National Engineers Week comes around once a year, and usually goes unnoticed outside of the AE community. But this year felt different. With infrastructure investment now a hot topic in the local and national media, a renewed interest in the engineering profession seems to be taking shape.
Coincidentally, ACEC New York developed its first-ever statewide image advertising campaign, with a launch date of February 2009 to kick off the celebration of National Engineers Week. The goal of the new ad campaign is to get the general public excited about engineering, to interest young people in the profession and to communicate to policy makers and the public the intrinsic value of the profession to society's well being. The message - that engineering is a vital and creative profession that goes far beyond number crunching, charting and graphing - seems to have struck a chord among engineers and non-engineers alike, providing ACEC New York with tremendous visibility for the organization and the profession we represent. And landing us a spot in Times Square!
NAE Study Provides Messaging Basis
Responding to a 2008 report from the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), Changing the Conversation: Messages for Improving Public Understanding of Engineering, ACEC New York's new "Vision" campaign communicates positive aspects of the engineering profession - creativity, innovation and forward thinking - that have long been ignored or under-appreciated by the public. The campaign focuses on the inspirational nature of engineering by combining an oversized photo of a young person in a hard hat gazing through binoculars that reflect back images of an idealized built environment and a satellite view of the earth with the headline, "Your Vision Can Change the World."
New Image Campaign
The ad campaign, developed by Englewood Cliffs, N.J.-based marketing and public relations firm Reichman Frankle Inc., resonates both with engineers and non-engineers who were captured by the strong graphic and upbeat copy: "Engineering. It takes Creativity, Imagination and Vision." Examples of the types of projects engineers are involved in, such as green buildings and state-of-the-art bridge design, are communicated in the body of the ad. While conceived in color, a black and white version of the new ad can be seen on the opposite page.
The ad will appear in half-page and quarter-page ads in regional and trade publications throughout New York State and on billboards and posters in select markets. The Central Region of ACEC New York has underwritten the placement of the ad on billboards in Syracuse from now through mid-March on local roads between East Adams St. and Hiawatha Blvd. The Rochester Region has purchased a large quantity of color posters for distribution to area schools. In addition, a special version of the poster was created for National Engineers Week for member firms to display and use at local educational events.
Gift of Greater Visibility from Siemens Corporation
Our crowning achievement -placement of the ad on the ABC Studios Jumbotron Sign in Times Square during National Engineers Week - was afforded us through a gift from Siemens Corporation. With their generous support, ACEC New York's ad appeared in animated form on one of the largest digital billboards, which boasts the first curved multi-screen LED display. The 30 second spot was created by NY-based creative agency Show+Tell. The dynamic animation displayed the imagery and message of the ad approximately once an hour every hour throughout the week, reaching an estimated 1.2 million people each day. This is way beyond what ACEC New York imagined last fall when the ad was developed, and we are so appreciative of Siemens for providing us with this opportunity to get our message out to so many people.
Current engineering exhibitions in NYC
For those of you who would like to gain a greater understanding of the field of engineering, there are two wonderful exhibitions, organized by other organizations, currently on display in New York City. Both exhibitions focus on the role of the engineer but one looks at transforming structures and using the most cutting edge technologies and the other is a review of eight mega projects in New York City that will bring the City's infrastructure into the 21st Century. Please see below for exhibit information.

Hannah O'Grady, CAE, is the deputy executive director of ACEC New York. Tags: