The strength of native advertising lies in its ability to engage an audience while creating value for a brand. A study by BBC showed that branded podcasts provide significant value for the brands promoted. Podcasts that mention the brand deliver on average 16% higher engagement and 12% higher memory compared to surrounding content. A branded podcast is a perfect opportunity to deliver meaningful content without hitting the listeners over the head with advertisements. The reason? Many people love podcasts and therefore also have a positive reaction toward branded podcasts. The intimate and conversational nature of podcasting creates higher engagement and a feeling of closeness to the content.
In this article, we've collected 8 great examples of branded podcasts showcasing how the creativity, effectiveness, and adaptability of branded podcasts can convey compelling stories while providing valuable information and aligning with the brands' missions without being overly promotional. Because let's face it: Nobody wants to listen to a 30-minute ad.
8 great examples of branded podcast [clickable table of contents]
Here's a handful of branded podcast to inspire you to seize the opportunities that exist within brand podcasts and the superpowers found within this medium of long-form content, focused and engaging content.
Example 1: Alma Brand Studio and DNA
With the compelling title "Cyber Crooks" Alma Brand Studio and DNA, one of Finland's leading telecommunication corporations, an eight-episode podcast series about cybercrime. The campaign's overall goal was to showcase DNA as a reliable information security partner for companies while making them aware of the importance of cybersecurity.
In order to achieve this goal Alma Brand Studio and DNA in collaboration with Tivi, an IT-magazine, launched the campaign Cyber Crooks. The podcast was strongly influenced by two major trends: the popularity of true crime podcasts and the growing need for businesses to prepare for cyber threats. Cyber Crooks offered a new and captivating way to approach cybersecurity, allowing companies to gain valuable insights and avoid potential billion-dollar losses and emotional distress. The structure of the podcast episodes was twofold: the first part told real stories of cybercrimes and their impacts, while in the second part, with the guidance of the host, experts provided practical tips and advice on how companies can protect themselves from similar threats.
In addition to rotating cybersecurity experts, each episode featured DNA's resident expert in business cybersecurity solutions, Juho Saarinen. In addition to the podcast, native articles were published for each episode. These articles were featured in Tivi, a specialized IT magazine that covers essential information about technology and its utilization in business operations. The content collaboration with Tivi ensured that the podcast reached the right target audience and bolstered the image of experts in the field.
https://www.tivi.fi/kumppanisisallot/dna/kyberrosvot/
Example 2: Heartbeats and Jacobsen
Beer and food are for many a perfect match. Equally perfect was the match between Jacobsen, a special-beer brewery owned by Carlsberg Denmark, and the Instagram influencers 2 Hungry Girls. 2 Hungry Girls (To sultne piger) is a Danish Instagram phenomenon. They are unfiltered and unpretentious food critics, and nobody knows who they are – they are anonymous. They have reviewed over 400 restaurants and have +84,000 followers on Instagram.
Jacobsen wanted to present their brand in a gastronomical context while presenting the brand to a younger target audience interested in food, wine, cooking, and going out. Heartbeats.dk served as a platform for the collaboration.Heartbeats, a online lifestyle and culture magazine, covers topics ranging from urban lifestyles to culinary delights and cultural experiences. That’s why 2 Hungry Girls blended perfectly with the editorial content on the site
The collaboration resulted in a podcast. In the podcast, the 2 Hungry Girls (and sometimes guests) combined fun and personal conversations with news and knowledge about the world of food, drinks, and restaurants. The podcast has a youthful and vibrant tone, and the center is food, spiced with topics like trends, events and friends - mirroring the conversations the target audience might have during a lively dinner with friends. To preserve the anonymity of the two hosts, they had to be creative with the photos and videos and create engaging content. The solution was to cover their heads with their own logo. This was also quite an eye catching solution, when swiping through content on social media.
The campaign was further expanded with food reviews, portraits, video teasers, and special festival episodes. The podcast was distributed organically to over 550,000 individuals on social media, with an impressive +82.000 downloads.
https://heartbeats.dk/series/tosultnepiger/
Example 3: Seznam Brand Studio and Renault
In the Czech automotive market, one car brand is above all others: Skoda. That is not helping competitor Renault much. The French car manufacturer doesn't even rank among the top 10 car-selling brands in the country. The brand is known, people just don't buy it. So, how to turn the tide?
