U.S. Department of Energy

While serving a two-year appointment at the U.S. Department of Energy as their Chief Creative Officer, I 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, I needed to generate momentum and imbue the creative team with a sense of cohesion and immediacy, which I did by implementing a new project management system, conducting brainstorming sessions, and establishing brand guidelines.

Strategy

I developed and led a robust creative team, streamlined processes, and curated all visuals and communications for a cohesive aesthetic. I 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 effective communication approach. Launched the successful hash tag campaigns #scienceforthepeople and #womeninstem.
Films & Digital Campaigns

Led production in directing, writing, shooting and editing video content for distribution on Energy.gov and across various social media channels. I produced nearly 50 original videos and increased the Department of Energy’s YouTube subscribers, 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, my efforts increased bandwidth exposure for all Energy Department initiatives.
Podcast

To acquire a new generation’s attention, I launched the first narrative-driven government podcast, endorsed by Bill Gates, “I really enjoyed this podcast.” Direct Current debuted on iTunes as the Top Government Podcast - Top 100 overall - and as the third most “buzzed about” for four weeks in a row. Direct Current continuously gained listeners over 25 episodes in two seasons. The Verge reviewed, “In 25 minutes, Direct Current flaunts better production value and storytelling than 99 percent of podcasts.”
Photography

I 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. I 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.