Thomas Edison was not the first to invent the lightbulb.
Yup.
In fact, "The unrecognized masterstroke of Edison was he brought together some of the brightest minds to collaborate, exchange ideas, and work in creative ways to change the world as we knew it." One of the things I learnt from Atlassian's podcast show, Teamistry.
It intrigued me, and I went searching for answers. I recently sat down (virtually) with Christine Dela Rosa and John Ville to find out more about the backstory and inspiration behind the show.
Christine is Sr. Manager of Brand Marketing and Consumer Insights and John is Head of Editorial. I was primarily intrigued to learn how they approached long-form storytelling as a brand with many products.
How do you pick which story to tell, and how to tell it? The possibilities are endless. But today they're sharing some of their nuggets of wisdom to make a successful show.
As part of our Spotlight Series at tribetactics, we're always on the lookout to balance our own research with the insights we learn from experts and practitioners in our community.
On their website, Teamistry is self-described as "the chemistry of unsung teams who achieve the impossible."
Christine: "There isn’t a difference between new and old media forms in terms of being on-brand. All touch points should be consistent with the Atlassian personality."
This resonated with me a lot. There is a difference between employing new tactics and getting carried away with "what's in" as opposed to doing the difficult work of digging deeper to find what you are about as a brand and how you can cross that over to the new medium.
In Atlassian's case, it was how can they bring their brand to the podcast medium.
Christine: (continued) "But, that doesn’t mean that our personality can’t express itself differently based on the medium it’s on. For example, most Instagram users post photos for a different reason than why they might tweet a status. Same goes for new media forms."
To add my two cents. As GaryVee would advocate*, every social media channel has it's own culture. It's its own party. Learn how to carry your brand from one party to another where you balance both who you are as a brand but also be relatable and sociable (no pun intended) to what works best in different scenarios.
*(if you're interested, read his classic work, Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook).
Christine: "In the podcast medium, we explore long-form storytelling more than we do on other properties. Since the average listener will hear 20-something minutes of each episode, that’s a lot more engagement than a pre-roll video on YouTube or even our longest Work Life blog articles."
Indeed. Often times in business, you find yourself needing to focus on the elevator pitch, the quick tweet, the bite-size content piece. Creating episodic content that is designed to be binge-worthy for your audience requires you to go in deep on narratives that resonate deeply with your audience.
Yes attention spans are getting shorter than ever before, but we are also binging on content that speaks to us more than ever before. We don't like too much choice, we want to find the reliable few that we stick with because it brings us focus and allows us to go in deeper.
Christine: "As a result, we need not cut to the chase with our message as quickly. We can be more subtle with our message and tell the stories that require more setup, experience explanations, and understanding of impact.
Christine: "On some of our more traditional platforms, the engagement has to be more direct. Of course, the personality remains the same; we simply adjust our approach to storytelling to align with the platform we’re on."
By creating long-form assets once, brands can give themselves the power to pick and choose the segments that would make most sense for different platforms, and it allows them to get to the point faster where needs be. Both long-form and short-form "direct" content assets complement each other but cannot replace one another.
When I asked John what inspires a compelling storyline for a company to embrace, he said:
John: "Simply, ‘what haven’t I seen, read or heard before?’ Then, if we think it could be found on a competitor’s site, then what’s our spin to make it unique to us. And finally, and most importantly, who is our audience and how can we get their attention – either organically or with some promotion."
One colloquial definition of stories can be topics with angles. What topics and angles are prevalent in your industry, and how can you, perhaps stoically, use that to your advantage by painting a different canvas, and telling a different story with your show?
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Looking to learn more about episodic marketing and get started with a show? Book a brainstorming call with us.