The Rebrand of a Podcast
As an avid podcast listener, I’ve seen quite a few rebrands of several podcasts in the past year, whether it be a complete graphic and content overhaul or just a logo update. It’s interesting to see these changes play out almost in live time, and some of the shows’ hosts even touch on their update and address the reasons for the change.
A few examples include The Skinny Confidential, Just A Job, Discover Ag, Relatable, TechStuff, Culture Apothecary, and maybe one of the more well-known brands Call Her Daddy, which was rebranded years ago amidst a bigger co-partner debacle. (Keep in mind the list above mainly includes my own listening preferences, though I’m sure if you looked through your list of podcasts you subscribe to you’ll find a rebrand somewhere in there.)
A quick surface level treading of the water shows some of the brands making changes that include a new logo, updated cover art, and new photography of the hosts, which are, respectfully, major visual changes that followers notice. Good examples of this are Discover Ag’s new photography for both their podcast channel and their website to go along with their well know “Disco’s” term for their loyal listeners. It’s a strategic idea that translates well to their overall brand name, but most importantly it connects their subscribers to their business.
As the podcast market grows and more companies/brands/personalities decide to move into that space, I think we’ll see more changes around the branding of a podcast. The main reason as to why that change will take place is largely due to whether the branding supports the bigger business strategy. Does it allow for the host(s) to change, or the topics in question to change? I believe that will be the biggest driver as to why we’ll see brands update their podcast branding.
Culture Apothecary is a great example of that, the host Alex Clark has openly discussed her goals for the podcast/her brand to change as she changes. For her, most of the changes revolved around her personal health and wellness journey. Originally the podcast was called Poplitics where she discussed politics with a pop culture twist, which worked well for her in that season of life. But then her interests changed and she brought her followers along with her on the health and wellness journey, and the pop culture content no longer fit her lifestyle and podcast content anymore. It was a strategic shift for her to move from one major topic to another, which worked well for her and her new brand.
Overall, the podcast world is a great source for marketing and branding examples, you just have to pay a little more attention to the media that you consume and do a bit of research on your subscription list to see what you can learn from it.