Podfly Takes Home 3 Wins at Inaugural Signal Awards!

We couldn’t be more proud of our creative teams at Podfly! We were honored to be recognized by the inaugural Signal Awards, celebrating the people and content that raise the bar for podcasting.

This year, we’re happy to announce that our creative and technical podcast teams have taken home three awards for recent agency work, including: 

• Tomorrow is the Problem is a Silver Signal Award Winner in Best Sound Design Branded Shows & Advertising - View listing

• Down and Back: Stories From the American Kennel Club Archives is a Bronze Signal Award Winner in Best Writing Branded Shows & Advertising - View listing

• Down and Back: Stories From the American Kennel Club Archives is a Bronze Signal Award Winner in Lifestyle Branded Shows & Advertising - View listing

Photos Courtesy of Signal Awards.

As a dedicated podcast production agency focused on branded podcasts, these awards represent two of the dozens of shows our talented team of producers, engineers, and sound designers have made over our nearly 10 years in business.

We’d like to thank all of our clients for the faith in our process, people, and productions. Here’s to many more years of creative exploration into how brands share their voice and vision in long-form, audio storytelling. 

BONUS: “Like… It’s Alive!” Production Call

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We imagined a second audio future! Then we asked some smart podcasters how we did.

In this bonus track, we air back-to-back conversations with podcast experts. In the first, we spoke with Demetrius Bagley, Nikki Thomas, and Jonas Litton. In our second conversation, we spoke with Jackie Huntington and Diana Opong. These experts share their reactions to E02 (“Like… It’s Alive!”). We are grateful for their feedback.

In E02, we suggested that podcast audiences will mature in similar ways that audiences for film and television have, including wanting more interactivity and more immersive and thrilling experiences. We also projected that stories will be popular in the future that reflect the collective unconscious or zeitgeist. What are the monsters we face today? And what monsters will we face in the future? Especially one dominated by AI?

Many thanks to:

• Demetrius Bagley

• Nikki Thomas

• Jonas Litton

• Jackie Huntington

• Diana Opong

Contact us:

We hope this bonus track gets people talking. Tell us what we got right (or wrong!) by emailing PodflyCalls@gmail.com or leaving us a voicemail at 440-290-6796.

Or check us out online:

Podfly Productions

• How Does Tomorrow Sound

• Neleigh Olson

• Kate Pigott

• Josh Suhy

We hope the future of podcasts will be one we build together.

The Humble Brag

As the Creative Director of a podcast production company, I have some unwritten responsibilities. One of which is to promote the team and talent within our agency. Mind you, this is an easy task in that I spend at least part of each work day grateful to witness professional podcast producers, script writers, engineers, sound designers, show notes writers, and account managers do their jobs.

Still, there is a gnawing “humble brag” lurking around corners when I display our wares. However, I’m reminded of the ‘responsibilities’ part of my job mentioned earlier, and the talented people who work in partnership with brands to make podcasts deserve sincere props.

About that award…

Podfly is an award-winning podcast production agency. It says so on our home page. One such show, now proudly entering the third season, is The OUTThinking Investor. A creative collaboration between Podfly and PGIM that covers the nuanced and complex world of institutional investing. This show has won Gold at FCS for B2B Branded Content Audio, was an Honoree for the Webby Awards in Business Podcasts, and was a finalist in the Podcast Category for a Shorty.

With the motivation behind us, we have decided to submit our work for some further recognition, and it’s going quite well…

The Signal Awards

The Signal Awards seeks to honor and celebrate the people and content that raise the bar for podcasting. Luminaries and leaders within the industry will judge Shows, Limited Series & Specials, Individual Episodes and Branded Shows & Advertising across categories ranging from to Best TV & Film Recap.

This year, Podfly has proudly made finalist and is in the running for:

Tomorrow is the Problem selected in Branded Shows & Advertising - Best Sound Design: [Official Listing]

Down and Back: Stories From the American Kennel Club Archives selected in Branded Shows & Advertising - Best Writing: [Official Listing]

Down and Back: Stories From the American Kennel Club Archives selected in Branded Shows & Advertising - Lifestyle: [Official Listing]

If you happen to know of, and like these shows, we’d greatly appreciate a vote of confidence for our creative and technical teams here. You can vote for the People’s Choice category overall here.

The effort would be noticed, and appreciated!

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What’s Next for Podfly?

