| August 2, 2000–Mathematica is “The Way the World Calculates.” That’s the message in Wolfram Research’s latest marketing campaign. As part of a new initiative to demonstrate the increasing global popularity and usage of its flagship technical computing system, Wolfram Research has developed a promotional platform that depicts some of the many applications of Mathematica all over the world. |  |
The central image used throughout the campaign is that of a Mathematica-transposed globe, with pointers to various major world capitals and remote locations where Mathematica is being used to do everything from technical typesetting to financial analysis to scientific and educational simulations and modeling. “We want to explain to potential users that Mathematica isn’t just for eggheads, as many believe, but for everyone involved in technical calculations,” says Conrad Wolfram, Director of Strategic and International Development for Wolfram Research.
When it was first released in 1988, Mathematica rapidly became the technical computing software of choice for expert scientists and researchers, even though it was considered too advanced for everyday professionals and students. However, over the past decade or so, Wolfram Research developers have added a friendly user interface, extensive typesetting capabilities, and incredible speed, making Mathematica an ideal tool for performing, displaying, and sharing any level of calculations. “We want to encourage people who probably know the name but think it’s ‘not for them’–because of what they’ve heard or because they tried an earlier version–to look again,” says Wolfram.
It is this integrated approach to Mathematica that Wolfram Research is hoping to replicate with the “World” campaign. Wolfram Research plans to communicate the “Mathematica: The Way the World Calculates” message both by using it in a print campaign in all of its international markets and by tying it in to different solutions on its web site. “Because of the incredibly disparate ways in which our customers are using Mathematica, we needed a striking image that would provide a common thread for conveying all of these real-world applications of our software,” says Lars Hohmuth, Manager of Strategic Marketing for Wolfram Research.
The “World” campaign launches this month with print placements in Nature, IEEE Spectrum, and a variety of other technical and scientific magazines.