Enhancing NIST Branding and Outreach

February 12, 2020

Gail Porter, Director, NIST Public Affairs Office
Positive Branding = Recognition & Trust

Strong organizational brands quickly convey:

• Who you are, what you do

• Key characteristics −quality, uniformity, and expertise

• Trust for external stakeholders in a known outcome

Within the organization, brands create shared identity that: 

• Strengthens performance

• Ensures core values

• Improves priority setting

• Enhances diversity, while maintaining

a unified purpose

A strong positive brand attracts:

• Funding

• Partnerships

• Motivated staff

NIST/J.Burrus

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With thanks to David Keim, Communications Director, Oak Ridge Natl. Laboratory 
NIST’s visual identity is diluted & obscured
Coca

Coca Coca Coca----Cola Cola Cola Cola

A strong brand requires discipline

People judge by appearances –

whether they realize it or not.

“One NIST” is a branded house

Exceptions require a clear rationale 

(NIST isn’t a house of brands)

Used with permission from P&G
2/11/2020 5

• 7 national experts individually 

reviewed NIST PAO outreach

• 7 Topics: media relations, 

web content, social media, 

internal communications, 

video, institutional branding, 

PAO overall

• Extensive experience in 

government, major 

universities, and industry, 

including NASA, DOE, Johns 

Hopkins, Georgia Tech, and 

the biotech industry

National Expert Reviewers: Takeaways

The Experts

• NIST should strive to be a 

branded house, not a 

house of brands

• A well-articulated brand 

will not be enough so long 

as a large portion of NIST 

communications happens 

outside PAO

• Uncoordinated messaging, 

including competing 

outreach among internal 

NIST organizations hurts a 

unified NIST brand

Branding Outreach Strategy

• To achieve measurable 

strategic communications 

goals, NIST needs discipline 

and consistency in 

messaging

• What’s needed: centrally 

directed, responsive 

communications outreach 

that considers internal 

organizations’ needs but is 

not competing with them 
Achieving “next level” communications

NIST receives about $1B 

annually. Its work affects 

trillions of dollars of U.S. 

commerce. 

NIST should have well 

coordinated communication

that matches its impact on 

the national economy.

Engage the full organization in 

strategic outreach planning and 

implementation

Provide staffing and budgetary 

resources to match goals

Provide the communications 

structure and discipline to become 

a branded house

Improve clarity of communications 

roles and responsibilities 6
Branding initiative

Response to Panelists’ Advice, NIST Director’s Office Request: 

Hire a qualified company to assist with a NIST messaging and 

visual branding effort. 

Will leverage experience gained in a similar recent successful effort 

by Manufacturing USA. 

• How do key NIST stakeholders think about NIST now?

• Should the current NIST logo be updated or changed? 

• How should OUs at NIST use the NIST logo in conjunction 

with their OU name?

• What strategic messages best support the NIST brand?

• What tag line best captures the NIST brand? 

NIST/J. Stoughton

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1 2

3 4

Messaging for Key Audiences

• Goal: To foster community, a sense of 

belonging, increase engagement

• Messages: Your work drives innovation, 

grows the economy, improves our quality 

of life

NIST staff

• Goal: Ensure VIPs know NIST’s value and 

mission results

• Messages: NIST gets results with national 

impact through enhanced innovation, 

economic growth, and quality of life. 

Decision makers/influencers

• Goal: Encourage industry/academia to 

work with us

• Messages: Measure. Innovate. Lead.

• NIST is accurate, world class, trusted 

collaborative, neutral, practical 

Customers/collaborators

• Goal: Increase awareness of NIST ROI for 

taxpayers, inspire the next generation of U.S. 

innovators

• Messages: Measurements matter 

• NIST science and tech is cutting edge, unique, 

cool, and improves your quality of life

News media/science-interested public 
NIST FY 2020 Priorities 

Quantum 

Science/NOAC

Artificial 

Intelligence

Return on 

Investment

Advanced 

Manufacturing

Advanced 

Communications Bioeconomy

Cybersecurity
Enhancing external communications

• Branding is about consistently 

communicating that we are one 

organization with a united purpose

• Create annual communications plans 

produced by Director’s Office/PAO 

with input from NIST internal 

operating units

• Drupalize stray websites

• Issue a new branding policy and order

• Provide templates and styles

• Goals, metrics, evaluating results

Planning

Audiences 

and 

messages

Websites Consistent 

look and feel
Enhancing internal communications

• Many of our staff do not read all-staff 

emails

• Digital signage = go to where the people 

are

• Establish a shared value system through 

engaging content

• Consistency: NIST has 6 different 

intranets!

• Personalization: web “self-assembly” 

methods, and personal homepages

• Forums for diverse voices

• Use the emotional power of video to 

create belonging

One NIST

Culture Training

Digital 

Signage 

One Internal 

Web for All 
“As long as large group of 

communications professionals within 

NIST work outside of the Public Affairs 

Office,” it will be “harder to establish a 

unified One NIST identity.”

− David Keim, Communications 

Director, Oak Ridge National Lab

Message Coordination

• Widely varying communications goals, 

messaging, training and expertise across 

NIST blunts the impact of coordinated 

branding and NIST-wide results.

• Need clearer roles, responsibilities, and 

accountability

• The planned branding study will help to 

focus NIST’s visual impact and 

messaging. 

• Need to find agreement on NIST-wide 

communications policies and practices 
Actions and Timeline

Action Timeline

• Formalize NIST Communicator’s Group and draft policies

for better message coordination June 2020

• Conduct branding study

• Inventory operating unit communications functions

April-October 

2020

• Respond to branding study findings

• Solicit input and draft revised NIST communication plan

October/

November 2020

• Implement plan, gather NIST-wide with metrics December 2020 to 

September 2021

• Evaluate results October 2021

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Questions?

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