Pilot podcast creative lead
In 2019, several colleagues in University Marketing created an ad hoc working group to research, develop and produce several pilot episodes of a podcast for the Ohio State young alumni audience. I lobbied to become the project’s creative lead for development and remained the script editor and producer of the five episodes we made.
Year: 2019
Employer: The Ohio State University
Position: Associate editor, Ohio State Alumni Magazine
A page from the creative brief explaining why we had chosen alum Jay Clouse to be interviewed for our proof-of-concept episode.
In 2019, University Marketing had no internal capabilities to produce a podcast, but we could clearly see it was a medium with which our young alumni audience could connect. One colleague had attended podcasting workshops and talks at South By Southwest Festival in 2019. We staked our starting point in her experience and takeaways.
Information for this project came from many directions—audience research, a proof-of-concept interview and recording, early internal feedback. After a few months of meetings, brainstorms and research, we had disparate parts and a need to cohere them into a clear, compelling creative statement that would win approval to proceed with five pilot episodes to be launched on widely available channels. I self-nominated and was approved to be the project’s creative lead through development.
Spoiler alert: We won approval for the pilot episodes of One Degree Greater. I became the script editor and producer of the podcast, collaborating with the host and sound editor and often others in the department to hone story lines, introduce music, and record in-episode announcements. One Degree Greater created the operational capabilities on which University Marketing has developed another podcast that’s in regular production today. And the project moved forward a broader conversation about how to manage podcasts (primarily in terms of brand expression) across enterprise.
Role and process:
Volunteered to join ad hoc working group to develop podcast.
Participated in and led brainstorms around content, cohesion with brand, audience, platforms, workflow.
Created and presented project creative brief to department leadership, including Chief Marketing Officer and department vice presidents. Secured project buy-in from CMO and alumni association CEO.
Coordinated with podcast host and sound editor to schedule interviews, shape story arcs, edit scripts, finalize episodes for review.
Collaborated with colleagues in marketing technology, creative direction, email, social media to create website landing page, technological capabilities to launch podcast, seize promotional opportunities.
