If you’ve only opened the newsletter to see if there is any more Bird’s Eye Potato Waffle content, you’re in luck. It’s further down and it’s yummy, not to mention waffly versatile.
The Power of Branded Podcasts Report
As trailed last week, our friends at Sounds Profitable released their ‘The Power of Branded Podcasts’ report this week, along with a free webinar which is available to watch here. The research focuses on ‘Brand Fans’, defined as people who are very likely to consume a podcast from their favourite brand or product. They’re much younger than the general population, with a very slight male skew, and they’re most likely to be listeners to comedy shows. 66% of them find new podcasts from YouTube, and they see association with a brand as a mark of quality, with 69% more likely to listen to a podcast if there’s a company involved.
OK, so brand fans are only 15% of the population, but this super-engaged group are the low-hanging fruit for branded content. They’ll lap up your work because it gives them something entertaining, informative, or useful and they’ll want to tell their friends. The concept of ‘why would anyone listen to a podcast from a brand?’ ignores the enthusiasm that people have for brands that bring them genuine value. In B2B circles, these could be young trainee accountants listening keenly to ‘By All Accounts’ from ACCA or mortgage brokers keen to improve themselves with ‘Mortgage Insider’ from Barclays. In B2C they might be interested in hearing how Kew’s scientists solve crimes in ‘Unearthed’ or want to get authoritative weight loss advice from Boots. It’s not just sports and tech brands that people will genuinely actively engage with if you give them truly engaging content.
Podcasts = Footfall
I remember a time when the idea of tracking behaviour from a podcast was as a distant dream, like Swindon Town one day returning to the Premier League and reliving the glory days of Jan Age Fjortoft. However, every week these days there are new ways of tracking and measuring advertising success for podcasts. Swindon, meanwhile, are in League Two and last week drew at Doncaster Rovers.
Ground Truth is a platform known for driving in-store visits, and they’re now using location tracking to spot when someone visits a store after hearing a podcast ad. Listened to a host read for Currys and then popped down to the retail park to bag yourself that bargain? The pixel placed on your device will spot your footfall and report it back to the client. Blooming clever, even if it’s a little bit creepy. Want proof? Well, it worked for Gary’s Quicksteaks, who saw a 50% incremental lift in sales after adding audio to their advertising mix. I can’t vouch for Gary’s steaks, but I can applaud his podcasting strategy.
Go for the untapped audiences
In a big week for reports on branded podcasts, our friends at Quill published a thought piece on the underserved markets that are waiting for a branded podcast to talk to them. The segments they believe are crying out for more audio content are blue collar workers, kids and parents, ‘global markets’, and side hustlers. This builds on the theme of finding a super-valuable niche audience to whom the brand can fulfil a specific need through audio. ‘Blue collar workers’ are a really interesting choice, and a market that we at Fresh Air have previously developed content for. Tradespeople are often small business owners, quite isolated from many forms of advice or inspiration, and they spend hours listening to audio both on speakers and in the car. And there are flippin’ millions of them. The outstanding success of Fix Radio is testament to the power of choosing an often ignored group and giving them what they want. Yes, podcasts speak to the people other media can’t reach.
Nik Gandhi enjoys some format tinkering…
Off Menu is well established as one of the most popular podcasts in the UK, and for the most part they’ve stuck to their guns in terms of format. As John Robins says in his episode “we’re all dining out on the Desert Island Discs gravy train.”That’s why I was surprised at something new from them – the Tasting Menu. In an episode last month, they had John Kearns on as a revisiting guest who would be presented with another former guest’s own menu. So who would they match with John Kearns? Miriam Margolyes, of course. In my view, the experimental format worked but only because the three of them could play off each other so well and they could just lean into their comedic instincts. Would this format work for less talkative guests who weren’t comedians? Probably not (see also: Robert DeNiro’s recent episode…)
Thou shall try to understand your teen, with Michaela Hallam…
I have just discovered The Teen Commandments. Or actually, my best friend did, and she told me to listen. She shared several spoilers first, which I still laughed out loud at when I heard them, even when I know they were coming. Which is an intended pun. If you know, you know. Anyway, I procrastinate…This pod is basically best mates and former-rule breakers Sara Cox and Clare Hamilton having the conversations they’d probably be having anyway, but in an organised and recorded for the public, way. It feels like there are no holds barred and no topic off limits, as they attempt to make sense of and poke fun at the often-mind-boggling behaviour of the five teens they have between them… often through the lens of their own experiences, and the knowledge that they likely know every trick in the book. Listening feels like they are hilariously articulating what every parent of teenagers are thinking, feeling, and experiencing. I’ve laughed, winced, and even considered listening with my own teen. But for now I’ll spare her blushes.
