Why a podcast for a mall? The first step of Trend Makers

In summer 2020, we started recording the podcast Trend Makers in cooperation with the Kristiine and Rocca al Mare Centers, and the Kõrvauss studio. In Estonia, Kristiine and Rocca al Mare were the first shopping centers to create such an additional channel for themselves.

The podcast is not just a new advertising space for the centers, but their very own program.

The presenters talk to amazing and inspiring people, who may be familiar to the audience already. Trend Makers wants to offer interesting content and, through this, inspire young people. Involving the tenants of the centers helps add an expert view to the topics. And for the tenants, the extra advertising opportunity is a positive side effect.

The tenants of the Rocca al Mare and Kristiine centers value the podcast greatly as an additional output. After recording the first episodes, we also sent them to tenants to listen to, to give them an idea of what the podcast is all about. We also gave them the opportunity to suggest topics for the next episodes. We found that both centers have quite a number of tenants with many exciting topics to cover.

IDEA

The idea for ​​the podcast, Trend Makers, came from the need to reach young people, who are no longer following traditional media. The most popular social media platforms – Instagram, and Facebook, as well as Snapchat and TikTok – are increasingly competitive.

Podcasts allows you to connect the listener to the content for a longer period of time than, for example, short videos or other visual graphics. As already mentioned, it is also a completely new output for tenants of the centers, as the episodes involve their representatives, who can talk about their activities. The best picks from conversations with the guests have also been published in other media – both on the Postimees and Delfi web portals.

STEP ONE

Marketers know that building any new environment is a huge task, so it is always wise to ask yourself, whether the future revenue outweighs the cost, and whether there will be enough people to manage the new format later on.

Making a Podcast is undoubtedly a challenge, but it’s worth it. We have made it very clear to ourselves that building a new environment will take time. It’s a consistent job. Popularity and crowds of listeners don’t come overnight. But the beginning has been promising. With each new episode we see that the number of unique listeners grows. Far away listeners are even located in North and South America, for example.

The podcast, which started in June, already has 10 episodes! Kite surfer and coach Kristiin Oja, actorKristjan Lüüs, make-up artist Gerda Miller, musicians Sander Mölder, Eik Erik Sikk and Maian Lomp, as well as Joel Juht have been among the guests. There is also a live episode with singer Daniel Levi Viinalass.

“We did a live podcast in front of visitors in the Rocca al Mare Center and linked it to the Father’s Day campaign ‘Super-Paps’. We invited a well-known father figure as a guest to the show, who was also a campaign face in social media. We also videotaped the episode and tested the podcast in video format, ”describes Helina Leif, Marketing and Communications Manager of Citycon’s Estonian centers. “Admittedly, it worked surprisingly well: so far, the video has been watched more than the corresponding episode has been listened to on Spotify. It can’t be hidden, the secret to the video’s success may be that Daniel is such a bright and charismatic personality. The success of the first experiment has given us the courage to do live podcasts in other campaigns as well.”

CHALLENGES AND ADVANTAGES

One of the biggest challenges in making a podcast is finding a suitable time. Since we have three presenters, two guests, and recording takes place in the Kõrvauss studio, finding a time that suites everyone sometimes takes several weeks. For the sake of simplification, we have now taken the path that all three presenters do not have to be present and, if possible, we get two guests at the same time and do a slightly longer episode.

The advantage of a podcast is that it allows people to consume information while they are doing something else – like exercising, driving, walking, or cleaning. Thus, it seemed only right to introduce audio media in addition to all visual channels.

Trend Makers podcasts can be listened to on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, and other popular media. The presenters of the Trend Makers are META Advisory consultants Jonatan Karjus, Helin Naska and the head of marketing and communication of Citycon’s Estonian centers, Helina Leif.

The Podcast can be listened to HERE.