Why GE is turning to branded podcasts to connect with audiences
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To amplify its image of an innovative organisation, GE launched a 6-episode podcast which climbed to the top 10 of iTunes within its first week of launch. Not bad for a branded podcast.
Produced by Macquarie Media, Decoding Genius explores the lives of six young geniuses in Australia and overseas. Joanne Woo, GE’s VP Communications Australia, says podcasting allows GE to tell stories to a wide audience.
“We believe that great stories shape you, and that they inspire, they drive change,” Woo says. “And at GE we see our role as an expansive brand to get people excited about science and technology and the impact it can make to changing the world.”
Audio, Woo insists, is a powerful medium to drive that inspiration. “So, we wanted to tell that story and we wanted to give it justice and not just tell it in 30 seconds or one minute in a video, so we thought to do that justice, we had to do it through a podcast.”
The podcast won a coveted INMA Global Media Award this year in the category of Marketing Solutions for Advertising Clients.
The success of the podcast, she says, shows that brands can make content that audiences want to hear. “To me it proved that brands can own innovative and evergreen content and be storytellers.”
Audio story-telling is only going to get bigger, Woo says. “I think, as a brand, you need to have an audio strategy and it provides a channel for brands to engage with audiences on a deeper and more intimate level.”
Joanne Woo’s interview is from Episode 11 of the highly-regarded podcast series on Australia’s podcasting industry, BE Podcasting – Engage Your Audience.
So for a week it was in the top 10 on iTunes- is that the measure of success?
What does that mean in real terms… what is the TSL, downloads or listen through rate?