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science for the people

The Department of Energy

During a two-year period, we produced nearly 50 original videos and increased the Department of Energy’s YouTube subscribers by 10 thousand, with over 800 thousand views of their top 10 videos in 2016 alone. To top that, in only 8 months, Energy’s videos had 1.3 million views on Facebook. Additionally, our efforts increased bandwidth exposure for all Energy Department initiatives. From there, we curated thousands of photos from all 17 National Laboratories and Energy Department resources, creating a library of images that were used for website redesign, Instagram and internal purposes; launched Direct Current the first narrative-driven podcast for a government agency; and spurred a branding initiative that included creating a secondary logo to be used alongside the official seal and conducting a survey to gain a better understanding of an effectual communication approach.   #scienceforthepeople energy.gov

Washington, DC / Video, Photo, Social & Creative Strategy

 
 
 
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Creative Strategy

We needed to modernize the face of the agency, strengthen its legitimacy and forge an emotional connection between the department and the people it serves; at the same time, we needed to generate momentum and imbue the creative team with a sense of cohesion and immediacy, which we did by implementing a new project management system, conducting brainstorming sessions and establishing brand guidelines.  

 
 

Photography

Shortly after starting photo curation, we did a complete overhaul of the agency’s Instagram—organically increasing followers by 10 thousand in just 6 months. That’s a 43% gain in unique reach with 53% better viewer engagement.

 
 
 
 
 
 

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Podcast

In March 2016, Direct Current debuted on iTunes as the Top Government Podcast--Top 100 overall--and the third most “buzzed about” for four weeks in a row.  Direct Current continuously gained listeners over 25 episodes in two seasons, eventually garnering more than 100 thousand downloads.

“I really enjoyed this podcast.” ~ Bill Gates

“Direct Current flaunts better production value and storytelling than 99 percent of podcasts.” ~ The Verge

“Production was slick.  Thumbs up!” ~ Politico

“High production quality, catchy tunes, and an accessible take on relevant, often-complicated subject matter.” ~ Citylab

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Films & Digital Campaigns

Led production in directing, writing, shooting and editing video content for distribution on Energy.gov and across various social media channels. During a two-year period, we produced nearly 50 original videos and increased DOE YouTube subscribers by 10 thousand.  

 
 
 
 
 
“Telling the story of how to recycle nuclear waste is no easy task. However, Simon and his team took that challenge head on and made our unique process easily understandable and visually appealing to the general public.”
— Eric D. Isaacs, Former Director, Argonne National Lab