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Illustration by Rebecca Ustrell

From the narrative-changing storytelling initiative, “Driving Change From the Inside“, a look at the DE+I movement in organizations across the country.

CHECK OUT THE FULL SERIES: Featuring Summaries, Key takeaways, and Video Highlights

The saying goes: What doesn’t break you makes you stronger. That seems to be the case during the pandemic for Robin Hood Foundation, the largest poverty nonprofit in New York City. Because of catastrophes like 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy, Robin Hood already had procedures in place that enabled it to act decisively and respond quickly supporting at-risk communities during the pandemic.

At the start of Covid-19, Robin Hood raised $90mm for grants across the city to improve the lives of people who were experiencing poverty as a result of the pandemic. But they’ve got their work cut out for them – now, and always.

To gain greater insight into how the organization appears to be thriving through the pandemic and the overlapping racial justice movement, we sat down with the organization’s Chief People Officer, Stephanie Royal.

As Stephanie recounts, “the murder of George Floyd really helped to inspire, mobilize, and accelerate action that had already started. There was such a tremendous outpouring of support within our organization to take the work that had already started even before I got here, and to really accelerate it to help us move toward becoming an anti-racist organization.”

The phrase “becoming an anti-racist organization” stands out. Few I’ve spoken to call out the issue so overtly. This sentiment is indicative of Stephanie’s self-awareness and of the culture being nurtured at Robin Hood. When asked to comment on her upbringing in an upper middle-class Black family, Stephanie shared a sobering dose of realism:

“We’re not far from people who experience poverty on a daily basis within our own family. While my dad was able to go to college — he’s a graduate of Fisk University, a historically Black college — his education changed the game for our family. Part of why I’m so committed to the work that we do at Robin Hood is because we know that access to good quality education is a lever for economic mobility.”

Stephanie helps to illuminate that, for many of our DEIJ leaders, it’s not enough to strive for and achieve excellence. There are headwinds that make achieving and maintaining excellence more difficult. It’s imperative that we have people in leadership roles who have purview into what’s required to overcome poverty, and what’s needed to create a sustained cycle of mobility.

She notes that, “We all know how disproportionately affected communities of color were with health disparities and Covid just made it even worse. We knew that we had to mobilize quickly, and do so in a way that was intensive and meaningful and really holistic.”

Through this learning and growing process Royal has seen that creating a culture of inclusivity and vulnerability requires an evolution of emotional intelligence across the organization. It means ensuring that everyone has the safety to respectfully express their views and ideas. Equally important to working to foster safety for underrepresented and under resourced groups, is having empathy for every voice in the room. Stephanie describes this need well:

“I can only imagine what it must feel like to be someone entering a conversation about race, never having done it before. Feeling like they should not be in the conversation because of a certain aspect of their identity, or having anxiety around it. It requires vulnerability, and it requires an incredible amount of self-reflection. Based on that, we do have responsibility, those that are further along this pathway, to bring along those that are not there yet.”

In our conversation, Royal offered insights from her journey as a professional, from Wall Street, to the classroom, to her current leadership role as Chief People Officer at Robin Hood. Her story is inspiring for those among us, who could direct our intellect and energy almost anywhere, but choose a path of curiosity, compassion, and purpose.

Here are a few highlights from our conversation (full transcript), curated to help any individual or organization seeking to adapt to societal change and create a safe space for employees of all backgrounds, orientations, races, and beliefs.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

To read the full interview and to follow the developments of “Driving Change” follow us at Curiosity Lab.

1. Dig deeper into your DEIJ Commitment

Listen and learn:

“We could not have meaningful conversations about DEI without reflecting on who we were as an organization. Were we reflective on racial, ethnic, gender, sexual orientation, ability, and cultural identifiers. Were they reflected in the staff at the time? No.”

“We took a comprehensive approach to how we’ve recruited, how we made decisions about hiring, how we onboarded our staff, how we made decisions about advancement and promotion, so we could embody the values that we set forth.”

“During Covid, we engaged an outside consultant to continue the work of a wholesale cultural assessment. That was a very intensive process. A deeply meaningful and personal process. I know that the results will help to inspire that next level of work.”

“I think our staff would say they are happy to be here, very much committed to the mission. They’re participating and helping to develop a culture where everyone can be their authentic selves, continue to learn, grow, thrive and contribute to advancing our mission.”

Act:

Today, a commitment to DEIJ is crucial to the overall health of organizational culture. True commitment requires the willingness to continue finding and repairing gaps in equity and justice proactively. The investment of time and effort might be challenging. However, the rewards from meaningful education, engagement, and growth can be seen in employee values alignment, retention, and output in times of crisis and for years to come.

2. Understand the influence of policy

Listen and learn:

“After we worked on the talent side, we wanted to dig into policy, practices, protocols, procedures. Were they equitable? We continued to dig into the policies related to HR, vendor selection, legal, through a lens of diversity, equity and inclusion. I’ll say it’s a different organization now.”

“There are policies within our cities and at the state and federal levels, that don’t make it easy to access fundamental needs such as quality affordable housing, high quality food, basic clean water. These are not distributed equitably across all communities in this country. Where you see inequity and lack of access somehow seems to align with under-resourced communities populated by people of color.”

“We are trying to address issues of people experiencing poverty through grant-making to the amazing non-profits here in New York City, and across the country, so that direct service can be administered, so that people can access good quality food, quality education, and enter the sectors where jobs are abundant.”

Act:

We are all pieces of a larger puzzle. Being a proactive ally for DEIJ requires understanding the rules, procedures, and policies that affect inequity on a micro (in your lives and offices) and macro perspective (in our communities). Start by looking at areas of improvement within your own organization. Examine the procedures that might contribute to inequity and lack of representation. Compassion for our own areas of growth yields ideas and solutions that positively affect the collective.

3. Recognize the link between inclusivity and innovation

Listen and learn:

“We are a place that is welcoming to all people however they show up. I reinforce that in every conversation. I want people to be free, because if you’re not, you can’t do your best work.”

“One of the things that we are most proud of is our Design Insight Group. DIG emerged from the work of our tech incubator Blue Ridge Labs, which works to help founders create tech solutions to some of the drivers of poverty. We invite people from under-resourced communities to work alongside our program officers to develop programs to help in relief efforts.”

“We can, in a very respectful way, engage the experiences of people who have lived experience with poverty and get their input, get their expertise, intelligence, and deep understanding around problem solving to help us find solutions. It’s also important that we compensate them at a level to help them gain sustained economic mobility, for themselves and their families.”

Act:

Great ideas can come from anyone, anywhere. In the case of fighting the causes of poverty, it takes first hand experience to illuminate the real problems and the blind spots in existing solutions. When wealth, education, security and power gaps exist, it can be difficult to build trust. Attention to thoughtful engagement and trust building, as well as ensuring fair compensation, can yield needle-moving collaboration and innovation alongside the communities that you serve.

4. Invest in building trust and progress toward anti-racism

Listen and learn:

“In this type of work, which is so human, you won’t be successful unless you have a culture of trust and mutual understanding rooted in safety.”

“What results from those moments are meaningful relationships, deeper friendships, the willingness to step out of your own space and join someone. These are the experiences that make for a stronger team in this culture.”

“There are people who are at different places on their journey of being able to address race, class, privilege, but we’re all on board. It is okay to be at the beginning of that DEI journey.”

“You have to be ready and open and provide the psychological safety for people to show up as they are, no matter where they are on their DEI journey.”

Act:

Language is important. So, leaders need to speak about the importance for all to be bought in and supported, no matter where they are on their DEI journey. At Robin Hood, becoming an antiracist organization is essential to their health and culture. They see the results in retention, innovation, and passion. Combining the business imperative with examples of tangible and measurable benefits of anti-racism help organizations and the people they employ stay committed to long term DEIJ goals.

5. Gather a community of support and collaboration

Listen and learn:

“I found my tribe when I first came to New York City. A small group of Black women all working at banks. We relied on each other to make it, to draw upon each other’s good energy, and to share experiences so we could grow and thrive in a foreign world.”

“In my professional life, my responsibility is to care for others.There’s a team of people that look to me for support, for answers, for guidance, and that can be very lonely if you don’t have your own place of respite.”

“I know that I’m a role model to our junior staff. I have to show up for them and be my best self and make myself available to help them understand that this can be their seat as well.”

“We want to be partners with other nonprofits, other philanthropies, government, corporate communities, because we know that philanthropy cannot solve poverty alone.”

Act:

You can’t go it alone. Whether you are early in your career or sitting at the top, resilience requires teamwork and support. This is crucial for individuals from under represented groups because of the combined psychological and systemic hurdles that lay as obstacles. Peers and mentors illuminate roadblocks and strategies for presenting your best self. For marginalized individuals and groups, allies, and institutions, we get further by identifying values and goals alignment, and pursuing necessary work, in partnership.

Watch or listen to highlights of Michael and Stephanie’s conversation:

About the author

Michael Tennant is a founder, writer, and movement-builder dedicated to spreading tools of empathy and helping people find their purpose. Before founding Curiosity Lab, Tennant spent 15-years becoming a media, advertising, and nonprofit executive, and delivering award-winning marketing strategies for companies like MTV, VICE, P&G, Coca-Cola, sweetgreen, and Oatly.

Tennant founded Curiosity Lab in 2017 and created the conversation card game Actually Curious. Actually Curious became a viral sensation in 2020 during Covid-19 and the rise of the racial justice movement for helping people build meaningful connections and to tackle the important topics facing our world.

He has channeled his business success and momentum into a sustained movement supporting BIPOC and other underrepresented communities through speaking, writing, leadership, mentorship, consulting, partnerships, and talent-pipeline programs.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion | Featured Post

Reflecting America: Michael Smith on putting the public back into NPR

January 5, 2022 Michael Tennant – Founder of Curiosity Lab, Creator of Actually Curious

Illustration by Rebecca Ustrell

From the narrative-changing storytelling initiative, “Driving Change From the Inside“, a look at the DE+I movement in organizations across the country.

CHECK OUT THE FULL SERIES: Summaries, Key takeaways, and Video Highlights

One wish that I have for America is for more organizations to have the clarity of logic, depth of commitment, and force of execution happening at NPR as they address their businesses challenges and needs concerning Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

In January of 2020, NPR President and CEO John Lansing made audience diversity NPR’s number one priority. Since that time, the organization has shared its progress across workplace, content, and audiences. This includes a three-year strategic plan that opens with the words “NPR must change to survive.” To get a first hand view into this progressive change agenda, I had the privilege of sitting down with the Chief Marketing Officer of NPR, Michael. The conversation that unfolded might be considered a masterclass on establishing a long term DEI strategy.

