Objective one Reach 1,000 DeSci Publish users by May 31, 2025

Objective two Double website traffic in 12 months from circa 1,500 P/M to 3,000 P/M

Objective three Increase X following by a minimum of 5% month-on-month from June 2024 to March 2025, reaching 7,539 followers by March 1, 2025

Objective four Generate 72 pieces of media coverage in 12 months to develop awareness of the platform and authority in the sector

Stretch target Generate industry recognition and credibility for DeSci Labs in the form of at least one award win

Stone Junction began by travelling to Amsterdam to hold a brand workshop with DeSci, in which we established DeSci’s:

Brand archetype, based on theory from The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious by Carl Jung

Hedgehog Principle, based on Jim Collins’ Good to Great

Positioning statements, based on Positioning by Al Ries and Jack Trout

Product category, based on Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne

Messaging based on The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR by Al Ries

Brand values and mission based on Simon Sinek’s Start with Why

Brand guidelines for verbal, written and visual communication

We brought to bear Stone Junction’s in-house expertise, from its five MSc or PhD qualified scientists, including one who has published six research papers based on his own lab work, to build accurate audience profiles of the target demographics.

We then built tiered lists of the media, including freelance journalists, including in the vertical media markets that this could influence – laboratory and pharmaceutical media and relevant geographical territories where DeSci Labs wanted to build authority — North America, Western and Central Europe.

We created a calendar of relevant awards to target and chose three that we though would provide credibility in different circles.

We used a trial Google Ads campaign to establish which keywords from a broad group of several hundred delivered the best results then A/B tested Google Ad messages to identify which resonated most. We identified that scientists would like to both share their research findings and want to make a societal impact. A/B testing the words ‘share’ and ‘impact’ identified that share was the message that resonated most.

We then developed new website landing pages for each product and service and optimised the public relations content for online publication.

Our research into successful cryptocurrency launches suggested they are typically backed by X channels with a following of greater than 15,000, so we aimed higher. We investigated how to exponentially grow X following beyond manual follower growth, using AI tools.

So, we added another objective:

Objective 3.5 Use X to assist with DeSci’s crypto token launch, due in April 2025, by reaching 15,000 followers by March 2025

We developed two Google Ads campaigns targeting scientists publishing papers or going through the peer review process, which resulted in over 1,600 conversions at conversion rate of 23.09 percent.

To achieve radical growth on X, we used two AI tools, Owlead and Twenvy.

Alongside press releases, we developed long-form articles detailing the problems with the replication crisis and ways to help make scientific publishing more transparent. We ran a rapid response programme and arranged interviews with journalists in the sector.

We planned ahead to launch DeSci Labs’ novelty scores feature (allowing scientists to predict how novel their paper is as well as its reception) and its peer review incentive layer so that the interviews, blog posts and columns coincided with these launches for maximum impact.

Objective one After appointing Stone Junction the rate of new user acquisition increased by more than 600 percent, gaining 657 new registered users of the DeSci Publish, by the end of the year and an additional 838 new registered users by March 1, 2025, more than exceeding the goal of 1,000 new users for the campaign year with time to spare.

Objective two In June 2024, desci.com attracted only 1,654 total visitors, most of which were direct traffic. This grew to 13,110 following the initial launch of a Google Ads campaign. Once refined the audience settled, recording, 4,762 in December 2024, and 4,078 in January 2025.

Objective one We have grown @DeSciLabs’s following on X from 4,860 followers on June 1, 2024, to 17,434 followers by March 1, 2025, massively outstripping the 5% growth outlined by the client.

• 280,600 impressions
• 37,600 engagements
• 4% engagement rate
• 4,500 likes, 293 replies, 320 reposts and 26 shares

Philipp Koellinger, CEO of DeSci Labs described the results on social media as ‘like magic’.

Objective 3.5: We smashed our stretch, ‘crypto-launch’ inspired target as well, surpassing 15,000 followers and delivering 17,434 followers as of March 1, 2025.

Objective four: Against the annual target of 72 clippings, we have generated 57 pieces of coverage to date, with the campaign on track to clear its target.

• Nature interview caused a significant spike in website traffic – which resulted in the largest single day for traffic: 284 of the 497 users on the website of December 21, 2024, came from referral traffic.
• Times Higher Education’s Campus podcast
• The British Medical Journal
• Washington Post
• International Biopharmaceutical Journal
• Laboratory News
• Technology Networks.
• Average domain authority of 52
• Maximum domain authority of 95
• 27 backlinks to desci.com

Objective five: Three award wins:

• Best Automation & Data Innovation award at Laboratory Innovations’ Lab Awards 2024
• A listing in TechRound’s TechRound100 best start ups
• Recognition as one of the 20 Most Innovative Companies to Watch in 2024 from Business Worldwide Magazine.

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