Goodbye August, Hello September

Happy New Year!

Goodbye to August - the month when nothing gets done - and hello to September - the month when everything needs to be done by the end of the first week.

I’d like to begin this newsletter by paying homage to the members of Fresh Air who held the whole show together while others breezed off on holiday. In particular, Annie Day – Head of Chat, Snacks and Gambling, Beckie Bird – Head of Organising Everything Everywhere All at Once, and Izzie Clarke – Head of Going to Weddings, who put in an extraordinary three week shift covering their own jobs and everybody else’s. They will be richly rewarded by being offered a share of the last-minute airport-purchased biscuits that the holiday makers have remembered to put in the office kitchen.

Are you a Heavy Podhead?

I really don’t know how to feel about the label, but YouGov’s latest analysis of podcast usage in the US has identified a breed of consumer called the ‘Heavy Podhead’. These are people who listen to more than five hours of podcasts per week. 22% of Americans now say that they fit into this category, whether that five hours include a big selection of neatly edited short podcasts, or just a few of the long rambling 2 hours plus ones like Joe Rogan.

The research also reinforces the general wisdom that podcast listeners are generally more likely to be young, male, city-dwelling, full-time employed and university educated than the general population. They’re listening to more music and TV related podcasts, and fewer news/current affairs ones. Interestingly, this seems to be the opposite of the UK where the charts are still dominated by The News Agents and anything that starts with ‘The Rest Is…’

Other insights include the brands most favourably considered by Heavy Potheads, with Tesla at the top of the automotive charts. Smart crossover - It’s always great to listen to a podcast while your car’s being towed to the garage.

Izzie Got Engaged

Anyone who has worked with our Izzie Clarke – Executive Producer, Physics Graduate, Published Author, Radio Academy 30 Under 30 alumni, Astronomy Expert and HoGtW – will know that she’s incredibly clever, super-organised and would never make a rash decision without giving it serious thought. Which is why when her boyfriend Rob - a tall, handsome, Masterchef semi-finalist – asked her to marry him on last week’s holiday to Barcelona, she considered the proposal for half a second and then said yes. Having had a Fresh Air night out at the Chef’s table in Rob’s restaurant, the rest of us would all have happily married him if Izzie had said no, so he had plenty of Plan B’s.

Anyway, we’re all thrilled for both of them and chuffed that, having spent most of her annual leave this year attending other people’s weddings, Izzie can start to plan her own.

Audio Advertising Awards

Do you work in brand & marketing? Do you use audio?

No? Why not?! It’s the best flippin’ medium in the world.

Yes? Excellent. Well done you. Top marks.

But how often is audio advertising celebrated? Not often enough, and the lack of recognition is one of the reasons why so much radio / audio advertising is … let's be honest … absolutely bum-clenchingly terrible. So to help solve this problem, Campaign have come up with The Audio Advertising Awards, launching next January.

We’ll be there with knobs on, and hopefully a nomination or too. And we’d encourage all our friends who’ve done anything worthy of winning to do the same.

Upfront on Fresh Ears

You might know that we produce our own podcast series - Fresh Ears - presented by me, Neil Cowling - founder of Fresh Air and former host of the prestigious 107.9 Bath FM Breakfast Show, brought to you by Sainsbury’s (2001 - 2003)

Fresh Ears is all about exploring what we can learn from the podcasts we’ve created with our wonderful clients. We hope that, by reflecting on their motivations, the process and the measurements of success, we can help to inspire and inform other brand marketing folk who fancy a bit of brand podcast action.

Our latest episode is with the dynamic duo of Kate Atkinson and Matt Holland from Iress. Their series - Upfront - is a bold, witty take on the world of financial services, backed up by brilliant social, a smart promotional strategy, a savvy presenter and exciting guests. Now on series two, they have a wealth of wisdom to share on how to make a brilliant show.?

It’s Monday. You’ve not got a lot on. Why not give it a listen?

