Have you been to the moon?

"We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too."
- JFK

We usually think of a social media campaign in a present sense, something that is happening right now. But how could a new age technology bring to life a historical moment in time? Well, in 2009 the JFK Presidential Library was in need of a campaign to commemorate the 40th anniversary of our country's landing on the moon. In an effort to make use of the 21st century technologies, The Martin Agency created the "We Choose The Moon" campaign. This effort allowed for thousands of individuals from all around the world to experience and relive that moment from forty years ago.

Their idea was to, "return to the moon." The visitors to the site we reliving a digital simulation of the events that had happened forty years prior. On July 16th 2009 Apollo, "took off again." The most important stages were portrayed vividly with hours of audio and photographs. Email updates, Twitter updates and an interactive website allowed for the visitors to relive every moment just like it had happened in 1969.

The most unique aspect of this campaign is that 650 of the most interesting and important transmissions were rebroadcast via Twitter. This allowed for the followers to see in real time what was being said 40 years prior in a very new and modern social media advancement.

Every thing was timed the same way it had previously occurred in 1969. During this four day time period the We Choose the Moon site received nearly 1.25 million unique visitors and 30,000 followers on Twitter. The event was picked up via media, including newspapers, blogs and websites. Since the site launched it continues to receive unique visitors daily.

In my opinion this seems to be one of the coolest uses for social media. The JFK Presidential Library had a problem and this agency saw the solution in social media. I have attached the clip that explains most of what has previously been said but it includes visuals and delivers a much more inspirational feeling. I just wish that I had known about this in 2009 so that I could have "gone to the moon."




So in 1962, President John F Kennedy choose to go to the moon, and almost 50 years later we have all had the chance to experience it.

"This is one small step for man, and one giant leap for mankind"

- Neil Armstrong