According to Michael, the business imperative for DEI is simply “believing in the strategy that to serve a more diverse America, you need to have a team of people whose life experience is more in line with the customers that you’re serving.” That sentiment is shared from NPR CEO, John Lansing down through the organization.

“NPR came out of the Great Society program of the 1960s, where the government set up the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which helped launch NPR and PBS. Their mission was to create media resources that weren’t being fed by the commercial media.”

Back in 1971 when NPR launched, their audience was in line with the United States. About 80% white and 20% diverse audience, similar to the country at the time. Today, their radio audience is still about 80-20, while the composition of the American population has shifted to 60-40. And, of course, the country has made a massive switch to digital in the intervening years as well. In order to get back in sync with America, NPR has been prioritizing efforts to make the network younger and more diverse.

Michael says that NPR has a fiercely loyal audience, because their values align with those of the audience. However, he says most Americans are not even aware of NPR. “We know from research data that only 30% of all Americans have actually even heard of NPR, which is maybe surprising to people who are big fans of the brand. There’s a huge swath of America that we need to make aware of the great work that we do, and a lot of that audience are younger and more diverse people.”

As impressive as NPR’s DEI strategy and tactics are, so too is Michael Smith. The second son of “immigrant strivers” from Jamaica as he describes, Michael was raised by a single mother, gained admission and scholarships to Stanford University. Now, he is living his childhood dream of being a leader in media and entertainment.

“I’ve always had this feeling of being the new kid and being outside, and I think there’s something actualizing about the power of being able to have your voice heard, even if it’s not being heard in your day-to-day life. You feel like if you’re making media content, you can be heard by the world. So I think that’s what drew me to it.”

The beneficiary of an 1980s minority-focused internship program at the San Francisco Chronicle Foundation, Michael, like myself, took advantage of internship opportunities designed to address diverse pipeline issues. I benefited from a program at Viacom that still exists, which recruits and trains underrepresented media talent. Throughout our conversation, Michael offers insights from his four decades of navigating the media industry, from an intern to founding the Cooking Channel to the CMO of NPR — as a Black man.

His story is inspiring to anyone who is interested in a career path, but lacks the immediate familial access to knowledge and mentorship in that industry. His combination of hard work, curiosity, creativity and agency provides a blueprint any individual can follow to manifest their professional dreams.

Here are a few highlights from our conversation, curated to help any individual or organization seeking to adapt to societal change and create a safe space for employees of all backgrounds, orientations, races, and beliefs.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

To read the full interview and to follow the developments of “Driving Change” follow us at Curiosity Lab.

1. Understand the business imperative

Listen and learn:

This is NPR’s “number one priority. To really diversify our audience to better reflect and serve America. We’ve always been about making a more informed, and more culturally enriched population through our content, but we haven’t always done it. Our commitment right now is to very much reflect all of America, and put the public back into National Public Radio.”

“It’s really one big thing, which is just believing in the strategy to serve a more diverse America. You need to have a team of people whose life experience is more in line with the customers and service users that you’re serving.”

“If you think about when a brand like NPR started in the 1970s, the country was about 80-85% white. If you think about who the listeners were, most of whom were in colleges, who were in corporations, and all kinds of institutions, it was 80-90% white. We’re at a time now where it’s really changed. For the first time in some states like California, the majority of kids who are in elementary school are of color.”

Act:

Change or risk extinction. It appears NPR sees something that many organizations are failing to prioritize. If you cannot relate to your audience, then you will eventually lose them. Our nation has become more diverse and our nation’s media (and other organizations) need to adapt to meet their audiences’ expectations and sensibilities. Once you identify the core business case for diversity, it unlocks the license to infuse DE+I goals intrinsically into your business strategy, goals, and roadmap.

2. Get educated on the headwinds BIPOC employees face

Listen and learn:

“I know from my own career, when I got out of college and business school and was working on Madison Avenue back in the ’80s at Young & Rubicam, a popular and famous agency. There were only two African-Americans, me and one other gentleman, in the entire company – account management – and they had, I think, about 800 different people in account management.”

“One of the things that I had noticed when I was younger is that a lot of senior executives in media: If you looked at their family backgrounds, their fathers were also in media. Or they had brothers or cousins, or there were the people around the dinner table when they were 12 or 14. Their dad was reading The Wall Street Journal and talking about what was going on at work. They just had certain insights that people, especially BIPOC people, we just didn’t have.”

“In terms of discrimination, I think that the biggest thing that I’ve faced, and I think a lot of people of color have faced, is being underestimated, undervalued and marginalized in terms of what people think your potential could be.”

Act:

In today’s job market, if you wish to foster safety and retain high potential BIPOC employees, it is unwise to ignore the effects of race and privilege. Creating lasting inclusivity requires the hard work of building trust and connection for team members to explore privilege and bias. Peer to peer storytelling can be effective when appropriately moderated and as bonds of trust in organizations are strengthened. Ongoing people-manager training, community gathering, and proactive mentorship programs can help to close the trust gap, and reduce missed opportunities between employers and underrepresented talent.

3. Make long term investments in BIPOC pipeline

Listen and learn:

“When you think about diversity and inclusion across U.S. companies, there are two things going on, and they’re both related to this question of the pipeline. One is getting more people into the pipeline. Two is once they’re in the pipeline, making sure that they actually make it through and thrive.”

“You see, what C-Suite leaders need to do to really make diversity a reality is, first get true buy-in to why this matters. Not just the moral reason behind it, but the business imperative. Because your audience is changing and you’re gonna become a dinosaur if you don’t reflect the people you’re serving outside of your company. You gotta get buy-in at first, and then understand the nuances of the situation. It’s a combination of bringing people into your organization, but more importantly, what do you do once they’re in the organization.”

“I give a lot of credit to, as we talk about diversity, to the San Francisco Chronicle Foundation, which is a newspaper foundation that had created a minority internship program back in the 80s. The idea was to help kids of color get exposure to the business. If it wasn’t for that, I don’t think I would have gotten my foot in the door at the TV station that they owned. And then that led to other internships that I got in the industry and started my career.”

Act:

Content is king and content companies are the king makers. In the cases of media and advertising, as the cost of creating content falls and new platforms for brands and storytellers emerge, the competition for all talent is increasing. In order to create long term demographic shifts, investments need to be made that recruit and support the retention of candidates over an extended period. If you aren’t investing in BIPOC talent, stand back as players from all sectors win the love of the talent and audiences that you covet.

4. Measure the impact of investment in DE+I

Listen and learn:

“We measure our social impact on how many people we reach with our content, and how much of a change we make in our society through that content. When we look at NPR historically: We had about 80% white audience, 20% diverse audience, and that was similar to the country. But if you look at us today, our radio audience is still about 80-20, and the country has changed to digital. So we realize that we’ve gotten out of sync with America, and so we’ve been re-doubling our efforts to make the network younger and more diverse.”

“We’ve had great success in podcasting, because that’s the platform that younger people really resonate with. It’s on demand. They listen on their smartphones. We found that our podcast content, whether it’s shows like How I Built This or Planet Money or Code Switch, or It’s Been a Minute, those shows actually have about a 40% to 45% people of color audience.”

“So we see the path forward. Which is to make content and put it on the platforms where younger people are. We have another series on YouTube, which is another place where young people love to go. It’s called Tiny Desk Concerts, and it’s basically live concerts featuring a wide variety of diverse artists. And that series is bringing in young and very diverse people into the NPR fold. So we just feel like it’s about those series.”

Act:

Numbers don’t lie, unless you want them to. For NPR, by focusing on goals of attracting a younger and more diverse audience, they were able to implement strategies that are yielding the processes and connections necessary to produce the content that appeals to their desired audience. Whether your business goal is to appeal to more consumers, employees, clients or potential partnerships, identifying the business imperative for diversity, equity and inclusion and measuring it clearly, is the most effective tactic of assuring your moral goals remain linked to your business health regardless of leadership or cultural changes.

Watch or listen to highlights of Michael Tennant’s conversation with Michael Smith

About the author

Avoiding platform-dependence pitfalls in content-powered ecommerce

December 16, 2021 Chris M. Sutcliffe – Independent Media Reporter

The ecommerce boom was far and away the biggest trend to have come out of the pandemic – at least for digital media companies. Unsurprisingly, media organizations that had already invested in ecommerce infrastructure and affiliate revenue partnerships reaped big benefits. They made hay while the sun shone.

Good Housekeeping, for instance, saw an increase in ecommerce-powered sales of 567% in March 2020, compared to the same period in the previous year.

Some, like Dennis Publishing owner Exponent, even spun off parts of their businesses that were outperforming in terms of ecommerce. Its automotive-based properties were made into their own dedicated business – Autovia – in March of 2021. It was, as its chairman Peter Plumb noted, an opportunity “for those with the broadest and most engaged reach, the richest audience data and the most trusted brands and content.” They were poised to benefit from the rapid growth in ecommerce.

Meanwhile, Dennis’ future owner Future plc has absolutely dominated the ecommerce space. As countless analysts have pointed out, its long-held aim to own every part of the ecommerce journey from ideation to recommendation to purchase has proven to be a lucrative strategy.

But Future was not content to rest on its laurels. After announcing over $1bn in ecommerce and affiliate revenue in 2020, Future made a number of acquisitions to own even more verticals from top to bottom. As a result, it is set to push into the U.S. Overall, it sees a lot of headroom for its ecommerce ambitions.

And it is ecommerce-focused media companies that continue to grow ecommerce revenue even in the tail end of 2021. So, what do Future and the other huge media ecommerce successes have in common? The answer is down to that end-to-end ownership of a vertical. Though it remains to be seen how long that this strategy will suffice when platforms are also banking the benefits of ecommerce growth.

Putting the ease in ecommerce

One thing that needs to be pointed out is that it isn’t all that hard to simply launch an ecommerce strategy. Forbes has started selling branded items and called it its entrance into the ecommerce space, for instance. Meanwhile BuzzFeed has been loud and proud about its expansion into ecommerce partnerships as well. The company predicts that 18% of its total revenue will come from commerce over 2021. Even the companies whose print holdings are the main point of contact have doubled down on ecommerce technology, with fashion magazines like Grazia including scannable images in their pages.

