Here at KLA, we love to show off our clients’ accomplishments. And this year we really mean SHOW off.

In 2020 we produced 9 videos (with more in the works) that showcase their climate action and resilience initiatives -- highly effective tools for community outreach. These clients – Beverly and Salem (joint Resilient Together initiative), Concord, Dedham, Devens, Watertown and Weston all in MA – are using these videos to engage people in their planning processes, launch their final plan, and encourage people to be part of the solution as the plan moves into implementation. An additional three clients – Columbia, MO, Encinitas, CA, and San Antonio, TX – have new :30 videos (optimal for social media and embedding on websites and in emails) to promote their climate and sustainability websites.

Why was video a key part of our work on these projects? As a visual species, humans find videos more engaging, more memorable, and more popular than any other type of content out there. Video is an incredibly strong tool for storytelling and information retention. In fact, viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video, compared to 10% when reading it in text.

Take a look at these 9 short videos to see the power of video in action. We break down unique features and format for each along with why we took the approach we did.

If any of these video players do not work, you can watch all KLA videos on our Vimeo channel. 

Devens Forward: Climate Action and Resilience Plan

Summary: Video to coincide with the release of the Devens Forward Climate Action and Resilience Plan.

Unique Feature/Format: Use interviews and images to highlight local businesses and recognizable local business and community leaders.

Why this Approach: As a heavy business community, the client wanted a sleek, professional video with in-person interviews. Rather than just including the business images as generic Devens images, we identified the businesses to shine a spotlight on them and underscore their value to Devens Forward.

Resilient Together (Beverly and Salem)

Summary: Released in the early stages of the cities' joint Resilient Together climate action and resilience planning process. 

Unique Feature/Format: Even during a pandemic, the two mayors came (not too close) together on the bridge that links to the their cities.

Why this Approach: The video is heavy on clips from local residents representative of their cities' diversity and underscore how climate action and resilience impact everything from the local economy to waterfront redevelopment. 

Resilient Watertown

Summary: Video to coincide with the release of Resilient Watertown.

Unique Feature/Format: Photo grid to close the video.

Why this Approach: In discussions about the video, the client expressed a desire to visually represent the diversity of their community. Although hamstrung by COVID restrictions, many community partners shared their images and video footage from their smart phones to make this possible.

Fun Fact: Many of the images you'll see in the video were captured by KLA team member and Watertown resident Kari Hewitt on a weekend walk around town. Sometimes the real (and cheaper) deal can be authentic and high enough quality to use in a video!

Sustainable Concord’s Climate Action and Resilience Plan

Summary: Video to coincide with the release of the Sustainable Concord Climate Action and Resilience Plan.

Unique Feature/Format: Matches with previous videos Concord has produced.

Why this Approach: Several years ago, we produced a 3-part series of videos that covered topics essential to their sustainability, climate and resilience goals: Electric Vehicles, Water Conservation and Preparedness/Resilience. So when the time came to produce a video to help launch the new Sustainable Concord Climate Action and Resilience Plan, we stayed true to that format for consistency. While COVID restrictions made in-person interviews – core to the original three videos – impossible, we used other elements to match up.

Sustainable Dedham: Climate Action and Resiliency Plan

Summary: Video to coincide with the release of the Sustainable Dedham Climate Action and Resilience Plan

Unique Feature/Format: Video closing with short iPhone clips of Dedham residents and community leaders.

Why this Approach: The client was going for an upbeat vibe and bringing in lots of faces. With budget constraints and COVID restrictions, we opted for an ending series with a montage of video snippets that community members (who are engaged with sustainability initiatives in Dedham) shot themselves. Each person just had to read one very short part that, combined with the other segments, formed the video conclusion. That made it easy for people to memorize/recite and gave the feeling of “we’re in this together.”

Weston Ahead

Summary: Video to help launch the Weston Ahead climate action and resilience planning process in Weston, MA.

Unique Feature/Format: Introduce the “I will XXXX to move Weston Ahead” pledges, with community members sharing their pledges for climate action.

Why this Approach: Weston produced this video at the front end of their climate action planning process, so the video was designed to help engage people in the process.

Bonus Videos: Dashboard Promotion

We also produced 3 other short videos in 2020 for our clients Encinitas, CA, and San Antonio, TX. These cities utilize KLA’s Dashboard platform as the primary website destination for their climate action (Encinitas and Columbia) and overall sustainability and climate work (San Antonio). To help these clients get the word out about their Dashboards, we produced short (30-second) videos that they could embed on other webpages and in emails/newsletters and share via social media to help fuel awareness of and drive people to their Dashboards.

Other KLA Videos

Prior to producing these 8 videos in 2020, KLA also supported clients previously with other videos, including these three for Indianapolis, IN (used during the Thrive Indianapolis sustainability and resilience planning process) and New Bedford, MA (used during the NB Resilient planning process):

Want to learn more about why video is such an effective communications tool? Check out our blog post – Tap the Power of Video – from last year, part of our Communications Boot Camp series for local government sustainability and climate professionals.

And a shout out to our video production partners at MainStage Multimedia!