OUR WORK Aeop
Mentoring America’s next generation of STEM talent.
AEOP has been meeting the critical need to mentor our nation’s next generation of America’s STEM talent through a vast array of scholarships, fellowships, enrichment programs and competitions for students in K–12 through grad school and postdocs, as well as for our nation’s STEM educators. This extensive portfolio serves over 23,000 young people and 5,000 adults annually, leveraging the Department of Defense’s world-class scientists, engineers, and research facilities. AEOP also works with a variety of partners and programs to develop a continuous pipeline of STEM-literate individuals crucial for national security and technological advancement.
AEOP partnered with FINN Partners as the lead marketing and communications consortium partner for this 10-year engagement, which includes the Battelle Memorial Institute–as the lead organization–and programmatic partners such as the National Science Teaching Association, MetriKs Amerique, Rochester Institute of Technology, the Technology Students Association, and Tennessee Tech University. Past consortium members who have contributed to the work include Purdue University, North Carolina State University, EdFirst, and the American Academy of Science.
GOAL
Build and maintain brand identity, raise awareness of AEOP’s extensive portfolio of offerings among its target audiences and establish AEOP as a premier provider of high-quality K-16 to early-career STEM education opportunities.
SECTOR EXPERTISE
Education
110%
website visits
100%
increase in social media impressions
34%
newsletter open rate
The Work
FINN Partners implemented a comprehensive communications strategy that included everything from internal communications to PR and crisis communications, all centered on an integrated brand presence and compelling storytelling. This 10-year project focused on refreshing the brand with a unified suite of visual assets for all digital and print materials; and establishing brand guidelines and a cohesive brand narrative that highlighted the success and impact of AEOP programs, and streamlining messaging to ensure consistency and clarity across all audiences, which include educators, mentors, parents and students ranging in age from K-16+.
A significant component of the work has been the overhaul and nurturing of AEOP’s social media strategy. Addressing prior challenges of inconsistent community management and low engagement, FINN implemented a robust content strategy across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, and LinkedIn, including targeted paid social media campaigns to expand reach and nurture lead generation for program offerings. Tactical execution included:
- Collecting and sharing of local success stories and through visual storytelling that educate target audiences about the opportunities to participate in AEOP programming.
- Identifying, training and introducing AEOP “brand ambassadors” into relevant media, promoting AEOP messaging and STEM enrichment.
- Maintaining an editorial content calendar for external AEOP communications, including owned platforms such as email campaigns, blog posts and social media.
FINN collaborated with AEOP’s many partners to provide ongoing strategic counsel, graphic and website development and design, and marketing materials development. We supported materials production and coordinated order fulfillment across the consortium. Strategic communications efforts focused on messaging strategy development and execution–including speaker training; event support and partnership development; newsletter creation and distribution; list growth; brand and logo guidelines; logo development; ongoing media relations (internal and external); public relations; crisis communications; and overarching communications strategy.
Following a website rebrand and rebuild, visit time on the AEOP site increased by more than 110 percent, indicating greater user interest and retention.
Year-over-year social media impressions across all channels increased by over 100 percent, demonstrating a substantial boost in audience reach and engagement.
FINN’s content development efforts, including multiple monthly blogs and monthly newsletters/e-alerts sent to over 85,000 subscribers, achieved an impressive average open rate of 34 percent. The published narratives and promotional efforts have successfully facilitated outreach, leading to an increase in program applications.