What I Learned About Brand Strategy at Opening Night of Jagged Little Pill.
Opening Night - December 5, 2019
Having friends in high places is always a good thing, especially when it comes to opening night tickets on Broadway. So, when Alanis Morissette’s JAGGED LITTLE PILL hit the Great White Way, YOU OUGHTA KNOW, I made sure to DM my pal at the Shubert Organization.
The sky was clear, air cold and dry. The flashbulbs of the paparazzi captured pics of Rosie O’Donnell, Ben Platt, and Sara Bareilles. As a New Yorker, it wasn’t the big names that had me HEAD OVER FEET, celeb spotting happens on the regular, but rather, seeing the title of my favorite album of all time up in lights had already won me over.
The seats were PERFECT; big cushions; plenty of leg room; orchestra and along the aisle. Oh, and I was right behind Sarah Mclachlan. She was wearing black leather pants that night.
Shouts as the lights went down. Me, sipping on a glass of white wine. It wasn’t chardonnay. There wasn’t a sip in the entire house… isn’t it IRONIC. Not really, but we’ve all come to accept that the song isn’t filled with real ironies, either.
As the set list flowed through Alanis classics like RIGHT THROUGH YOU, FORGIVEN, and NOT THE DOCTOR, I couldn’t help but think of the brave woman sitting front row center. Songs she wrote in her teens, were now reimagined in a new exciting way. It was an excellent course on branding being sung to me right from the Broadhurst’s stage.
Content Reimagined
It’s more important than ever to know your audience and all the different ways they consume content. That’s why it’s imperative to diversify your media strategy to include a variety of channels to communicate with your target group, while reaching those unfamiliar with your message. If Alanis could do it with her 90’s classic JLP, reaching new generations with songs she penned 25 years ago, why not companies with corporate or commercial content.
You live, YOU LEARN…
How many times have you produced a corporate video or shot bites and b-roll packages, and were left with viewer numbers lingering in the lower digits? Isn’t it IRONIC, that you blew your budget on a single video that was supposed to knock it out of the park, but didn’t come close to the desired return? Okay, still not ironic, but you get the gist.
These days it’s harder than ever to stand out among the 300 hours of video footage uploaded to YouTube every minute, while appealing to an algorithm to keep it at the top of Google Search. That’s why today’s media mix must include a variety of content, including audio.
93% of people consume audio content on the daily, listening to podcasts, streaming music apps, interacting with smart speakers, and tuning into satellite and AM/FM radio.
As a creator who specializes in audio content, I’ve worked with trailblazing brands on producing original podcast series. We’ve engaged with target audiences while reaching tertiary listeners and then converting them into fans. However, many brands are still lagging behind on reaching people via one of today’s most popular channels – podcasting.
No worries, everything’s gonna be fine, fine, fine… cause I’ve got one HAND IN MY POCKET and the other one is pressing play. I’m not alone, 68 million people listen to podcasts every single month. This is awesome news for brands focused on message retention, as 80% of podcast listeners can name a specific feature or campaign mentioned in an episode.
Can your content be reimagined?
Your marketing team spent countless hours sorting through important message points, scheduling CEO or influencer video shoots, and hours laboring over edits. Now’s the time to reimagine your videos into podcasts and reach an active audience eager for on demand listening choices.
Most video can be reimagined into audio content as long as the soundbites and voiceovers are recorded on separate channels. Once isolated, your team can work with a professional podcast producer on the ideation, including scripts, outlines, and overall storytelling. Most importantly, an executive producer will not only create an engaging story for your brand, but help build an audience to share it with.
Reimaging content provides organizations, nonprofits, and influencers the chance to reach even more people using existing content.
Where would we be if creators didn’t dream beyond the original concept? AMC’s The Walking Dead, one of the most watched cable TV shows of all-time, would have only been seen on the pages of a graphic novel. The best-selling book, Catch and Kill, by Ronan Farrow, would never have been heard by millions of listeners via the immensely popular and super-produced podcast. Novels to TV, books to podcast… and albums to Broadway theatres. Where is your agency, brand or P.R. team missing the next great opportunity to engage with audiences?
You, you, you, OUGHTA KNOW!
In these uncertain times of COVID-19, the brilliant cast of Jagged Little Pill thanks emergency care workers with a song from the show. THANK U to all those on the frontlines.