We’ve had an amazing 9th (hard to believe!) year of podcast production. Having collaborated with brands and organizations to produce and launch literally hundreds of successful podcasts, our technical process has only become more refined and effective. Our creative development approach digs deeper into brand story, and mines nuggets of audio gold that that clients themselves are proud to display at the high-point in their marketing and messaging strategy.

Though awards are nice, and recognition for hard work is always deserved, it’s very much the privilege to wake up each day and face the creative and technical challenges of telling brand stories in fresh, bold, and engaging ways. Corny as it may sound, making these shows is its own reward.

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If your brand or company is ready to launch a podcast, we’d love to hear about it!

Like … It’s Alive!

FOLLOW:

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How will listenership mature in the future? Will we outgrow our evolutionary need for story? Child psychiatrist, author, and horror enthusiast Dr. Steven Schlozman, Dr. Martin Spinelli, Dr. Sorcha Ni Fhlainn, Dr. Sylvia Chan Olmsted, and Podfly’s own Corey Coates offer insights. Story audiences mature and trends shift. Plus, with more diverse groups of light podcast listeners tuning in, there’s more opportunity to reach new niches. But what kinds of stories will these new audiences want today and 10 years from now? We look at shifts in audience expectations by examining Frankenstein: the book by Mary Shelley, the film with Boris Karloff, and updates like Blade Runner and Terminator. We still fear artificiality and continue to love stories that wrestle with what we most repress. But what monsters do we face today? And what about in 10 years?

If you dig us, please subscribe, review, and share — it really helps. And thanks!

THE BIG TAKEAWAYS:

Will people tune in to AI chatbots? Why do we listen to podcasts? How are listenership trends changing? How will they change in the future? How will the future of an audience change stories in the future?

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DR. STEVEN SCHLOZMAN

Dr. Steven Schlozman, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth, and child psychiatrist at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center

• Author of Film (Arts for Health).

• Author of The Zombie Autopsies: Secret Notebooks from the Apocalypse

• TedxNashville Ted Talk “What Horror Films Teach Us About Ourselves and Being Human.”

• TEDxCoconutGrove Talk. “Zombies Are Already Here: But It’s Not What You Think”

• “You go for a walk with a podcast, it's just you in the story. And that’s incredibly peaceful.” — Dr. Steven Schlozman

• “We move forward with our ideas about the world, through art. I really believe that.” — Dr. Steven Schlozman

• “The hopeful part here is that now we have this mechanism to use art, which we've used for thousands of years, to make sense of the world and to also have ideas about what to do to fix the world.” — Dr. Steven Schlozman

DR. MARTIN SPINELLI

Dr. Martin Spinelli, Professor of Podcasting & Creative Media at University of Sussex, University of Sussex (on Twitter @exilewriter)

• Co-author with Lance Dann of Podcasting: The Audio Media Revolution.

• Co-creator with Lance Dann of companion podcast, For Your Ears Only.

• Executive Producer and writer on The Rez, a sci-fi podcast for 9–11 year-olds that covers a lot of the subjects we’ve talked about in this episode, especially how to overcome AI ubiquity and promote pro-social human relationships. The clip we played came from Episode 2, “Sav Smarts.”

• “I was totally transfixed. I knew something had shifted in our audio universe.” — Dr. Martin Spinelli

• “It is you speaking to me in my ears, actually in my ear canals, in my skull, in my body, your voice is there inside me.” — Dr. Martin Spinelli

COREY COATES

Corey Coates, Creative Director, Podfly

• “The role of an artist in the world is to observe it, feel it, to interpret it, internalize it, and then reflect it back to you in a way that you’ve never seen it before.” — Corey Coates, Podfly

• “We’re so focused on the medium … that we’re losing the plot of what it is we’re trying to do — connect our perspective as a human with other humans.” — Corey Coates, Podfly

DR. SORCHA NI FHLAINN

Dr. Sorcha Ni Fhlainn, Senior Lecturer in Film Studies and American Studies at Manchester Metropolitan University (on Twitter @VampireSorcha)

• Author of “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: The Birth of A Gothic Monster.” History Extra. BBC. London. 1 Feb. 2021

• Author of Postmodern Vampires: Film, Fiction, and Popular Culture, as well as The Worlds of Back to the Future: Critical Essays on the Films, and contributor to Starring Tom Cruise, edited by Sean Redmond.