And since the headroom for growth is so great it is also possible – or even likely – to report success in that area. That is itself cause for celebration. Diversification of revenue streams should be encouraged wherever possible. Even the recently announced tie-up of Vox Media and Group Nine was based in part on their shared investment in ecommerce, with the release stating that “both companies have proven success in bringing their brands to life through commercial licensing, affiliate partnerships, and collaborations with major retailers like West Elm, Target and Old Navy and producing premium capsule collections with, for example, Marc Jacob.”

But the corollary of that is that, in order to be one of those huge successes, you first need to be, well, huge. You need a big audience to sell to. You also need a stockpile of existing content to both demonstrate expertise and to repurpose as affiliate sales material. Hearst’s Kristine Brabson, executive director strategy and editorial insights, elaborated on this to Damian Radcliffe. Of its ecommerce growth, Brabson said “We didn’t suddenly create a bunch of new content…” Instead, the company ensured that the products being recommended on its best-performing pages were actually available for sale. It’s difficult if not impossible to do that from a standing start.

Top to bottom

Just as important as enormous scale and longevity, though, is ensuring that your ecommerce operation is layered throughout the entire operation. Meredith, for example, earned $27.7 million from its affiliate operations in Q2 this year, a 26% year- over-year increase from the same period the year before. And it did so without sacrificing any other revenue strands in service of providing the best possible ecommerce environment.

By contrast – though it has been a boon to the bottom line – the integration of Wirecutter into The New York Times’ wider business does not appear to have been quite as successful. Last month the staff of the affiliate publishing business (acquired by the newspaper in 2016) went on strike and actually urged readers not to make any purchases through the site itself. As NYMag explains: “Wirecutter was always treated as a second-class citizen, isolated in its own Slack, its own offices, and its own reporting structure under Perpich. It never joined the newsroom, and its work was openly sneered at by some long-time staffers. Many Times staffers don’t believe their work is journalism at all.”

A similar omission of an ecommerce-focused division occurred at Vice’s 2020 Newfronts. The company barely mentioned Refinery29, which pre-acquisition by Vice in 2019 had been lauded as a trailblazer for the burgeoning ecommerce space.

As with Forbes’ efforts, mentioned above, simply owning an ecommerce business does not mean that you can take the full advantage of the ecommerce boom. It has to be threaded through the entire business, treated as an integral offering, and allowed access to the entire breadth of the media company’s content. That’s what empowers Future’s success.

The reintegration of platforms

So where does that leave the media companies without the scale to own a vertical or the ability to build ecommerce through the entire business? One early clue comes from LadBible’s recent foray into the space in partnership with TikTok for a two-day “live shopping event”. Sam Oakley, director of social video at LadBible Group, said: “We are always looking for new ways to entertain and give our audience new things to discover and experience. We are proud to work together with TikTok and look forward to seeing our community enjoy a virtual shopping experience.”

While those of us with memories of over-reliance on platforms may balk, the reality is that ecommerce and affiliate revenue already rely in no small part on Amazon and other retailers. It is a growth industry not just for the newspapers and magazines, but for all players. You only have to look at the sheer amount of investment platforms as varied as Snap and Pinterest are putting into their ecommerce tech to spot their intentions are the same as media companies’. In many ways they are outpacing those publishers mentioned above: Pinterest now automatically updates products that are sold out with those that are available. But those publishers do have something platforms can’t replicate so easily – a history of curation and recommendation. Trust, basically. Provided we recognize the value of ecommerce and don’t shunt those teams to the side, we might not end up with the power imbalance between publishers and platforms that we did with advertising. Long may that growth con

Why video might be the key to podcasting success

December 9, 2021 Micaeli Rourke – Independent Media Reporter

Video is the hottest thing in audio right now. Don’t worry, this is not another “pivot to video.” However, an interesting fact emerged as Reuters Institute was formulating the 2021 Digital News Report: YouTube is currently the number one podcasting platform in the United States. According to the report, the video platform is responsible for 26% of podcast consumption in U.S. markets, compared to Apple Podcast’s 22% of listenership, and Spotify’s 17%.

So, why is a platform pretty much synonymous with video dominating the podcast market? We spoke with Damian Radcliffe, digital media analyst and Professor of Practice and Carolyn S. Chambers Professor in Journalism at the University of Oregon, to better understand how publishers can tap into “platform agnosticism” and capitalize on the momentum of this video podcasting trend.

At stake: the ability to deepen audience relationships and build subscriber numbers. Oh, and let’s not forget the $1 billion dollars in ad revenue predicted for the podcasting industry this year ($2 billion by 2023).

Ease of podcast discoverability

Discovery has always been a huge challenge for podcasters. As Radcliffe points out in the report, if you aren’t on the iTunes top 10 or not in the ‘top picks’ on a homepage, it can be really hard to reach audiences.

However, by diversifying away from audio-only products, and incorporating audio into supplemental forms of media, publishers can address that discoverability issue, simply by being in more places. Video platforms like YouTube not only make podcasts easier to discover, they also make them easier to share and to share on social feeds.

“Word of mouth has always been the most powerful marketing tool,” explained Radcliffe. “Being able to tap into the power of peer recommendations is potentially a really powerful and potent tool that podcasting could be doing more with.”

If a dedicated listener is learns from their favorite podcasting platform that they are in the top one percent of This American Life listeners, for example, they may want to let their social network know. When shareability and discoverability are predicated on distinctions or superlatives, as Spotify’s “Wrapped” feature has so deftly demonstrated December after December, the potential reach of the program within that individual’s network is exponentially expanded.

“People are sharing podcasting recommendations with their friends. But that kind of conversation is happening off-platform and podcasters don’t know where those referrals or audiences are coming from,” Radcliffe points out. He thinks that if podcasters can “find a way to close that loop and reward people for spreading the word around their podcasts, I think that could be a really interesting development.”

Widening your distribution strategy

Despite YouTube’s unexpected dominance of podcast distribution, most podcasters aren’t sharing their programs on video platforms exclusively. Rather, they use sites like YouTube as a secondary distribution channel. As a platform with an existing audience base of over two billion users and robust content discoverability, YouTube offers an attractive means for individual podcasters and established media players to reach new audiences.

“Think about this in terms of being a part of the wider distribution strategy for your podcasts and trying to find as many different ways for audiences to find you,” Radcliffe explained. For example he suggests that publishers use RSS feeds to distribute content to as wide a variety of places as possible. And that “video podcasting is just a part of that mix.”

When watching a video podcast that audiences would otherwise only consume through audio, audiences may also feel they are privy to certain “behind the scenes” elements, particularly when watching video versions of their favorite interview podcasts. As an example, Radcliffe cited a 2019 episode of Hotboxin’ with Mike Tyson, featuring Tyson Fury.

“It was a video podcast, and you could absolutely just listen to it. But there was something quite intimate about being able to watch it and see the interaction and pick up on some of the body language nuances that you can’t necessarily get just through audio alone.”

Leading interview podcasts like Crooked Media’s Pod Save America, the Black Girl Podcast, SmartLess, and others have leveraged video to make audiences feel almost as if they are in the room or ‘part of the gang’ as the interview transpires. Given the increased isolation of audiences at the start of the pandemic, that inclusion has become a value proposition for podcasters.

The advantages of micro-content

As print and online media continue to distill content into easily digestible micro-formats, the same appetite for bite-sized content abounds in video podcasting. (This may be credited, in part, to platforms like TikTok that amplify short video clips across the internet.) This shift in format is something many podcasters have learned to use to their advantage.

“There are opportunities to atomize content to produce clips. [Podcasters] can take an hour-long video podcast and break it up into a series of smaller clips. And those smaller clips may well yield larger audiences than the entire full piece,” Radcliffe explained. “That’s going to help in terms of SEO and search results.” It also helps “in terms of content potentially being shared or reaching different audiences.”

By “atomizing” content and creating shorter, standalone clip videos of key moments from full episodes podcasters are more likely to go viral and gain wider audiences who will then go through and relisten to their archive of episodes. (A great example is this clip from Glennon Doyle’s We Can Do Hard Things podcast.)

“Creators have figured out how to make podcasts work on a platform that wasn’t designed for them, leveraging YouTube’s search algorithm to meet new audiences, make more money, and expand into a medium that’s expected to grow rapidly in the coming years,” The Verge’s Julia Alexander wrote back in 2019. “Creating a separate channel for clips lets podcasters take advantage of YouTube’s recommendation algorithm, which surfaces content on specific subjects a viewer is already interested in.”

Bonus: It’s free!

Another big draw for audiences to consume podcasts on YouTube is a simple one… it’s free. According to Edison Research, the number of Americans paying for audio subscriptions has doubled since 2015. With more and more podcasts and platforms going behind paywalls, and more and more consumers encountering subscription fatigue, YouTube is a (seemingly) egalitarian platform where podcast audiences can consume as much content from shows as they desire, regardless of any paywalls the full-length podcasts may be behind.

Lights, camera, action!

If you don’t have video as a part of your podcast offering, don’t panic.

“The thing I would advise against is thinking that you 100% need to do this right now,” cautioned Radcliffe. “You can still have a successful podcasting strategy that doesn’t include video. But increasingly, we will see video as a part of that mix because it enables [podcasters] to reach audiences in different places. It also opens up further opportunities for engagement and interaction.”

Podcasting in the digital age is more than simply audio content, just as written stories are much more than text-only these days. As our digital appetites shift towards brief, shareable video, other media products are certainly not destined for obsolescence. But multimedia is irrefutably the name of the digital game. So it’s only natural that, as podcasting matures, it is branching out of our headphones and onto our screens.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion | Featured Post

Precious resources: Havas’ Juliana Akoumouh on the competition for diverse talent

December 2, 2021 Michael Tennant – Founder of Curiosity Lab, Creator of Actually Curious

 Illustration by Rebecca Ustrell

From the narrative-changing storytelling initiative, “Driving Change From the Inside“, a look at the DE+I movement in organizations across the country.

Madison Avenue has long been one of the most coveted industries to work for in America. Today advertising stands among the masses anxiously awaiting the end of the pandemic while striving to adapt workplace culture to address the “great reshuffle” happening in the U.S. job market.

Every major industry has been faced with a reckoning around equitable opportunity and a need to attract and retain diverse talent. For advertising, this has been keenly felt as it becomes increasingly evident that messaging that reflects the audiences it serves is best created by diverse talent. To put this industry’s situation into context: In 2020, major Advertising holding companies responded to the fallout following the rise of the Black and AAPI advocacy movements with grand pledges to correct the inequities being denounced on a National and International level. A full year later, despite what appears to have been a genuine effort across the industry, the incremental advancements have been underwhelming.