What we’ve been listening to this week
The King’s playlist.
I’ve always known that Charles III was a groovy guy, and this week we’ve had it confirmed. After a long day at work being King, he likes to throw off his crown, put the orb and mace on the kitchen top by the dishwasher, stick some tracky bottoms on and ask Alexa to play his favourite tunes.
And now, thanks to Apple Music, we know what tunes the royal Alexa serves up. His Majesty commemorated Commonwealth Day by sharing the songs that he definitely likes the most and listens to a lot. If I was King, the song I’d ask Alexa to play every day would be ‘God Save The King’. I’d probably have it as my ringtone too. However, Errollyn Wallen, Master of the King’s Music (yes, that’s an actual job) said “You can see His Majesty’s wide-ranging enthusiasm for music in this playlist to mark Commonwealth Day,”.
So what’s on the playlist?
Bob Marley – Could You Be Loved
Kylie Minogue – The Locomotion
Millie Small – My Boy Lollipop
Raye – Love Me Again Diana Ross – Upside Down Al Bowlly – The Very Thought of You Grace Jones – La Vie En Rose Daddy Lumba – Mpempem Do Me Davido – Kante (feat Fave) Miriam Makeba – The Click Song Jools Holland & Ruby Turner – My Country Man Anoushka Shankar – Indian Summer Siti Nurhaliza – Anta Permana Dame Kiri Te Kanawa – E Te Iwi E (Call to the People) Michael Bublé – Haven’t Met You Yet Arrow – Hot Hot Hot
I mean, it must be a pain having to listen to a well rounded selection of tracks from around the Commonwealth every time. I share his love of 80s Kylie with the curly hair and the straw hat, and I like a bit of Afrobeats, but not in the same playlist, especially when mixed with a bit of smooth Buble. Each King to his own, and I imagine it’s probably better than Prince Andrew’s selection.
What we’ve been doing this week
Like you, we’ve been talking about waffles a lot. Last week’s recipe from Clara – Fresh Air’s Head of Gossip – sparked endless discussions about how you can put them in the toaster, and some quite heated debate with more than one rival concoction being claimed to be superior.
Therefore, in a feature that could run and run, Martin – Fresh Air’s Head of 90s band T-Shirts – has submitted his own BirdsEye Potato Waffle recipe. Enjoy:
Take two potato waffles, insert in toaster
Cook up four rashers of smoked bacon (I tend to go for the ‘medallions’ as they are the healthy option)
Boil a kettle and use the boiling water to poach two eggs (forget the cheats and gimmicks, the only way to make perfect poached eggs is to use really fresh eggs)
Put the waffles back in the toaster for another cycle – you want them nicely browned; you want to make sure they’re cooked and piping hot.
Meanwhile unwrap some cheese slices that you’d normally put on burgers. If you’re feeling really gluttonous, use two slices per waffle.
Next you want to assemble your tower:
Waffle at the bottom, next comes the bacon, then the cheese, and then top off with a poached egg. Season with coarsely ground black pepper and Maldon sea salt. You can add brown sauce for a sharp kick, but I prefer the yolks to provide the gloop to the stodge.
Simple for any time of day. Egg and melted cheap-cheese is a truly underrated culinary sensation.
You can posh this up by replacing the bacon with smoked salmon and a dollop of hollandaise on the top of the eggs.
Have that, Blumenthal.
