Research on research institute
THE CHALLENGE
The Research on Research Institute (RoRI) generates data and analysis to improve how research is funded, practised, evaluated and communicated in order to realise its full potential.
As they came to the end of their pilot phase, RoRI needed help clarifying their story, strategy and messaging.
With their field of metascience being viewed as somewhat esoteric and niche, they were finding it hard to raise awareness among the academic research community of the value of their work and the importance of securing funding to continue it.
Lacking the right communications skills in-house, RoRI asked us for help to bring metascience to life with a strategic communications plan that would resonate across academia.
OUR APPROACH
We started by leading an eight week strategy sprint. We took a deep dive into RoRI’s existing communications and content, exploring what was currently working well or less well, and why.
To get under the skin of RoRI’s challenges we observed meetings, audited their channels and content, ran a series of in-depth interviews with key stakeholders, and got to know the team and how they worked.
We ran two workshops with the core RoRI team. The first explored their big picture aims and how, in a perfect world, strategic communications would help RoRI achieve its goals. The second was to present back what we found during our deep dive, and to sense check our developing narrative and key messaging for the Institute.
Following a collaborative approach with the RoRI leadership team, we produced a communications strategy and content plan covering the Institute’s overarching story, key and audience-specific messaging.
Designed as a user-friendly instruction manual, the team could simply follow the steps to structure any piece of communication to create compelling, targeted content. The manual also pinned down the purpose, audience and rules for each channel, as well as a six-month content plan.
Over the next year we acted as their in-house comms team to deliver against this strategy through a range of content and activities that took RoRI towards its goals. Our support culminated in seeing RoRI through a successful funding round and launching into phase 2.
KEY RESULTS
RoRI’s story made clear
Consistent key messages across all comms channels
Produced compelling fundraising materials
Funding secured for RoRI’s phase 2
Engaged audiences
Doubled website traffic with a third coming from social media
Trebled engagement on Twitter/X
Re-activated RoRI’s mailing list with a click rate double the industry average
Internal buy-in for comms
Better flow of information across the international consortium
Proactive content planning rather than reactive scrambling
Teams excited to communicate their projects externally
Future proofing
Secured buy-in from RoRI’s Board to commit to strategic communications
Seamless transition to new in-house comms staff
WHAT THEY SAID
“First Create The Media have been a priceless source of advice, insight and practical support across all aspects of our communications. The team took the time to understand and engage with the context and mission of our work, and invested energy, enthusiasm and creativity in supporting us to communicate with greater clarity and purpose to our existing partners and stakeholders, and to reach new audiences. They are also a genuine pleasure to work with — I’d warmly recommend them to anyone in the research community looking to shape and sharpen their message!”
FIND OUT ABOUT SOME OF OUR OTHER WORK
Establishing our client as a biotech thought leader – and saving them £55k+ in the process
ERS Genomics manages and licenses the IP for CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology. While the technology itself is well known, far fewer people in the life sciences space are aware that they need to secure the appropriate licences to use it. ERS Genomics approached us...
Delivering a successful international launch campaign to the global research community
The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) was developing a new online tool to help academic institutions assess research in a fairer way. They wanted to reach a broad, global audience and grow a community of diverse stakeholders involved in research...
A seamless transition to in-house comms
The Research on Research Institute (RoRI) generates data and analysis to improve how research is funded, practised, evaluated and communicated in order to realise its full potential. First Create The Media acted as RoRI’s comms team during their pilot phase,...
Using audio creatively to share personal health stories
The Still Life project (2019-2020) aimed to engage Jewish women in discussions about stillbirth and stillbirth research. Alongside midwives and researchers, women from the Greater Manchester Jewish community who had experienced miscarriage or stillbirth took part in a...
Maximising your conference’s impact with audiovisual content
The Adelphi Genetics Forum is a learned society that promotes public engagement and discussions on the study of human inheritance, its history, and its social and ethical implications. Previously known as the Galton Institute, and before that the Eugenics Education...
How we shared the success stories from a biomedical grant-funding programme
Innovate UK, the UK’s national innovation agency, aims to improve patients' lives by supporting pioneering projects in the life sciences sector. Specifically, their flagship grant-funding programme, Biomedical Catalyst, enables small- and medium-sized enterprises to...