Like many of the holding companies, Havas Group released its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Stats in Q3 of 2021. It showed improvement—and room for improvement. Havas Group North America increased the number of diverse employees across all career levels within its U.S. offices by 3% between July 2020 and June 2021. A closer look at the data shows Hispanics/Latinos were up 1.6%, followed by Asians at 1%, multiracial people at .2%, and American Indians/Pacific Islanders and Black people at .014% each.

But these numbers only paint part of the picture. So, I sat down with Juliana Akoumouh, Chief Culture Officer and Head of Diversity Equity and Inclusion at Havas North America to get a holistic view inside this agency group. Julianna’s job as the NA DE&I lead is to work closely with Havas’s global talent leader, as well as agency CEOs, to help them bring their DEI efforts to life and make them successful.

As Julianana describes it:

“We’re in the middle of the most dramatic talent management situation I’ve ever seen. People are reflecting on the world around them, on their careers, on their lives, what’s valuable to them, what makes them happy. We’re in a major talent shift.”

“We’re in a moment where, and it’s not just us, retention is a challenge. There’s a moment happening right now from a talent perspective where, certainly for under-represented talent, that they’re being sought out. So it is challenging to keep talent.”

Our conversation was a deeply personal interview for myself, an admitted Media and Advertising refugee who went out on my own because of a lack of feeling safe and inspired within workplace culture. A strategic and thoughtful HR leader, Julianna has felt this first hand. Speaking candidly with me, this outspoken change agent reveals that she has seen her fair share of conscious and unconscious biases on her way to excellence in her chosen path.

“You don’t hear it in the words. You may not hear it as discrimination. But I understood that they were talking about me as other.”

To address the ongoing and emerging issues in HR, Julianna describes the all-hands approach she’s part of. It spans a network of hand raisers, executive leaders, and employee resource groups. This community of people within Havas Group have come together to weather these uncertain times, while laying the foundation for a more inclusive workplace.

“I’m really optimistic that our numbers will be better. They could not have gone in the opposite direction with the level of attention and focus that we’ve had in every agency, with every leader, with every open role. So I’m optimistic. We’ll be reviewing our data and sharing [more] in the coming months. I’m really excited to see the progress that we’ve made. I know that it will be in the right direction.”

Below are a few highlights from our conversation (full transcript), curated to help any individual or organization seeking to create a safe space for employees of all backgrounds, orientations, races, and beliefs.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

To read the full interview and to follow the developments of “Driving Change” follow us at Curiosity Lab.

1. Have the difficult but necessary conversations

Listen and learn

“I think there’s a lot of value in just saying how you feel plainly so that we can actually deal with what the matters are at hand, for better problem-solving.”
“It’s difficult for people. And I understand why. But we can still work towards it.”
“I definitely want every individual to be personally accountable and understand their role in change. At the same time, I am very aware of each individual’s challenges in trying to prioritize all of these things that really matter. Our business matters. Inclusion matters in order for us to have a successful business. That’s my belief.”
“When someone identifies a situation as difficult, no matter what it is, I try to break that thing down in a way that’s digestible and give specific steps or a new way of looking at the situation that will help them still move through it.”
“That’s how we’re gonna make that progress consistently: Consistently pushing.”

Act

The tragic events of 2020 and early 2021 made our entire nation stop and pay attention to issues of inequity across our society. However, achieving measurable and sustainable progress will require leaders across all levels to continue difficult but necessary conversations about workplace inequity, safety, and culture change. In an increasingly competitive job market for top diverse talent, this is no longer an altruistic goal. It has become a business imperative to commit to sustaining the conversations that lead to inclusive workplaces and cultures.

2. Invest in this talent-driven market

Listen and learn

“We’re in the middle of the most dramatic talent management situation I’ve ever seen. People are reflecting on the world around them, on their careers, on their lives, what’s valuable to them, what makes them happy, and we’re in a major talent shift.”
“We’re in a moment where, and it’s not just us, retention is a challenge… There’s a moment happening right now from a talent perspective where, certainly for under-represented talent, that they’re being sought out. So it is challenging to keep talent. “
“I hope that all of the angles by which we’re trying to tackle this will signal to any current employees or people joining the organization that we take inclusion, belonging, and safety seriously.”
“I think our recruiters in the past have done a really good job of bringing diverse talent to the table. But we’ve seen in the past, how they don’t make it through. That diverse talent doesn’t make it through to the internship or beyond. So now, as an organization, we’ve been talking about how much this moment of access matters.”

Act

Having difficulty hiring diverse talent? You are not alone. We are in the midst of a hiring crisis, only exacerbated by a reckoning around employee burnout and renewed calls for more supportive work environments. Unfortunately, long standing issues with attracting and retaining under-represented talent creates a further issue in the lack of representation in mid- and upper-level management. This, in turn, makes it a challenge to recruit at all levels. Breaking this cycle will require a significant investment. Hiring top talent will require top dollars and filling the pipeline with good young talent will require proactive investment in training and PR to raise awareness, interest, and access in underrepresented communities.

3. Reshape corporate norms

Listen and learn

“The working environment or what it means to work together in an office space and the experience of collaborating will be changed for the better, for the future.”
“The talent is demanding it. In order for us or any organization in this industry to stay competitive from a talent retention standpoint, you’re going to have to do things differently to keep people and keep them happy. There’s going to be a shift in terms of what we think about the future of work, that people will have to adjust to. Be different and think differently.“
“I think that as we start to see demographics shift, we’ll also see corporate culture shift. Corporate culture meaning, when we think about what’s “professional” or what’s corporate. A lot of those standards have been very white-centered and very eurocentric.”
“From appearance, to tone of voice, to the language that’s used in corporate culture. Even how we interact with people will be different. Because we will have more backgrounds of people that communicate in ways that we hope are based more on empathy. Based more on honesty. Based more in vulnerability and safety. And that will definitely challenge corporate culture.”

Act

Leadership teams that are more male and more white than the populations they support are finding themselves out of touch with the desires of their staff. An inclusive workplace is not one in which everyone is invited to conform to a “corporate norm.” The very notion limits who will raise their hand to participate.

Once we’re able to acknowledge the likely existence of unconscious biases in ourselves and our organizations, the process of deep listening can begin. In order to remake corporate culture to meet the needs of the future workforce we need to involve them in the process. From investing in eye opening programming, to adapting past customs and expectations to address issues of burnout and mental health, staying competitive will require shifts that ask leaders to check their egos and acknowledge their blind spots.

4. Practice gratitude for the wins

Listen and learn

“I’m very grateful that the work that I’ve done over the last year in terms of sharing an approach for employee resource groups and in sharing a framework for DEI initiatives and audits has been received. I’ve been received with very open arms. It means that other people can share their ideas too.”
“I am really grateful for the women of color being added to senior leadership positions within the organization. They are dynamic and wonderful, and thoughtful, and I’m so happy to not be the only at such a senior level. “
“I am grateful for all of our employee resource groups and their leadership. We have staff across the entire network who are so passionate, who have real-life experience and pain that they work through and share with the entire network. And every moment of those shares, I have extreme gratitude for, because people are baring their souls, and everyone has the opportunity to be better for it.”

Act

For DE+I leaders like Julianna Akuamoah, the pursuit of a more safe, equitable, and inclusive workplace is the result of a life of facing and overcoming the very challenges our culture is confronting today. Understanding her experience teaches that driving change is a marathon-like endeavor that requires patience, strategy, and grace — empathetic qualities that all leaders should have. Taking a moment to reflect on and celebrate your wins helps to cultivate the consistency, poise, and resilience required to face these challenges over the long haul.

Watch or listen to highlights of Michael and Julianna’s conversation:

About the author

Avoid the hype. Focus on policy for 2022.

November 18, 2021 Jason Kint, CEO – DCN

From political races to red carpet award shows and global sports competitions, there are very few “franchises” that aren’t being stretched longer and longer to capitalize on the public’s interest. We find ourselves once again at the time of year when industry prognosticators offer their curated lists, social media hot takes, and opinion pieces in an attempt to memorialize the most important events of 2021 and to make predictions for 2022.

In tech and internet policy circles, this cycle seems ironic, given that forecasts are delivered daily – often several times a day, depending on the latest news cycles. But as we head into the final stretch of 2021, I have a few thoughts about how we need to avoid the distractions and stay focused on the one big change likely to occur in the new year.

Reality check

To start, I’ll set the table on what I am skeptical about focusing on as we move forward: anything “metaverse” or “creator economy.” And I’ve got some good reasons to hope that, as we head into a new year, we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past.

Amidst the current hype around virtual worlds, augmented reality has certainly emerged as a powerful tool. And it is entirely possible that virtual reality will have practical applications beyond gaming (and not akin to never-quite-there 3D TV).

However, I feel compelled to remind everyone how the pivot to video became an industry obsession. That massive shift was not because of consumer demand; it was driven by Mark Zuckerberg’s 2016 prediction that nearly everything on his kingmaker platform would be video within five years.

So much has happened in the ensuing five years, not the least of which has been a steady and escalating series of revelations of how utterly deceiving this particular CEO and his company have been. And, unsurprisingly (at least in retrospect), we learned that this prediction was at least partially built on a Facebook deception. And, while we can ask ourselves why we had so many years when Facebook said “jump” and publishers and marketers blindly responded, “how high?” – perhaps the most enduring and meaningful lessons are learned from mis takes.

Facebook is not alone in the self-serving prophecy business though. Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages also became an industry obsession, not because it was in the consumers’ best interests as Google claimed. Rather, it was simply a function of another industry-take-all-platform shaping the market to its liking. As we recently learned in unsealed antitrust allegations, it was a means for Google to bolster its advertising interests by slowing down competition.

Creative control

The hype cycle is also obsessed with the “creator economy.” There is an absolute flurry of innovation in providing platforms for individual creators. Though this isn’t entirely new. Google’s YouTube, for example, has both inspired and capitalized on it for ages. The same can be said more recently about TikTok.

Yes, it is very exciting to watch. However, these creator models are essentially comprised of typical vendor services: subscriptions, newsletters, distribution and, more recently, audio services. It’s not a coincidence that much of the investment and press hype—bordering on industry obsession—can be tied back to Facebook or its board of directors. Don’t forget that the company has its own Substack-like “creator platform,” Bulletin. Neither the hype nor the investment is surprising, though, given Facebook’s longstanding interest in disrupting media institutions.

