The Pima Air & Space Museum wanted to inspire kids about the science of flight and attract more visitors from the Tucson community and around the world, so we decided to host a paper airplane contest at the museum. But in order to capture the attention of parents and their children that might not already be into aviation, we knew that we needed to do more than the standard folding and flying of an 8.5” x 11” piece of paper. We needed to do something bigger to get the museum on the map. So we did just that. The winner of the paper airplane competition got the chance to help build a 45’ giant paper airplane based on their winning design.We knew that ideas like this get passed around. So all we had to do (and all we could afford to do) was plant the seed. We invited some local press to the event, and contacted aviation and science influencers on social networks. Once they saw the program, they pushed the story out to the rest of the world.The press and social networks jumped all over it. Afterwards, the museum displayed the plane as a permanent exhibit in the museum, complete with a part of the plane, a video, a feature on the history of paper aviation, and the contestants & winner’s paper airplanes on display. Now, the people at PASM can say they’re doing more than just collecting history: They’re making it.

We deployed a variety of tactics to communicate to our audience and draw in their interest regarding this effort. Some examples include:- Created a seeded video recapping the outcome of the flight- Sent lesson plan packets to schools regarding the science of flight and information on the paper airplane contest at PASM- Press releases and pitches to press which resulted in news coverage locally, nationally and globally - Wild postings of our contest poster around town in the Tucson, AZ area- Ran online banners on tourist and news' sites that drove traffic to our campaign's microsite - Utilised PASM's existing opt-in email database to message their loyalists

Within three weeks of launching our historic 45' plane, we were able to achieve over 123m media impressions, including 225 unique news outlets and our story was picked up in 9 different countries.

In one month we garnered 53,310 unique website visitors, the site has consistently averaged at 1,500 unique visitors and the teaser video got over 861,000 views.Our real success, however, was felt when we were picked up by a children's blog called DOGO news. Kids continue to read and comment, such as "I wish I could make one. I mean that is just so super cool!" (rnstata)