Large businesses old and new are beginning to create their own podcasts!
IBM, General Electric, and even Marriot (hotels) now have their own podcasts. Odd as hell right?
Take a moment to process that. IBM, General Electric, and Marriot are producing podcasts. Art. They’re making art. These old, fat, tired businesses are making art.
What in hell could make them think this was a good idea!?
WELL…
This rush to create content is supposedly inspired by the continuing growth of the podcast community overall (with 100 million listeners worldwide).
Businesses now see podcasts as a way to reach their ultimate consumers in a way that they believe will create new and loyal users of their end products. They hope to achieve that goal by basically making shows that abstractly relate to what their actual business does… Examples of those abstract ideas you’ll see; IBM and science, Slack and work, and General Electric and basically science again.
In essence, this is content advertising. Or you could phrase it content marketing.
These businesses are creating art (content) as a marketing tool… and if we’re being honest I don’t think this is some kind of cynical manipulative marketing ploy, I am strongly inclined to believe the people involved with the making of these podcasts are enjoying flexing their creative side. I mean, it’s a very human thing to do. Life isn’t business OR art… It’s business and art.
OKAY, so… There absolutely is an ulterior motive, a profit motive, to IBM and such making podcasts. They’re using this as a way to engage with consumers and quietly build brand awareness and show off products.
BUT… they’re doing this through content. Valuable content. Content that people apparently really do want. That’s why businesses are starting to see podcasts as valuable!
They’re seeing the user engagement and the marketing opportunities! It’s a win win situation!
This is the use of art in a way the world is not used to… We’ll have to talk more about it later.
The BIG BUSINESS Podcasts
The Business: IBM
Wild Ducks
By IBM
Description
Produced by a team of three veteran journalists, this series focuses on stories about innovators in business, science and across industry who are using technology to solve some of the world’s biggest problems. Tune in for a new episode the last Thursday of every month. Find more information on each of the Wild Ducks at ibm.com/wildducks.
The Business: Slack
Slack Variety Pack
By Slack.com
Description
A podcast about work, life, and everything in between. In every episode you’ll find a glorious mix of stories on innovative ideas, modern culture, and people who have found their purpose.
The Business: General Electric
The Message
By GE Podcast Theater / Panoply / Cyphercast
Description
The Message is a new podcast following the weekly reports and interviews from Nicky Tomalin, who is covering the decoding of a message from outer space received 70 years ago. Over the course of 8 episodes we get an inside ear on how a top team of cryptologists attempt to decipher, decode, and understand the alien message. Each week she’ll bring you the latest chapter, so it’s important to listen in starting with Episode 1. The Message is a co-production between Panoply and GE Podcast Theater, unlocking the secrets of healing with sound technology.
The Business: Marriott
Marriott: Wandernaut Show
By Marriott: Wandernaut Show
Description
To be a wandernaut means you are an explorer. You live to scratch beyond the surface and go deeper because you are curious about the world. And what about that little thing called work, which unites so many of us whether we’re in it to earn a paycheck, build a career or drive a business. The Wandernaut Show is an opportunity to scratch beyond the surface of the world at work. We dissect business buzzwords and getting to the truth of what it all means.
The Business of Art – Big Business and Big Podcasts by Jordan Wunderlich is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.