• “It's so in touch with the liminality between life and death … What is the spark, that Promethean spark, that keeps us alive?” — Dr. Sorcha Ni Fhlainn, Manchester Metropolitan University

• “We always need our monsters. We need outlets and culture. We need to be able to frustrate and vent and feel that we have purpose and feel that we can change and make a difference and speak back to power.” — Dr. Sorcha Ni Fhlainn, Manchester Metropolitan University

DR. SYLVIA CHAN OLMSTED

Dr. Sylvia Chan-Olmsted, Professor of Media Production, Management, and Technology and Director of Media Consumer Research, University of Florida

• Chan-Olmsted, S., & Rang Wang. 10 October 2020. “Understanding podcast users: Consumption motives and behaviors”. New Media & Society.

• “The uses and gratifications paradigm proposes that individuals are very active media consumers. We’re looking for something to gratify. We have certain needs.” — Dr. Sylvia Chan Olmsted, University of Florida

• “The biggest development now is we are moving from heavy users to more light users. Now we have a much more diverse group of podcast users.” — Dr. Sylvia Chan Olmsted, University of Florida

• “The biggest growth is 12-plus; 12 to 24-something; we're talking about young kids now listening too. … Maybe they learn something about a certain topic on TikTok that was interesting. And then they use podcasts to dive deeper into that topic.” — Dr. Sylvia Chan Olmsted, University of Florida

HOW WILL THE FUTURE OF AN AUDIENCE CHANGE STORIES IN THE FUTURE? THIS QUESTION IS HARD TO ANSWER. MAYBE IMPOSSIBLE. HERE ARE SOME FRAMEWORKS WE’RE USING TO THINK ABOUT IT:

• Copy the movies. Look at established media like film and television to see what trends are occurring there that might be primed for podcasts, like casting away framing devices or pushing the boundaries of interactivity.

• Unleash the beast. Mine what culture represses, and bring that to the fore, like Mary Shelley did, like Elvis did. One thing we’re repressing is the weirdness of ubiquitous AI and constant data collection. Can we make art against that that feels new somehow?

• Tell Your Truth. You are a wonder of the cosmos, a highly sensitive instrument of love and truth that can nourish the world with your singular voice. Howl into the universe the way only you can … Look at you. You’re alive!

• Stop gaming an audience and make some art.
  
  

OTHER RESOURCES

Buzzsprout. 4 October 2022. “Podcast Statistics and Data. [September 2022]” Webpage. 

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein (Project Gutenberg)

Milton, John. Paradise Lost (Project Gutenberg)

Frankenstein (film) 1931. YouTube. (Available for rent)

CONTACT US

Tell us what you really think by emailing PodflyCalls@gmail.com or leaving us a voicemail at 440-290-6796.

Or check us out online:

Podfly Productions

How Does Tomorrow Sound

Neleigh Olson (or on Twitter @IkeABoom)

Kate Tighe-Pigott

Josh Suhy

We imagined one audio future! Then we asked some smart podcasters how we did.

In E01 (“Like Your New Best Friend”), we suggest that developments in AI might turn podcasts into very compelling chatbots. In this bonus track, podcasters Stacey Copeland, Clif Mark, Naomi Mellor, and Andrea Muraskin share their reactions. We are grateful for their feedback.

Note: Though the track is presented like one large convo, we spliced two longer chats (one with Stacey and Andrea and one with Clif), held at separate times, with a voicemail from Naomi. We didn’t include here the editorial suggestions we responded to in revision (since these wouldn’t make sense to someone hearing the finished product). Instead, we focus on the podcasters’ reactions to our episode’s main ideas.

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Many thanks to:

• Stacey Copeland, audio producer and Ph.D. Candidate, Simon Fraser University

• Clif Mark, creator and host of the Good in Theory podcast

• Naomi Mellor, producer, founder of The Skylark Collective, a global community for women in podcasting, and the International Women’s Podcast Awards

• Andrea Muraskin, producer, writer, host

Contact us:

We don’t know the future, but we hope this bonus track gets people talking. Tell us what we got right (or wrong!) by emailing PodflyCalls@gmail.com or leaving us a voicemail at 440-290-6796.

Or check us out online:

• Podfly Productions

• How Does Tomorrow Sound

• Neleigh Olson

• Kate Pigott

• Josh Suhy

Who knows? Maybe the future of podcasts will be a thing we build together.