What you should really be watching in 2022

The most important industry story of 2022 will continue to be the at-times dull, but critically important, accountability around antitrust and data policy. We can thank Facebook and Google for adding a sprinkle of excitement to these conversations through whistleblowers, code names (Project NERA, Bernanke, Jedi Blue, and Poirot to name a few) and improperly filed redactions. As an increasing number of privacy laws come into effect, regulators may want to consider more Star Wars-inspired naming conventions to spice things up a bit.

Names notwithstanding, we are going to see regulation continue to intensify next year. In the near term, Europe appears set to finalize two landmark regulations: the Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act. If these prevail, Europe will be first to have a purpose-built “gatekeeper” law for the 21^st century.

The Digital Markets Act addresses the imbalance in negotiating power in a networked economy that results in both individuals and businesses lacking autonomy and choice, which harms the public at large. It recognizes that no individual publisher or consumer can truly opt-out of Google’s search engine that scrapes the entirety of our lives via the internet. Almost as impossible to avoid are Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, which connect people to communities. And then there’s the binary mobile and app store marketplace, delivered by Apple’s iOS or Google’s Android.

With this level of market power, publishers and consumers have little to no choice in negotiating rights to their data and consent with these powerful gatekeepers. The European approach mirrors the work of Australia’s competition and consumer protection regulator — and it looks like U.S. authorities are headed in the same direction. In a market dominated by superpowers, regulation follows to govern how that market power is used or abused.

The Digital Services Act will then modernize the rules for content liability and possibly how advertising can be targeted when based on surveillance capitalism by companies that, in many cases, consumers don’t even intend to interact with. The DSA and DMA have two main goals: First, to create a safer digital space in which the fundamental rights of all users of digital services are protected. And second, to establish a level playing field to foster innovation, growth, and competitiveness, both in the European Single Market and globally. Not many can argue against these goals, it’s only a matter of whether the legislation will achieve them.

Bringing it home

In the U.S., California’s CCPA is currently the strongest data protection law for digital advertising stateside, followed closely by Colorado’s new law. However, as state and federal laws are negotiated to carry the baton, all eyes and minds are on Europe. There is an acute concern about making sure to address market power and create a sustainable path for publishers going forward, one that isn’t determined for us by industry gatekeepers like Facebook, Google and Apple. This likely requires laws that directly integrate competition and data policy rather than developing rules in the same room as the industry titans, which has failed to result in anything fair if even legal.

So, as we look forward, let’s not repeat the mistakes of the past. When the dominant digital power players press their self-serving agendas, we do not have to buy in. We don’t have to follow their lead. We don’t have to amplify their messages. And for goodness’ sake, we do not need to pivot.

Instead, we should stand our ground, steady on the bedrock of consumer trust and responsible business practices. If 2021 showed us anything, it is that consumers value great content. It’s what we do. And we will continue to do it well. Nothing meta about that.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion | Featured Post

Safe space: Exploring NASA’s equity efforts with Edward Gonzales

November 11, 2021 Michael Tennant – Founder of Curiosity Lab, Creator of Actually Curious

Illustration by Rebecca Ustrell

From the narrative-changing storytelling initiative, “Driving Change From the Inside“, a look at the DE+I movement in organizations across the country.

CHECK OUT THE FULL SERIES HERE: Summaries, Key takeaways, and Video Highlights

During the same summer that two billionaires made private space travel a reality, NASA announced an $18M investment in STEM diversity. But what’s it look like behind the headlines?

NASA’s investment in STEM diversity signals that the importance of recruiting, training, and maintaining a diverse workforce has risen in priority. This is a positive sign following a year that saw our nation wake up to the realities of injustice and inequality and their effect on government public service (law enforcement in particular). With government agencies under a microscope in the wake of an embattled and racially charged Presidential transition, we were grateful to have the opportunity to sit down with Edward Gonzales, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion lead for Heliophysics at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, as part of our series Driving Change from the Inside.

Eddie describes his childhood in West Covina, California as something like “Leave it to Beaver,” the idyllic 1950 tv series. However, he says his neighborhood started to change when he was about eight due to a growing gang – and police – presence. He describes it as going “from crayons to handcuffs in a very short time.” When he was 13, his father passed. Then, just months later at age 14, he was heading home from baseball practice when he heard sirens. Suddenly, police cars were everywhere and he knew something bad was going down. What he didn’t expect was to end up brutalized and handcuffed in the back of a police car.

Turns out the suspect they’d been chasing was a 6’4″ blonde haired 30-something. Given his treatment at the hands of the police, his family filed an accusation of police brutality. He describes that as game changing; it ruined his life at the time.

“When I walked to school, I was harassed by the police. When I was old enough to drive, I was pulled over probably about five to six times a week. Most times, they’d make me late for school. Try to explain that to a homeroom teacher. They never believed my reasons for being late because a lot of teachers, families, and students saw what happened that day and assumed that I deserved it and must have done something wrong. No one would listen to me. It really had a domino effect. That one day of being harassed and complaining about it. I paid the price for it throughout my high school years.”

Right out of high school, he got his girlfriend pregnant and worked multiple jobs to support his young family. But a neighbor who believed in him suggested he take a job at an LA law firm in the mail room. He did. And like an American dream, he worked his way up from the mail room to coordinator, then supervisor, then manager. He credits much of this to his father instilling a work ethic in him at an early age.

And – though he passed decades before Eddie took his first role at NASA – his father was instrumental in that move as well. When Eddie was five, his father brought him into the house and said,

“I want you to see this. It was Apollo 13. Not the movie. The actual Apollo 13 when it was happening for real. And for those of you that are unaware of Apollo 13, I encourage you to Google it. These astronauts were on their way to the moon. They ran into an anomaly, and not only were they not gonna make it to the moon, there was a good possibility that they weren’t gonna make it back to earth. But the flight director, Gene Kranz, and the amazing people that worked at NASA as a team brought those astronauts home safely.”

Beyond the clear fact of introducing a young Eddie to the otherworldly idea of supporting missions to outer space, he says it shaped his thinking in a way that persists today. “Failure is not an option. Let’s come up with solutions … watching that whole thing take place, I thought, I want to work for NASA. Not as an astronaut. But as some sort of problem solver. And if I could help people, that would be my dream.”

He joined NASA in 2001. His 20 years there has seen him in many roles. However, from his first day on the job he found himself naturally drawn to the role of mentor and connector. Yet it was not until 2018 when his title first recognized his passion as Principle of STEM Engagement for Underserved and Underrepresented. And just this year he was named Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Lead. In a wide ranging interview, Eddie describes his early childhood, the persistent cultural forces, and the work journey that led him to the role he has today. He also outlines the evolution of NASA’s equity journey – both highs and lows.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Here are a few highlights from our conversation (full transcript), which should be helpful to any individual or organization seeking to create a safe space for employees of all backgrounds, orientations, races, and abilities to feel confident that they will not be exposed to discrimination, criticism, harassment, or any other emotional or physical harm.

1. Inclusion takes active leadership

Listen and learn

“One of the things that I’m really excited about is our leadership. Not just in Heliophysics, my division, but as a center. They want to make a difference. They want to make a change. I mentioned to them that conversations are going to be uncomfortable, and if they weren’t uncomfortable, then we’re not talking about diversity. So they’re in it. I’ve seen a lot of changes already. I’m excited about it.”

“It’s gotta come from our leadership. They have to be champions of this work, and they are. It also takes community. I love celebrating the role our affinity groups play. Using the AISES group as an example, which is a Hispanic, Latinx affinity group at Goddard, they are amazing at not only taking care of “their own,” but supporting others who are moving to the area and in need of advice. The types of advice that make people feel important, make people feel safe, make people feel equal. The affinity groups are playing a huge role. Whether they’re an ally or whether they actually belong to that affinity group. I think that plays a huge role in being successful. Having a place where people feel equal, important and safe.”

Act

We hear it all the time: change starts at the top. But the reality is that leadership comes from every point in an organization. Not only do we need to see diversity reflected in all levels, we need to actively infuse our management and hiring processes with the tools to empower leaders to do more than set goals, but to achieve them.

2. Say it loud, and outloud

Listen and learn

“In 2008, a memo went out to everyone at NASA Jet Propulsion laboratory. In that memo, it said, if you have any piercings, if you have any tattoos, if you’ve got pink, green, purple, whatever color your hair is, we want you to bring your personality to work. We are eliminating the dress code. Now, as long as it’s not of a sexual nature, or it’s going to offend somebody, feel free to be who you are.”

Act

Maybe your organization doesn’t yet reflect the diverse picture you imagine. Maybe there are issues of diversity you’ve not yet considered. From “professional hair” to “business attire” we create limitations on who can (or “should”) belong in our organizations. Making a clear statement that everyone is encouraged to openly express who they are, to truly be who they are, opens a door to diversity.

3. Active listening is essential

Listen and learn

“When I went to NASA Goddard in 2018…if you will recall, after Rodney King there was George Floyd, may he rest in peace. Because of that, our Center started having listening sessions. People would talk about different things that have happened to them in their childhood.”

“The people that work at Goddard, specifically, the white people, if you will, don’t take the approach of making all these necessary changes. They’re here to listen. “What is it that we can do to be a better ally for you?” They’re not trying to overstep, saying, “Okay, I have a Mexican friend, so therefore I’ve got this all figured out. No. They’re really in it to win it. And they’re doing all of the necessary things. I believe. It starts with educating yourself. Figuring out ways to do that. You could then go to some of the affinity group meetings and listen. You could go to different listening groups and hear the challenges that under-represented groups may go through, that they may not have ever gone through.”

Act

From coffee carts to moderated chats and regular listening and discussion sessions there are many ways that organizations can create discourse among different employees. And differences range from race and class to job titles, departments and divisions. Organizations that encourage open communication foster a level of understanding that will fuel compassion and creativity.

4. Mentorship is a valuable investment

Listen and learn

“Our network is our net worth. It really is. There are non-traditional ways of bringing in people of color from underserved, underrepresented communities. They just need the opportunity. We want to make sure that we create and tell them about those opportunities.”

“NASA continues to collaborate and partner with organizations to let them know that we’re here and we’re going to let them know about internship opportunities, early career hire opportunities, mid-career opportunities, and so on. If we are looking for a specific engineer, say, in Computer Science, that knows how to use a specific coding software program. We can go to minority serving institutions, HBCUs, and so forth and ask them to pull resumes that match. We can provide resumes that NASA may not have been able to see or have access to…. We’re letting the lab chiefs and people in decision making positions know that these organizations exist.”