Renault teamed up with Seznam Brand Studio to promote its new model, the Renault Austral, which had been introduced to the Czech public through TV spots centered around the theme of pure imagination. The task now was to extend and adapt this concept for online Czech audiences. The goal was to create something new and unusual that would break through the typical automotive marketing communication dominated by strong competition from other car brands and draw positive associations towards the new model. Seznam Brand Studio knew that the majority of potential customers were parents, and they wanted to create a space for both parents and their children linked to the new model. It's natural to listen to audio formats in the car, even when transporting children. But what should they listen to? Music or podcasts that entertain parents but not children? Or children's songs or fairy tales that entertain the children but can be a headache for the driver? This led to the idea of "Fairy Tales for the Car," designed to entertain children and be pleasant for parents to listen to.
During a drive in the new Austral Seznam Brand Studio asked children aged 4-11 several questions to find out what was going through their minds during the ride.The children spoke of walking closets, geometric gods, or a jellyfish that plays tennis. This became the basis for the fairy tales. The Renault Austral itself does not appear in the fairy tales, but all of them start like this: "Settle in comfortably and fasten your seatbelts. Renault Austral brings you a fairy tale that combines child imagination with a story created with a little bit of help by artificial intelligence." And they end: "Here our story ends, but yours doesn’t have to. Perhaps set out for it in the new Renault Austral, which brought you this fairy tale. Packed with the latest technologies, advanced assistance systems, and a superb ride feeling that will surely exceed the boundaries of your imagination."
The fairy tales amassed over 20,000 downloads across several podcast platforms and delivered a 12 percentage point increase in overall awareness for Renault Austral.
https://open.spotify.com/show/0WOStTv6sma9IHT1ip0RY9
Example 4: COPE Content Performance Group and Lasea/Schwabe Austria
In a world that keeps going faster and faster, a lot of people find it difficult to cope with the pressure and expectations of modern society developing anxiety disorders as a result of it. The topic is often still considered taboo, yet anxiety disorders are among the most common mental illnesses worldwide.
The goal of the campaign "Dont be scared of being scared" (Keine Angst vor der Angst) was to make the topic of anxiety disorders known in society and provide valuable information regarding the subject. COPE Content Performance Group and Lasea/Schwabe Austria created a podcast with stories about people affected by anxiety. The herbal medicine Lasea, used to treat temporary anxious moods, only appears as the name behind the campaign.
The goal of talking to anxiety-affected people and experts was to empower and enable others to get help if needed. The podcast episodes are embedded on a main landing page, which provides comprehensive information on anxiety disorders, aiming to break down the taboo.
In addition to the podcast, an interactive tool in the form of a self-test was created by a psychiatrist. The test consists of seven standardized questions and the result of the test shows to what extent one might be affected and gives appropriate recommendations for action. The contents of the landing page are constantly being expanded, the most recent element being a live-streaming event with people affected and experts.
https://keine-angst-podcast.podigee.io/episodes
Example 5: Schibsted Brand Studio and Vinguiden
What do you do, when a wine guide wants to make a podcast about wine but is not allowed to encourage the audience to buy and drink wine?
That was the challenge when Vinguiden (The Wine Guide), Sweden's biggest online guide to wine owned by Schibsted Media Group, wanted to relaunch Vinguiden to the Swedes in a new podcast. Partnering up with Schibsted Brand Studio they had to be creative to make wine more accessible to the average Swede – without focusing on alcohol consumption.
The goal was simple: to educate the average Swede in the world of wine. The podcast "Let's talk about wine" was born. 20 episodes where experts talk about wine, and ask the most common questions, the questions Swedes have regarding wine but feel uncomfortable asking. Because if there's something a Swede fears, it's to appear stupid or risk losing face. The focus of the podcast was not specifically wine or winemakers. Instead, the focus was centered on how to combine wine with food, different types of glasses, temperatures, different grapes, or how to decipher a wine list at a restaurant.
Ultimately, Vinguiden wanted to give the listeners a good foundation to stand on, so they felt more confident exploring the world of wine on their own. The podcast is set in a studio format. Where the host has invited a guest. Each episode has a theme and a guest who guides and inspires the host and the listeners. The themes originate from questions from questions asked to readers. The listeners were asked: What do you want to learn more about when it comes to wine? The experts and sommeliers at Vinguiden were asked: What are the most common questions they get from people regarding wine?
In addtion to the accompanying native articles and display ads to boost the podcast, the ambition was to generate buzz to find listeners rapidly, and then let the podcast grow organically and by word of mouth, and on Vinguiden's channels like newsletters, members communication, and on the website.
