davidk
stories

CHALLENGE

Communicating the BBNJ Agreement (the High Seas Treaty) meant making a complex international ocean-governance framework understandable and relevant beyond legal and policy circles, while representing the perspectives of diverse stakeholders.

APPROACH

Led an 18-month international multimedia communications campaign, coordinating 19 contributors across science, policy, Indigenous communities, NGOs and industry. Developed the storytelling approach and directed stakeholder engagement and production across documentary video, social media content, graphics and animation.

IMPACT

Produced the highest-performing long-form video on the UN DOALOS YouTube channel. The multimedia assets were subsequently reused in international stakeholder workshops, outreach and capacity-building activities, including IOC-UNESCO’s official BBNJ Agreement course—extending the campaign’s value into formal learning and knowledge-sharing.

HIGHLIGHTED METRICS

CHALLENGE

ICES produces essential marine science to inform fisheries management and ecosystem understanding, but scientific knowledge can struggle to reach audiences beyond the research community. The challenge was to communicate the relevance of marine science through stories that people could connect with, while broadening perceptions of ICES beyond its established fisheries advisory role.

APPROACH

Conceived the documentary series and co-developed its editorial format, then led story development, stakeholder coordination and production for seven short-form documentary episodes, each approximately 7–9 minutes long.

Topics included: Impacts of climate change on fisheries · Fishers’ experiential knowledge · Ecosystem-based management · Marine litter · Central Arctic Ocean · Deep-sea ecosystems · Elasmobranchs & fisheries

IMPACT

Increased average YouTube viewership by approximately 30-fold compared with a previous video campaign, and created a repeatable approach to remote multimedia production within ICES member countries.

HIGHLIGHTED ACHIEVEMENTS

CHALLENGE

Communicating the threat that bottom-contact fishing poses to vulnerable Mediterranean deep-sea ecosystems requires translating complex marine conservation evidence and policy objectives into clear messages that the general public can also understand.

APPROACH

Developed visual and multimedia content for a social media conservation campaign, shaping the messaging and creative execution for video, carousel and other social media graphic assets — including the written text used within videos and carousels.

Creative outputs: Short-form video · Carousels · Social graphics

IMPACT

Produced social media campaign content that translated a marine conservation and policy issue into impactful visual communication, demonstrating the potential of visual storytelling designed to shock audiences about this fishing method.

HIGHLIGHTED ACHIEVEMENT

CHALLENGE

Celebrating the 100-year history of the ICES Journal of Marine Science while demonstrating its continued relevance to contemporary marine research. The challenge was to connect a century of scientific contribution with current and emerging issues, engaging both the journal’s established research community and wider audiences.

APPROACH

Led an integrated centennial communications campaign combining video, researcher interviews, audiograms and social media content. Developed complementary storytelling approaches for different formats and audiences, connecting the journal’s scientific legacy with contemporary themes, including artificial intelligence and misinformation.

Creative outputs: Video · Researcher interviews · Audiograms · Social media

IMPACT

Created an integrated campaign that connected a century of scientific publishing with contemporary marine science and emerging challenges, reinforcing the journal’s continued relevance to researchers and wider audiences.

HIGHLIGHTED ACHIEVEMENTS