The challenge

igus – a global plastic bearing and chain system specialist, wanted to raise its profile as a technology manufacturer in the national media and business press in the UK. Publitek looked for opportunities to best showcase igus’ offering before approaching Wired UK. The publication was conducting an experiment to settle one of the longest-standing questions mankind has struggled with since the invention of delicious, processed sugary products: which is the best biscuit for dunking? We enlisted igus to lend a hand when it came to the crunch.

What we did

As part of an innovative editorial feature, we worked with a freelance technology journalist and the Institute of Physics in London to conduct a scientific test to determine which biscuit is best for dunking in tea.

We arranged for igus to provide a robotic arm, which dipped the biscuits in a uniform manner to ensure a consistent set of results.The equipment used was a robolink D, a desktop unit that igus typically supplies for academic and research purposes. The robot arm ensured no external forces skewed the results.

The experiment took place at the Institute of Physics and Publitek arranged for two igus engineers to be on hand to set up and operate the robotic-arm.

The result of the study proved, once and for all, that McVitie’s Rich Tea is the ‘most dunkable’ biscuit, with the snack commended for ‘holding its form with ease during the absorption test’.

Results

News of the research has been covered far and wide, with the study’s findings reported by four of the five best-selling newspapers in the UK: The Sun, The Daily Mail, Daily Express and The Daily Telegraph – with a combined readership of  331, 612,109 readers. The story was also published in print and online by WIRED, reaching a total of 2,054,094 readers.

The project had a high digital impact, including coverage on the top-ranking online news site The Huffington Post. Extensive sharing via social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube extended the reach of the story to hundreds of thousands more followers.

We also pitched the story to the local media covering the Northamptonshire area where igus is based, resulting in extensive coverage with the Northampton Chronicle & Echo and BBC Northamptonshire’s radio and TV news channels.