It worked. The podcast had 100,831 started streams and more than 5,042 listeners per episode.
https://open.spotify.com/show/5zgfNDGFg6ZdTnMZOAKjxK?si=e97b72ca618e4449&nd=1&dlsi=e0beeb4c5eef41e1
Example 6: Danske Spil and Heartbeats
How do you become part of the solution when you're part of the problem? Gambling addiction isn't something we talk about openly. It's taboo. Because of this, we know very little about this particular addiction - how and where it begins, how it is prevented and treated, and how we help those in need.
Danske Spil is aware of its responsibility when its users experience problems with gambling and actual addiction to their products. Ensuring responsible gambling is part of Danske Spil's purpose, and they work to combat gambling problems in a wide range of areas. Along with Danske Spil, Heartbeats wanted to share real and relatable stories about the dark side of gambling. The result was a deeply personal podcast series of five episodes titled "My Son Has a Demon" - a conversation between father and son about the son's struggle against gambling addiction.
The podcast gives a unique insight into what it is like to be a gambling addict and how it affects the people closest to you. "My Son Has a Demon" does not chase a dramatic binary narrative, but focuses on the emotional aspect of living with a gambling addiction and being a relative to a close family member with a gambling addiction. The podcast was exposed to over 500.000 people on social media during the three-week campaign period. The campaign was further expanded with columns, native articles, and portraits - all referencing specific places to find help with gambling addiction.
https://heartbeats.dk/series/min-son-har-en-djaevel/
Example 7: Mamamia Media Group and LEGO DUPLO
How to build a human is top of mind with every parent. Pride, joy, and insecurity are typical feelings going hand in hand when first becoming a parent - seconds after the responsibility of raising a child kicks in. Parents today are very overwhelmed. They worry about everything from their kid's mental well-being and climate change to the impact of social media. There's tons to worry about. Before they get to deal with those challenges though, parents need to survive the interesting toddler years, while helping their child with some transformative development milestones too.
That is the focus of the podcast campaign "How to Build a Human" aimed at Australian parents and developed by Mamamia Media Group for LEGO DUPLO. As a leader in developmental play, LEGO DUPLO had two clear objectives with the campaign:
• Drive relevance and desire among Millennial, Australian parents.
• Help parents raise happy, confident kids who will thrive in the world of tomorrow.
90% of a child's brain develops by the age of five. In this period, one of the most powerful ways children contextualize their world is through joy; making play a fundamental part of a child's development. The podcast balances funny, challenging, and occasionally heartbreaking stories from real-life parents, before shifting to the more practical expert advice. Most importantly, the tone remains non-judgmental and uplifting.
LEGO DUPLO endorses each episode with opening and closing credits and integrated reads mid-program. These commercial segments ensure seamless branding of LEGO DUPLO's key product offerings; including mentions of specific DUPLO play sets including LEGO DUPLO's educator-backed learn-through-play credentials. Mamamia and LEGO DUPLO aim to provide genuine support to overwhelmed Australian parents, showing them that they do not need to choose between helping their child's development and helping them grow up happy.
https://www.mamamia.com.au/podcasts/how-to-build-a-human/introducing-how-to-build-a-human/
Example 8: Aftonbladet and Telenor
Each day somebody is being scammed online leaving behind a trail of economic ruin as well as mental turmoil for those affected. The number of online crimes is increasing exponentially in Sweden. And the stories are everywhere around us. So commonplace and cunningly executed that they often leave one with a single feeling in the gut: It could have been me.
According to Internetstiftelsen four out of ten Swedes have been subjected to online fraud attempts in the past year. Aftonbladet, a big Swedish newspaper and news site, and Telenor, a Norwegian-based telecommunication company set out to create a podcast series and campaign to shine a spotlight on online security and ensure that the topic becomes "top of mind" for more people. Furthermore, making Telenor's products and services relevant and interesting to more individuals while contributing to strengthening its position as Sweden's leading mobile operator in online security.
The impactful narratives from people being victims of online fraud were at the core of the podcast series and campaign for Telenor. They were the ones that truly mattered - personal stories that could humanize a topic that many are aware of but often overlook in their daily lives. The ambition was to create stories that truly impacted the listeners. By blending personal stories with knowledgeable advice, the podcast series aimed to strike the perfect balance between captivating narratives and the important knowledge Telenor wants to spread.
The podcast was distributed in two ways. Firstly, each episode was added to Aftonbladet's episode list for the editorial podcast "Aftonbladet Daily", with 200,000-300,000 unique listeners every week. Thus, anyone listening to Aftonbladet Daily would find an episode from Telenor in their feed. Then, each episode was also published with its teaser on Aftonbladet's homepage.
https://www.aftonbladet.se/brandstudio/a/4ovvl9/morgan-saknade-40-000-kronor-efter-bluff-sms
Adam Abelin
Native Advertising Institute
