Brand Story to Watch: Wake Up Rosetta

Launched in 2004, Rosetta, The European Space Agency’s (ESA) probe, was in an induced deep sleep for 31 months as she tumbled through the stars towards comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.

The ESA needed to “wake” the Rosetta Spacecraft out of its hibernation, and saw a great public relations opportunity.

They created a Fairytale about Rosetta on a mission that required her to go into a deep sleep for a part of the journey and asked the public’s help in waking her.

Why we Love it:

• the video fairytale is beautifully and simply told
• the animation is wonderful
• Rosetta is a compelling character
• We are the hero of the Fairytale
• the story has a powerful call to action; only we can save her
• the ESA is engaging the next generation of citizens, not just adults, in the conversation around space
• Rosetta is aspirational, belonging to the whole world, not an arm of a government or a single country

Room for Growth?

• bar to entry is high; the public is supposed to send in a video, the 10 best will be beamed up to space, although that may have been part of the scope of work management plan
• hoping there will be, perhaps, another incarnation of the“thank you” video comprised of entries, one perhaps with a more thoughtful soundtrack

Space was once the narrative against which we measured our greatest achievements. Lately, not so much. ESA’s campaign is smart. It is reaching not only this generation but future generations too.

While children and the young at heart around the world may have woken Rosetta, she awoke in many a love of space exploration. Well done, Rosetta, well done.

Photo Credits:

• Top left photo by J. Huart
• Top right photo by A. Van Dergees
• Middle left photo by C. Carreau
• Middle right photo by Jürgen Mai
• Bottom left photo by Media Lab
• Bottom right photo by J. Huart

With thanks for the provision of archive material to the European Space Agency/ESA. Footage courtesy of European Space Agency/ESA.