Our recommends today are..

Richard Blake returns to recommend..

I’d heard great things and seen this podcast gone to number one just before I headed off for my holidays, so it was the first one I downloaded when I returned. It’s from the excellent team at Novel - always a byword for storytelling quality

At first, I was confused - was this just a tale of a Thursday Murder Club in 1990's Manhattan?or a Jewish Desperate Housewives? Were they making light of a horrible disappearance? Well, no. I'm thoroughly hooked. The voices grate beautifully?from a thousand cigarettes, the scripting is warm, clear, bursting with friendship and humour. I'm deeply immersed in the true crime story of 'Bob' and 'Gail'?at the heart?of this podcast.?

The music is to die for. A chorus of?consistency, shaping mood with every ‘’ooh” and I do like the warm, human warnings at the beginning too- it shows a real ear for detail.? One big quibble - please can you stop promoting the same podcasts as a mid-roll in every episode? Once is great. Twice is fine. But I've heard the same two minutes of ads about fifteen times now. Skip.?

Listen here.

Martin Poyntz-Roberts always comes up trumps..

He owns the most expensive car in the world, and once threatened to bring over 100 of his hardest criminal mates from Argentina to kill all of the Inter Milan Curva Nord, the club’s ultras which goes down well…

The story of Mauro Icardi, the ‘problematic’ Argentine striker, is just one of the amazing tales that the Upshot relays. Any followers of the weekly mail out will not be surprised at the quality of the stories the Upshot shares. In the last few episodes they have covered the scandals of Jermaine Pennant, the chaos that took place at Chelsea last year, the craziness behind the genius that was Shane Warne, the car crash of the off-pitch life of Ronaldinho (he literally did not know what a cash machine was…) and my personal favourite so far, titled ‘Michael Owen: England’s Weirdo Wonderkid’.

This series makes me laugh out loud whilst walking the dog in the morning, leaving my fellow dog walkers believing I’m slightly deranged. No spoilers because this is hilarious stuff, but a little teaser: a seven-year-old Michael Owen said he was the best player in the world then. His career is a bit of a mess considering he was Balon d’Or winner at the tender age of 22.

?As usual, the truth in all of these stories is stranger than fiction, and the way the presenters clearly love the gossip they’re spreading is infectious and the asides between the team are very amusing. Tales of blackmail, general stupidity with a hefty dose of footballers doing what footballers do best when they’re not playing (shagging) make this my current favourite listen.

What we listened to last week

Actors eating burgers.

We’ve been recording an incredible new piece of podcast work for a well-known premium burger restaurant. It involves true crime, comedy, and phenomenal burger-related acting. More news to follow in the next few weeks.

When it came to the studio, one of the scenes required our characters to speak while eating burgers. But, stupidly, we didn’t have any. We had blueberries, so our actors ate those while reading. Their mouths sounded full and chewy, but…

.. they didn’t sound like burgers.

Basil Oxtoby – Head of Pressing Record – instantly heard the sound of ‘the skin bursting’ which thoroughly ruined his enjoyment of the eating noises, and at Fresh Air, if nothing else, we are committed to audio perfection. And pleasing Basil. So the recording was paused until someone (me) could go and find a burger for our actors to eat.

The result? Burger-realism that we’re all super proud of. What have we learnt? Blueberries don’t sound like burgers. If you remember nothing else from this newsletter, remember that.

What we did last week

Martin Poyntz-Roberts – Head of 90s Band T-Shirts? recording an interview with the Governor of the Bank of England in his office.

Great podcast guest, right? Right. That’s because we have a great new client with connections in VERY high places. More to follow in the next few weeks.

Meanwhile, Martin has come back from the recording asking for marble walls in his office, a mahogany table, and pictures of himself with The Queen on his desk. Sadly, Martin never met Her Late Majesty, so this has proven to be impossible. He’s going to stick to his kitchen table with the ironing board behind it.