Sage Associates produces promotion formula for the RSC

The Royal Society of Chemistry has selected Sage Associates to produce a brand and suite of materials promoting the study of the science to young people.

The consultancy was appointed following a three-way competitive pitch and will begin work on Chemistry/ The Next Generation in November.

The communications materials must cater for two principal audiences: academics who want to target potential university students; and the school and college students themselves. According to Sage Associates director Sue Bush, there will be two student designs – one for a younger audience, the other for an older age group. ‘Copy will be bolder, with less information for younger students and slightly more technical material for the older ones. We need to avoid clichés and be intelligent about it,’ she says.

The two-year pilot project – instigated by the RSC and the Government’s Aimhigher scheme – comes against a backdrop of a skills gap in the science sector.

We need to encourage academics to get more involved in schools, holding innovative, exciting experiments. People who wouldn’t think university is for them may become interested if we take the academic myth of chemistry away,’ adds Bush.

The RSC claims to the largest organisation in Europe for the advancement of the chemical sciences.