“When I mentor students, they ask me, “Eddie, what can I do to pay you back?” And I always say “pay forward.” Mentor the next generation of leaders that are coming. If somebody asks you a question, respond. Respond to your emails. If you do a presentation at a school or an elementary school that you used to go to, notice if there’s a child in that room that really needs help. Help that person.”

Act

Identify organizations, universities, and community groups with which you can partner to open new pathways to success. Recognize that excellent employees come not just from “top universities” but may well have had to attend night school or community college while supporting a family and being an excellent employee at several part time jobs. And, as an individual, invest your time and energy in conversations with new hires or information seekers. The investment will pay dividends.

Watch or listen to highlights of Michael and Eddie’s conversation:

About the author

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion | Featured Post

Introducing a new DE&I series: Driving change from the inside

November 10, 2021 Michael Tennant – Founder of Curiosity Lab, Creator of Actually Curious

Illustration by Rebecca Ustrell

In the pop culture zeitgeist “Game of Thrones,” the Hand of the King bears the burden of their leaders’ whims. So too might our generation’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) leaders when the health of an organization hinges on its leadership’s ability to foster a feeling of safety internally. That means creating an environment where employees of all levels, backgrounds, and abilities feel confident that they will not be exposed to discrimination, criticism, harassment, or any other emotional or physical harm.

Life on the front lines or cutting edge of anything can be a lonely place. But particularly heavy lies the crown of those who are the cornerstones of transforming the future of workplace culture.

With this in mind, we’d like to introduce some of the leaders on the front lines of the diversity, equity, and inclusion movement. These leaders’ each have a personal story that informs the work they do and how they got there. They also posses practical knowledge and experience that can help others make lasting change in their organizations. Over the next few months we’ll share conversations with DE&I leaders from a range of organizations to understand, and learn from, their efforts to support enduring change.

History repeats itself

Last year, organizations across the country pledged to make advancements in diversity equity and inclusion in response to the racial justice movement that arose following the murder of George Floyd. Outraged by the actions of public officers, our country began to look inward at the inequity and injustice surrounding us. Once again, it exposed the lack of representation, psychological and even physical safety existing in our communities and places of work. So, a generation of newly minted and veteran DE&I leaders were empowered – and pressed – to devise and advance equitable agendas.

Meanwhile, optimistic albeit cynical onlookers like myself (an entrepreneur and self identified corporate refugee) could not help but recall similar awakenings in the past. This isn’t the first time outrage has rippled through corporate America. Unfortunately, time and again, we’ve witnessed committed companies and leaders fade into the chorus beneath the lead notes of profits and quarterly goals.

An empathetic approach

After a year working with these leaders as an empathy training consultant, I learned that many of them have overcome a kaleidoscope of challenges themselves. I chose to lay my judgments to the side and to see them as the allies and change-leaders that they are, particularly given a lack of precedent (and often leadership) to guide them.

In an effort to support other optimistic and like-minded leaders, I decided to do my part to help unlock and share their wisdom, elevating their voices so that peers and supporters can hear them. This new project, Driving Change From the Inside, distills insights from intimate conversation with leaders at a range of organizations including NASA, NPR, Robin Hood Foundation, and Havas Group. It is about those who are leading the charge of change to correct issues of discrimination, harassment, emotional harm, and inequity.

Tactics and takeaways

The series dives into the practical tactics and best practices leaders want to learn about and enact. It also offers an intimate look at the people serving in these roles. What we find is that their success requires the passion and support of all the people around them – from the CEO and the board to the entire executive team and leadership team, and rank and file employees who share the mission and belief.

We hope that viewers and readers will open their compassion as they experience the backstory of these individuals as well as the complicated layers of their present. As one interviewee said, “we’re running the same race but with different roadblocks.”

Driving change

All of our interview subjects have attained great achievement. Their stories are remarkable, but far from over. These conversations provide insight into the work required to establish and maintain a culture that fosters the DE&I agenda, including the steps our guests have taken, the processes and procedures they’ve implemented, and the support systems they’ve needed to achieve short- and long-term goals.

In the absence of an inclusive and empathetic past to guide us, these pioneers are writing a guide book that we all can put to work in our own organizations. Through these conversations, we can begin to understand the “why” behind what leaders do that equips them to show up day after day in the arena, bloodied while projecting grace, and Driving Change From the Inside. Their experiences and insights give us hope and support as we shape the future of work with diversity and empathy at the core.

Key takeaways, highlight videos and full interviews:

Safe Space: Exploring NASA’s equity efforts with Edward Gonzales

Precious resources: Havas’ Juliana Akoumouh on the competition for diverse talent

Reflecting America: Michael Smith on putting the public back into NPR

Accelerate mobility: Robin Hood’s Stephanie Royal on how anti-racism fuels innovation

About the author

“I Feel Seen”: How HBR connects with Gen Z through video

November 4, 2021 Kelsey Alpaio, Associate Editor – Harvard Business Review

“What side of TikTok are you on?”

The contents of your TikTok “For You” page, a stream of videos curated by the near-omniscient algorithm, says a lot about what you stand for, who you are, and what you like. It’s part of what draws audiences to the platform. When you open the app, you know what to expect. And, better yet, you know you’ll like it.

This type of personal experience is what digitally native audiences have come to not just enjoy, but expect, from the content they consume. If it isn’t authentic, vulnerable, and personal, they don’t want it.

So, when it came time to reimagine what video content would look like for Ascend, Harvard Business Review’s brand for young professionals, we knew we’d have to make it real. We knew we’d have to take a host-driven approach. And we knew we’d have to meet our audience where they are. On TikTok, yes, but also on YouTube, Instagram, and whatever comes next.

Appearing as on-camera hosts, being authentic in front of an audience of millions, and making sure that audience feels engaged — this is all easier said than done. Here’s how we make it work at HBR, and some tips on how to make it work for you and your audiences.

Authenticity and vulnerability are necessities.

Obviously, neither video nor social media was new for HBR in 2020. But that was the year Christine vs. Work marked the first show that we designed specifically and primarily for YouTube. This meant leaning into a host’s personality (in addition to credibility), embracing mistakes that make us human (the word “flawesome” is often applied), and creating a dialogue with our audience.

In each episode, I (Christine) address a real work dilemma, seek advice from experts, and then put that advice into practice (with varying levels of awkwardness). Although I feel like I “should” know the answers to my biggest career questions by this point in my path as a manager, I often don’t — or I’m not confident about them. In Christine vs. Work, I’m honest about that. It’s that vulnerability, which many can relate to, that earns the trust of our audience.

The same goes for Career Crush, another host-driven, YouTube-first series we launched in 2021. In this show, I (Kelsey) interview people with my “dream” careers to get to the bottom of what their jobs are really like. I dive into how much money they make, misconceptions about their roles, and whether they actually enjoy what they do for a living. Most of the time, I have no idea what it takes to get a job like theirs, and I don’t pretend that I do. After all, I’m not an expert in software engineering, or Twitch streaming, or photography. I’m still in my early career, too. So, the questions I ask and the ideas I uncover are based on things I’m genuinely curious about. That curiosity is crucial to creating a connection with our viewers.

A key element to making this work is to remember that you can’t manufacture “realness” and “authenticity.” We film in our own homes as much as the office (a necessity during lockdown), process complex emotions on camera, and are transparent about ourselves in front of a virtual global audience. It’s not always easy for us as hosts, but the human connection that forms from sharing our vulnerability is a lasting one. That’s particularly important for bridging the HBR brand to Gen Z audiences and reassuring them that we’re here for them in a world where it’s harder than ever to determine what is real and who to trust.

More voices, more perspectives.

We’ve learned, as individual hosts bringing our authentic selves to the fore, we’re not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. That’s precisely the point: We want our audience to connect with whoever they vibe with most. And, when it comes to host-driven content, that means diversifying the personalities, voices, and perspectives on our channels.

We put great care in our guest selection to fulfill that mission. In Christine vs. Work, we feature practitioners in addition to academics and thought leaders from around the world. In Career Crush, there’s no substitute for hearing first-person accounts of what it’s like working in a specific role or industry.

We also think carefully about the “faces” of Ascend. By design, our TikTok channel isn’t led by any single content creator. Although there are recurring familiar faces that deliver a regular dose of work advice and office humor, we encourage each presenting editor to lean into their distinct and authentic storytelling style. Plus, anyone in the company who wants to pitch, write, shoot, or star in a TikTok is welcome to join the party (a.k.a our weekly brainstorm). Who knows whose video will go viral next?

Lastly, we recently launched a pilot called HBR Presents on our video platforms. In this initiative, we partner with and feature talented external creators to share their expertise on topics like personal finance, early career, and email etiquette. The vision is to thoughtfully grow this creator network, expanding our offerings for an audience hungry for helpful and engaging content delivered in a relatable way.

To put it simply: You can’t have authenticity without hosts who are willing to be vulnerable. Expand your pool of hosts, make it diverse in every sense of the word, and never pair a host with a video or topic that doesn’t resonate with them. Audiences can spot an uniterested host from a mile away.

We’re listening. You matter.

What’s most exciting about our roles as hosts and producers is that we’re able to forge a connection, through our own voices, with our audience. Whatever platform or channel, we commit to reading the comments, replying as ourselves, and responding to questions and stories that others have shared with empathy and insight. We take viewer requests and incorporate them into future episodes. In addition to performance analytics and audience data, we’re able to synthesize viewer feedback to inform Ascend editorial projects across the board. With host-driven video, audiences keep coming back not just for the content, but for the hosts themselves. So creating that engagement — that direct connection — matters.

Long story short, we’re listeners, not lecturers. This philosophy defines our commitment as editors. We also represent a piece of Harvard, for an audience that demands — and deserves — a brand they can trust.

And if you find us on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, or Ascend, our goal is that you’ll feel like this content is delightfully “for you.”

About the authors

Kelsey Alpaio is an Associate Editor at Harvard Business Review.

Christine Liu is the innovation editor at Harvard Business Publishing’s product incubator.

Advertising | Featured Post | Policy

An unredacted view into Google’s unbridled ambition

October 28, 2021 Chris Pedigo, SVP Government Affairs – DCN

Google takes somewhere between 22% and 42% of all the money flowing through its ad system, according to the unredacted version of the Southern District of New York federal case, Texas v Google, which was unsealed last week. While we knew or suspected many of the revelations, surprising new details were uncovered including internal communications that expose just how big their ambitions are the and tactics they take. The case and the supporting evidence present a chilling and calculated effort by Google to squash all competition. There is much to unpack in the newly released documents, but I’ll focus on three aspects that jumped out to me.

