Communicating Science

A Brand within a Brand

The EPA's National Homeland Security Research Center (NHSRC) was created after the events of September 11, 2001. The Center's mission was to research and develop methods of detection, mitigation, clean up, and prevention of radiological, chemical, or biological terror attacks. NHSRC needed to communicate their efforts to scientists, congressional leadership, and the general public, and tasked BTAS, Inc., for whom Todd Berry was the Creative Director, with developing a communications strategy and guidelines for how to present the material.

We created a "brand within a brand" to ensure that NHSRC would be perceived as a leading expert in this area while maintaining their identity as an EPA organization. We developed a "voice" that successfully communicated national and international missions to a wide variety of audiences. To do this, we collaborated with scientists, researchers, and administrators to deliver effective material across multiple platforms, including digital, print, and video, maintaining subject matter relevance while offering general audiences plain-language interpretations without diluting purpose or meaning.