Genetics Unzipped
THE CHALLENGE
The society already funded the Heredity podcast to discuss recent publications in their academic journal, but they wanted to broaden their reach and engage a wider audience.
In 2018, they asked us to create a new public-facing podcast, furthering the goals of the society and providing an entertaining way for both geneticists and non-geneticists alike to stay informed about the latest advances and discover stories from the history of the field.
OUR APPROACH
Over half a decade Genetics Unzipped has run more than 120 episodes featuring a unique mix of in-depth interviews and narrated stories from the world of genetics.
First Create The Media took end-to-end responsibility for all aspects of planning, production and promotion- from researching topics to planning episodes, arranging guests, interviews, scripting, audio editing, transcription, publishing and publicity.
Mixed format
Genetics Unzipped alternates between interview-based episodes and long-form narrated audio essays.
Interview episodes showcase in-depth conversations with speakers from across the field of genetics, exploring cutting-edge research, career paths and the broader context of genetics within society.
Our narrative episodes feature a highly-researched and meticulously-crafted script presented by a single narrator and interspersed with music and sound effects, to creatively spotlight unusual, untold or unexpected stories from all areas of genetics.
PROMOTING THE GENETICS SOCIETY’S WORK
Episodes include dedicated segments for the promotion of upcoming Genetics Society opportunities, such as workshops, conferences and funding application deadlines.
Wherever possible, we tie in episodes with notable society activities. These include on-location interviews at Genetics Society meetings, the society’s 100th birthday celebration, and its sponsorship of the 2018 Royal Institution Christmas lectures and garden at the Chelsea Flower Show. We also dedicate a full episode to the ‘Public Perception of Genetics’ survey, funded by the Genetics Society.
We regularly feature Genetics Society grant holders, prize and lecture winners, highlighting the society’s continued support of geneticists at all stages of their career.
EXPERT VOICES
The podcast features a wide range of guests that illustrate the breadth and diversity of the genetics field.
Speakers include PhD students and early-career researchers all the way to leading pioneers and esteemed figures in genetics, as well as authors, industry professionals, scientific support staff, and even comic book writers and live performers.
We endeavour to create a diverse and inclusive podcast, and work to feature guests of different backgrounds, including culture, ethnicity, gender identity and disabilities.
Educating & informing
Genetics Unzipped prides itself on its strong educational focus. The podcast is aimed at an interested – but not necessarily expert – audience, such as A-level and early undergraduate students.
All episodes are uploaded to our website GeneticsUnzipped.com, alongside references, links to relevant material and a hand-corrected transcript to improve the show’s accessibility and for further use as teaching material
We often tie in episode themes with topical or news-worthy events such as UK Biobank’s Whole Genome Sequencing Data releases, Mendel’s 200th birthday, World AIDS Day, or the first ever human-to-pig heart transplant. In addition, episodes often spotlight educational initiatives such as exhibitions at the Francis Crick Institute and Rare Disease Day.
COLLABORATIONS & CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP
We occasionally produce sponsored episodes in collaboration with educational programmes and research institutions, including Health Education England’s Genomics Education Programme and the MRC Institute for Genetics and Molecular Medicine.
We also run episode sponsorships with larger-scale corporations such as Thermofisher, Lonza and AstraZeneca.
The Genetics Unzipped feed periodically hosts one-off mini-series relevant to our audience. These include Genetics Shambles and coverage of the annual Adelphi Genetics Forum conference (formerly the Galton Institute).
SOCIAL MEDIA & PROMOTION
We create audiograms (audio-only videos) and cards (text graphics) to promote each episode on social media, as well as one-off Christmas bonus episodes that feature unheard material from previous interviewees.
In addition to our own branded website, episodes are promoted on the biology community website The Node and featured on Front Line Genomics.
We run cross-promotions together with other educational genetics podcasts, such as Big Biology, Nice Genes!, DNA Today, Suffrage Science and Hormones: The Inside Story, sharing our audience and expertise with other creators in this niche.
KEY RESULTS
TOP PODCAST
Top 20 life sciences podcast in the UK, US, Australia and Canada
2019 British Society for the
History of Science Ayrton prize
‘Highly Commended’
LARGE AUDIENCE
10,000 RSS subscribers/week
8,600+ followers and 3,500+ streams/month on Spotify
3,200+ highly targeted Twitter followers @GeneticsUnzip
VALUED EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE
6-8,000 visitors/month to Genetics Unzipped website
Long dwell times for many transcript pages
Significant inbound web traffic from educational establishments
HIGHLY RATED
4.9/5 stars on Apple Podcasts from 70+ ratings
4.9/5 stars on Spotify from 190+ ratings
WHAT THEY SAID
“As good as a podcast gets.”
“Fantastic science communication!”
“I have decided to go back to school at the ripe age of 40 to study bioscience. Your podcast has been a big part of my inspiration for this.”
“I use it for my lectures on genetics! I always advertise it to the students and many of my lectures use the material in the episodes as a starting point.”
“Genetics Unzipped has been an important source of inspiration for me, helping to direct me into a genetics-related PhD project.”
FIND OUT ABOUT SOME OF OUR OTHER WORK
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