Google fees

It has always been unclear how much Google charges when it is involved with an ad. However, the recent evidence shows that they charge on all sides of the transaction — and they charge a lot. The suit lays out the scope of Google’s ad business: “Google operates the largest electronic trading market in existence.” In fact, it appears that 75% of all ad impressions in the United States were served by Google’s Ad Manager. In Google’s words, “more daily transactions are made on AdX than on the NYSE and NASDAQ combined.” Eleven billion online ad spaces each day.

At the same time, Google owns the largest buy-side and sell-side advertising platforms. As one senior Google employee admitted, “(t)he analogy would be if Goldman or Citibank owned the NYSE.” More accurately, the analogy would be if Goldman or Citibank were a monopoly financial broker and owned the NYSE, which was a monopoly exchange.

And, because of this dominant position on all sides of the market, Google can charge monopoly rents. Most ad exchanges charge a take rate of four to five percent of ad spend. Google takes 22 to 42 percent. And, on top of that, Google charges another 10% if a publisher wants to divert inventory outside of Google’s system.

Oh, and that’s just on the sell side. The suit lays out similar predatory fees and anticompetitive practices on the buy side as well.

Header bidding, an existential threat

When “header bidding” came along, it offered publishers the ability to make their ad inventory available to multiple ad exchanges simultaneously, fostering competition and innovation. Publishers hoped it would give them greater flexibility to monetize their ad inventory and increased leverage to negotiate better deal terms – something that would have resembled a healthy marketplace. Apparently, the very notion of header bidding hit hard at Google’s core.

As noted in the evidence, Google identified header bidding as an “existential threat.” In the unsealed complaint, we see that one of Google’s most senior executives declared eliminating the threat his top priority, which merited an “all-hands on deck approach” for the leadership team.

Then, in a stunning play to protect its dominance, Google struck a covert deal with Facebook. At the time, Facebook was actively considering getting into the header bidding space, which would have put them on a direct path of competition with Google. However, both companies recognized that they had more to gain by fixing the market for themselves than by competing openly.

The unsealed evidence reveals that a senior Facebook executive understood why Google wanted the deal: “They want to kill header bidding.” That’s a clear quid pro quo around an alleged violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act. This could translate into criminal charges, depending on how the courts see this evidence.

Google also promised that Facebook would win a certain percentage of auctions in open bidding, Google’s alternative to header bidding. In return, Facebook promised a minimum spend and bidding frequency. They also capped the number of line-items that publishers could use, which severely hindered publishers’ ability to use header bidding. Google likely figured that it would pressure publishers to use open bidding instead.

Finally, after pushback from Facebook, Google agreed to remove the ability for publishers to set a floor price for their inventory. In Google’s ad marketplace, which was already stacked against publishers, this tilted the playing field even further in favor of Google and Facebook.

AMP, the offer publishers could not refuse

Google created a new format for content creators called Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), which was pitched as a way to improve the consumer experience on mobile. Not coincidentally, Google announced that it would start giving priority to AMP pages in search results, which gave the Google-led project a path to fast adoption. Essentially, Google made an offer that no publisher could refuse: Use AMP or lose the ability to be found via the dominant search engine.

Despite Google’s claims, there are multiple benefits for Google’s business baked into AMP, as well as downsides for publishers:

It’s a Google domain so Google can collect even more data as a first party about a publisher’s audience;
Custom ad formats don’t work on AMP, nor does header bidding, so publishers make less money (40% less according to Google);
It’s another platform that requires resources to manage; and
The unredacted documents show that Google also inserted an artificial one-second delay into non-AMP pages in order to give AMP “a nice competitive boost.”

The takeaway

All this new evidence shines a bright light on a pattern of behavior by Google to close off competition at every turn. Suffice to say that the harm to publishers has been dramatic. Google’s goal was not to build better products or services. And it certainly wasn’t trying to improve the overall health of the advertising ecosystem.

In these unredacted transcripts, we see the details of Google’s anticompetitive strategy articulated in Google executives’ own words. Their goal was to choke out competition: by killing off a new technology that would have improved the health of digital advertising; by cutting a deal with Facebook to rig the market; and by forcing publishers to use AMP.

I expect this case will only get more attention going forward. We are likely to see additional private suits filed as competitors realize they were conned by Google (and Facebook). I suspect we will see additional states join this lawsuit or file similar suits as it is clear that consumers were harmed by a dysfunctional market.

Finally, many speculate that the Department of Justice could add its considerable weight to this fight as soon as Jonathan Kanter is confirmed as the head of the antitrust division. Given the scope and impact of this case, we welcome any and all help to fight one of the most brazen examples of anticompetitive behavior in recent memory.

The newsletter boom: capitalizing on the intimacy of the inbox

October 21, 2021 Micaeli Rourke – Independent Media Reporter

When it comes to building direct relationships with readers, newsletters boast a superpower: intimacy. In addition to being a direct avenue for relationship-building with readers, newsletters are also major drivers of revenue diversification and provide insights from first-party data. As such, they have become an all-purpose survival tool for publishers.

“There are so many ways technology has helped email newsletters become a replacement for the newspaper and magazine as people’s view into the world and how they get news and information,” says Kerel Cooper, CMO of email service provider LiveIntent. “It’s in your inbox. It’s there almost on-demand when you’re ready to consume it.”

LiveIntent’s Industry Pulse Survey, published in July, found that 87% of publishers and marketers were actively investing in email and 94% were prioritizing scaling their email programs this year.

“Prior to the Covid pandemic, we were seeing newsletters trending in a very positive direction. People were spending more than five hours a day between their personal and work emails,” Cooper explained. “With the pandemic and everyone being home, that growth accelerated.”

The FT’s newsletter machine

Sarah Ebner, Head of Newsletters at the Financial Times, agrees with Cooper that newsletters were already “having a moment” before Covid struck.

“Newsletters have been ‘the big thing’ and then ‘not the big thing’ for probably a decade,” says Ebner. “[In] the last year, with the pandemic, because many people found themselves in a situation where they were stuck at home and hungry for information, newsletters became a very big tool. People wanted information and news sources they could trust.”

To quote journalist Faisal Kim, “What could they deem more trustworthy than emails they’d chosen to receive in their inboxes?”

Currently offering 32 curated newsletters and counting, FT was early to embrace the newsletter distribution channel. Way back in 2019, shortly after crossing the 1 million subscriber threshold, they began using newsletter polls to increase subscriber retention.

“We know that the engagement rate is very high for FT subscribers,” Ebner explained. “It’s even higher if they’re newsletter readers, which is a really good thing.”

According to Ebner, readers on a trial are 134% more likely to be retained if they subscribe to a newsletter. “[Newsletters] drive traffic and engagement. They also definitely enhance loyalty and create habits and they really can push people to subscribe and donate,” Ebner told me. “You can also promote events or other newsletters through them. So, they do a lot of things in a really simple way.”

The personality-driven future of newsletters

Again, given the intimacy of the inbox, it isn’t a surprise that readers develop a relationship with newsletter authors, not just the publishing brands behind them.

Last April when David Leonhardt was appointed to lead The New York Times’ flagship morning newsletter, he was given the title of “writer, host, and anchor.” For a newsletter that reaches the inbox of over 17 million subscribers, Leonhardt has the equivalent audience of some primetime news programs. “Host and anchor are the language of TV, which I’m sure isn’t accidental,” wrote Nieman Lab’s Joshua Benton. “Morning shows have used the personal connection between anchor and viewer, reinforced daily, to build extraordinarily profitable businesses.”

Independent publishing platforms like Substack are leveraging this connection and luring top writers from newsrooms like salaried moths to a self-employed flame. In response, publishers have begun to embrace the personality-driven content structure more boldly in their newsletter offerings.

“One of the amazing things about newsletters is that you build up that direct relationship with the writer and you trust them,” FT’s Ebner said. “When we relaunched Brussels Briefing as Europe Express, I spoke to [Britain After Brexit newsletter author] Peter Foster and asked him, ‘Can you mention it?’ Because he wrote it in his own words, saying ‘This is really good and you should sign up for it,’ it didn’t look like it was from an advert. That was the most clicked-on link in his newsletter that week.”

Publishers are not blind to the power of personality-driven newsletters. In fact, many are embracing it. Just last week, The Atlantic announced it would be hiring independent newsletter authors to write under their brand (and behind The Atlantic’s paywall). Still remaining semi-autonomous, newsletter writers will not be full-time employees and “will have some light oversight from Atlantic editors.” They will earn base pay and additional incentive payments if their readers convert to Atlantic subscribers.

“When you think about how brands and publishers want consumers to spend more time with them, the more of a direct relationship you have, the more you can understand who the users are and their likes and their intent, the better you are in a position to provide them services to continue to stay engaged with your brand,” said LiveIntent’s Cooper.

“It’s definitely part of the strategy to have a strong anchor to many of these newsletters,” said incoming VP of Audience at Axios, Ryan Kellett. “You’ll notice that some of them come from teams. And some of that is the sustainability of the newsletter. It is very very hard to write a daily newsletter.” Kellet joined Axios last month after over a decade at The Washington Post. He most recently worked as Senior Director of Audience where he oversaw digital strategy and subscriber growth.

Axios Local’s rapid expansion

While some publishers like The Telegraph have recently chosen to embrace the “less is more” newsletter strategy by offering “fewer, more focused newsletters,” other leading media organizations are maximizing their newsletter model by replicating it in local markets.

Late last year, Axios launched a free-to-readers newsletter model for local news markets called Axios Local. According to Axios, “The daily morning newsletters cover the most consequential news and developments unfolding in each of the cities.” Their editorial model embraces personality-driven content by recruiting the most prominent writers from each of those local markets to “anchor” Axios Local’s newsletters.

Kellett cites Axios Chicago’s Monica Eng and Justin Kaufmann, two veteran reporters and “former pillars of public radio in Chicago,” who began co-anchoring Axios Chicago’s morning newsletter in August, as examples of how personality-driven content is integral to the success of certain newsletters. However, speaking on broader terms than just one company, Kellett emphasizes the challenges of newsletter writing that often go overlooked.

“It is often underappreciated how hard it is to put out [newsletters] on a day-to-day basis and do a number of other things like attending community events, actually reporting stories, engaging on social media…” said Kellett. “Obviously, we want to have the strongest writers and the strongest personalities to be the anchors. But part of it is thinking about sustainability and the teams that are required to feed some of those newsletters as well.”

