for JPL's educational resources and programs.
The Work:
An Epic Campaign Lifts Off
In January, we launched the Mission to Mars Student Challenge, a large-scale integrated campaign and educational experience spanning the web, social media, Eventbrite, and email.
We invited teachers, families, and organizations around the world to register and lead students in designing their own mission to the Red Planet as we prepared to land Perseverance on Mars.
At the heart of the challenge were nearly 100 STEM lesson plans, student projects, and resources. JPL’s K-12 education specialists organized these into a seven-week curriculum modeled after the steps NASA uses to design, build, launch, and land its Mars missions. They also produced videos featuring mission experts and livestream Q&As with NASA scientists and engineers.
My role was pulling all the pieces together into a coordinated campaign, including:
Managing campaign plans, timelines, and assets in coordination with specialists across dozens of JPL and NASA teams.
Designing and directing the development of a custom website.
Creating a branded Eventbrite registration system.
Developing and producing a weekly campaign newsletter.
Leading the development of a digital gallery and social media campaign to showcase participant stories.
The Impact:
1.1 Million Join the Mission
Educators, families, and organizations around the world registered more than 1.1 million students to participate in the challenge in just two months.
Hundreds of participants shared images, photos, and stories about their experience.
The challenge was one of the largest traffic-drivers in the history of the JPL Education website, sparking increased and sustained engagement with JPL's digital education resources.
And the campaign became a model for future NASA virtual engagement initiatives and was even repackaged and repurposed for follow-on campaigns, including:
An educational experience for summer camps and educational programs, that drew over 26,000 participants.
A 10-week challenge for schools in Dunedin, New Zealand.
An evergreen challenge on the JPL Education website.
In 2023, Ota Lutz, Lyle Tavernier, and myself shared insights from the campaign with EdTech innovators and industry leaders as part of a selected panel at SXSW EDU.
Credits
Campaign Director: Kim Orr
Campaign Management: Kim Orr, Ota Lutz
Curriculum Development: Ota Lutz, Lyle Tavernier, Brandon Rodriguez
Video Production: Lyle Tavernier
Livestream Production: Brandon Rodriguez, Lyle Tavernier
Web Development: Alex Albino, Addison Hardy
Newsletter Design: Lindsey Tran
Campaign Support: Jessica Parker, Paula Partida
Social Media Leads: Stephanie Smith, Linda Rivera
Communications Lead: Jia-Rui Cook
Mars Public Engagement Lead: Carolina Martinez
Summer Campaign Directors: Leslie Lowes, Amelia Chapman, Jeff Nee
New Zealand Campaign Director: Iaian Cook-Bonney