The European commission is offering funding for various kinds of research, and wants students to know about it. The best way to reach the potential researchers? Geeky humour of course!




The viral has only achieved about 1500 views on YouTube, but a quick look through the comments suggests that they’d be reaching the right audience, even if only indirectly:

"love it, I’m gonna show it to my sister shes in university studying chemistry"

The viral is pretty funny, and bizarre enough to be interesting, although it’s hardly executing a new idea. While it doesn’t quite hit stupendous viral level, it does show the effort of a more traditional organisation stepping into the viral realm. Given how many funding opportunities there are, and how few people know about them, I see the choice to do a campaign as a good thing.

They have made one blunder, as the link at the end of the clip is too complicated to be easily remembered.

http://ec.europa.eu/research/mariecurieactions/index.htm

A simpler URL couldn’t have hurt, even if it’s just a landing page that redirects to the right site. Once you’ve gotten someone’s attention, it doesn’t make sense to make it difficult for them to follow up.