First launched in Charlotte in December 2020, Axios Local has expanded to morning newsletters in 14 cities across the US in less than a year, with plans to expand to 11 more during the first half of 2022, according to Kellett. Axios Local is forecast to make at least $5 million in newsletter revenue this year, with $2 million alone expected to come from its Charlotte newsletter.

Leveraging first-party data in a cookie-less world

Source: LiveIntent’s Industry Pulse Survey

Apart from the outward benefits of fostering engagement and revenue, the email address itself has become all the more valuable with regard to first-party data collection, especially considering the impending death of the third-party cookie. According to LiveIntent’s July survey, “99% of survey respondents believe that the email address is vital to the future of identity resolution after the third-party cookie’s demise.”

LiveIntent’s Kerel Cooper supports this position strongly by saying, “Third-party cookies have been a staple of targeting and monetization for a very long time in our space. As a publisher or brand, you have to think, ‘Okay, if this data set, this foundational element that I’ve used to build my business is going away, I need to replace it with another data set.’ First-party data and first-party audiences are going to be super key to that transition.”

“The email channel has already operated in the same manner in which the browsers have been wanting to get to forever,” Cooper continued. “There’s no third-party cookies. You have to opt-in or in some cases double opt-in to receive content from publishers or brands. And there are heavy privacy rules and regulations. Think CAN SPAM. It’s an environment where browsers already want to go.”

However, the value of email addresses may prove to become even more coveted, given Apple’s recent rollout of the iOS 15 update, which introduces Mail Privacy Protection to Apple Mail users.

As AdWeek’s Ronan Shields explained, “Mail Privacy Protection will prevent brands from knowing whether a user opens one of their emails and hide IP addresses so that senders can’t link that action to other online activity or determine a user’s location.” The jury is still out on just how detrimental this change will be to publishers existing strategies for leveraging first-party subscriber data.

As our digital sphere barrels forward to 2022, newsletters rightly serve as a powerful multi-purpose survival tool for publishers. Now that the churning momentum of independent newsletter platforms has gained the attention of tech giants like Google, Twitter, and Facebook, each of whom has announced plans to “get in the newsletter game,” publishers must plan to keep this particular survival tool very sharp. At the same time, while exploring all of a newsletter’s advantages, they must never forget the simplicity of the medium and its eternal superpower: intimate, welcomed, and frequent access to readers’ attentions.

TREE KEY ‘C’S FOR NEWSLETTER SUCCESSES

Newsletter expert Ryan Kellett outlines three basic tenets to foster reader loyalty in newsletters:

1. Create high-quality content on a frequent and regular basis

“As we all know, that email address is very valuable. You want to really try to deliver as consistently and as best as you can and at as high a quality as possible on a day-to-day basis.”

2. Consistency yields dependability yields loyalty

“Consistency is really important in developing that relationship so the reader trusts that you’re there on a certain cadence, be it daily or weekly or bi-weekly…I think one of the reasons why daily works so well is because it says ‘Every day at 7am, that [newsletter] is going to be there for you consistently.’ You could have anything happen in your life and it will be there.”

3. Community-building capabilities

“I think with newsletters being so intimate, oftentimes it can be a little bit tough to say ‘newsletter community.’ It may or may not actually exist. But I think with really great newsletters, you are building a community there, despite it sort of being a one-to-one experience…It just depends on the medium… Podcasts, websites/comments sections/forums, and newsletters all have their own type of community.”

Great lengths: Optimizing video across platforms

October 14, 2021 Jessica Patterson – Independent Media Reporter

Make it short. Show real stuff. This may seem obvious, but these are best practices in video length and content authenticity for Gen Z audiences.

Gen Z, born between 1998 and 2016, spends a lot of time watching videos on social media. And last year, Gen Z’s video consumption increased: Snapchat reported that Gen Z watched over an hour each day of video content on social media apps alone. They value video more than any other media platform, by a margin of roughly 2-to-1 over social, gaming, music or Google search, according to a recent study by DCN. They prefer video, specifically user-generated content, due to its relatability and personability.

Understanding that Gen Z viewers and consumers have different behaviors, values, and attitudes when it comes to video is important because it can impact your audience of the future, your strategy, and your revenue. It will also help you withstand shifts in viewer tastes and larger shifts in the media landscape. Building relationships with this generation of viewers, readers, consumers, starts now.

Video length on TikTok

Video length varies by platform, and there are a lot of platforms to choose from. Gen Z favors Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok, according to a Pew survey in 2021.

Video content on TikTok must be extremely short. In fact, 50 seconds is long, according to Erin Weaver, Group Nine Media’s Senior Director of Audience Development. For Gen Z-favored platforms Snapchat and TikTok, video length needs to be short and videos need to be fast-paced, according to Weaver. “On TikTok, I consider anything between 30 and 60 seconds to be almost the default. And then slightly longer is over one minute up to three minutes. We’ve seen some success with longer videos, as long as they’re really engaging and interesting.”

#DCYoungFly hitting the #CrankThat at the #HipHopAwards [https://www.tiktok.com/@bet]

Brittiany Cierra Taylor, director of audience development at BET, says she sees similar results. “Our audience development team has been trying out shorts and they’ve seen that they were amazing in getting new views, new viewers and from an ad perspective, we see more ads, more earned views. That shortness really is the key because we noticed that the sweet spot on TikTok is seven seconds where you see that jump that engagement,” she said.

“Our TikTok partners always encourage us to create shorter and more succinct videos, as they do tend to perform well on the platform,” says Kelsey Alpaio, an editor and producer with Harvard Business Review’s Ascend brand for young professionals, “But, that doesn’t mean long videos are off limits. The majority of our top-viewed videos are more than 50 seconds long. If people are interested in the content, they will stick around.”

Video length on YouTube

On YouTube, videos that are 2-4 minutes long work well for Harvard Business Review, but they also see success with videos that are longer, about 10-14 minutes each.

Scott LaPierre, Harvard Business Review’s senior editor for multimedia, says that for YouTube, trends around length are similar. Length is less important than topic and storytelling. LaPierre says HBR’s more authentic and honest videos on YouTube, which are casual, host- and personality-driven, perform about as well in the long run as their more traditional content. “Both have about an even number of breakout successes, and comparable average performers,” he says. “The video’s topic, and how compellingly it delivers on that topic are still the primary factors in the number of views and how long people watch, whether traditional or authentic in style.”

Short and medium-length videos at about two to nine minutes each work best on YouTube, for a broad reach. And longer (10-15 minutes) seems to work to deepen engagement with established fans, LaPierre said. “Shorter videos seem to have broader reach while longer videos seem to have deeper engagement. Long for us is around 10-15 minutes. Short is two to four. Most of our current video lineup is in the middle: six-to-nine-minute range. Anything over about 15 minutes does not perform great on our channel.” (Live video is a different conversation where lengths over 15 are more the norm.)

Optimize for story

“It really depends on the goal of the story and whatever length makes the storytelling complete,” says Zainab Khan, associate director of audience, video at The New York Times. “We might do a months-long investigation that merits a 12-minute video. What we see, because we edit our videos for pacing and storytelling, if a video is longer, we get more overall watch time. But we’re really rigorous about thinking about length so it fits the needs of the story. And in some cases, that means the best way to share a story means to do a quick 30-second snippet, showing viewers what’s happening on the ground.”

All of the digital content companies we spoke to said that storytelling trumps minutes and seconds. Video content should be as long as it needs to be, to tell an engaging story. LaPierre says, “Topic and storytelling generally trump length or style. So, my rule of thumb is: make it as short as possible, but no shorter.”

Content authenticity

Best practices for user-generated content are that video content must be low lit, not super polished, and not have a high production quality.Often, it is a selfie-style cell phone footage. It’s casual, host- and personality-driven. It is concise, engaging, and easy to produce. It shows people talking about what they care passionately about.

Harvard Business Review aims to make some of their videos in that user-generated style, LaPierre says. “For me, the best way to get authentic-feeling video is to have people talk about what they care passionately about,” he says.

Production values

Ascend Multimedia Producer Andy Robinson explains they try to find a sweet spot between having a polished feel and showing the real world. “My rule is, show the real stuff whenever possible. We’ve been leaning heavily on less-overly produced elements in our video content. Audiences can smell something that is highly produced, over scripted, over thought.”

Group Nine makes a point of putting people as the focal point of their UGC content, explains Weaver. “For PopSugar, a tutorial on applying makeup does a lot better than a product review or something that’s mostly focused on beauty products or a workout. You should see people doing the workouts, not so much like a description of the movements.”

At The New York Times, best practice for finding authenticity in a creator’s work is to have a deep understanding of the company’s values and to find common ground with their audience, Khan says. “It’s really important for us, when we want to build trust with our audience, we show our authentic selves. We literally put our reporters on screen in a way that helps the audience understand who is doing the reporting,” Khan says.

Gen Z has a bullshit detector

Gen Z’s desire for authenticity has been well documented. They want brands to be transparent, authentic and trustworthy. Gen Z audiences have spent their lives surrounded by digital technology. They’re incredibly discerning and know how to filter content that lacks the right tone, language, relevance or value. “What I love about Gen Z is that they hold companies more accountable,” Taylor says. “They’re doing the fact-checking, they’re doing the homework, they’re seeing if your staff resembles the world, if your content resembles the world year round. Is your message consistent and congruent in the content that you showed me? That’s actually one thing I love about them because it forces brands to be authentic.”

Authenticity is the way to grow audiences, Taylor explains. “I think that if you want to stay around, that is the basic component that audiences are resonating with. So, if you’re not going to be authentic, you’re not going to meet the KPIs you want, you’re not going to grow your audience, you’re not going to hit your revenue… So, from an audience perspective, a revenue perspective, authenticity is just the way to move forward.”

Be real, not trendy

“In the long term, if your identity and authenticity are dependent on a trend, you only last as long as that trend,” Khan says. “On the other hand, if your company has a handle on its core values, and what sets you apart from your peers and competitors, you can choose which trends to follow. And it means you can withstand shifts in the media and shifts in viewer taste.”

LaPierre says content authenticity connotes honesty, vulnerability, transparency, and relatability, which may not always have been top priorities for publishers. “And, we’ve seen some of the distrust in media that can result,” he says. “Show your flaws, show that your content is made by real people with real concerns that overlap with your audience’s, and show your work–it’s about building a trusting relationship over time.”

For their audience of the future, digital content companies need to put real intention behind the content they create and innovate constantly. As one expert put it, you need to think about who you’re talking to, and create content that is meaningful to them. It’s a lot of effort trying to please Gen Z, but if you’re not putting in the effort, you’re not going to get the results. This is your future audience, after all.