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We collaborated with Sounds Profitable to highlight what makes a good podcast ad by breaking down real examples from popular podcasts.
Hosted by: Matt DeCoursey, Matt Watson, Lauren Conoway, and Andrew Morgans
Ad placement: Pre-roll
Ad type: Baked-in
Start point: 01:32
Ad copy:
“Today's episode of Startup Hustle is sponsored by Canva where you go to collaborate and create amazing graphic design for free. Whether it's a presentation to share an idea, a video to launch your business, or a social post to start a conversation, with Canva you can design anything - maybe even NFTs. Discover the magic of visual communication and how Canva helps you create a lasting impact today. Just go to Canva.com. Matt, you're the best graphic artist I know because of Canva. That's true, well that's probably good - but no man it really changed a lot of things for me. I was using it last night to create a presentation about the management platform that we built for full scale so yeah”.
The hook:
“Today's episode of Startup Hustle is sponsored by Canva where you go to collaborate and create amazing graphic design for free”
Right after introducing the podcast, the hosts mention the sponsor - Canva, “before we get too far, today’s episode of Startup Hustle is sponsored by Canva”. Unlike previous hooks we looked at, these hosts decided to get right to it and skip the small talk - there was no personal anecdote or ‘conversation’ between the hosts such as ‘where do you create your presentations’, etc.
Although it all felt rushed, it worked for this specific podcast because Startup entrepreneurs don’t have time to lollygag, they have a business to create, run, and keep from sinking. So, Startup Hustle’s listeners turn to this specific podcast to get the information quick and to the point, and they sure did with this sponsorship ad-read.
The pitch:
“Whether it's a presentation to share an idea, a video to launch your business, or a social post to start a conversation, with Canva you can design anything - maybe even NFTs. Discover the magic of visual communication and how Canva helps you create a lasting impact today.”
Canva has a lot to offer but the Startup Hustle’s hosts focused on only a few features that were most relevant to their listeners - “a presentation to share an idea, a video to launch your business, or a social post to start a conversation”. These key features will surely attract the attention of entrepreneurs and spark their interest in the platform.
In order to truly drive this ad-read home, Matt adds “with Canva you can design anything - maybe even NFTs”. This added point ties the ad-read to the episode at hand and sparks the listeners interest even more. The episode focuses on ‘what is an NFT’, so obviously, listeners are interested in the world of non-fungible tokens. So, when the host adds ‘maybe even NFTs’, listeners that may have zoned out during the advertisement, surely snapped out of it when they heard they could make NFTs on Canva.
The offer:
“Just go to Canva.com.”
The basics of Canva are free - users can do pretty much everything without having to pay a cent. However, those that fall in love with the platform (such as us at ThoughtLeaders) can pay for a premium account, which enables users to take their work one step further - such as erasing the background of images. Startup Hustle’s ad-read is strictly focusing on attracting the attention of entrepreneurs, hoping to get them on the site and ultimately see the benefit of paying for a premium account. Because of this, there is no elaborate offering - simply “just go to Canva.com”.
The final word:
“Matt, you're the best graphic artist I know because of Canva. That's true, well that's probably good - but no man it really changed a lot of things for me. I was using it last night to create a presentation about the management platform that we built for full scale”
In most ad-reads we’ve reviewed, the hosts usually add a personal anecdote in the beginning in order to more seamlessly integrate the sponsorship into the episode. However, in this case, the hosts added the personal experience at the end - “I was using it last night to create a presentation about the management platform that we built for full scale”. Listeners that turn to the Startup Hustle for advice on all-things entrepreneurship will surely keep this anecdote in mind, ‘if Matt uses Canva and is so successful, I should be using this platform’.
Hits the spot:
Canva can be used by just about anyone, especially those in the Startup realm. So, this integration didn’t only ‘make sense’, but was done in a way that perfectly related to the podcast audience - everything from the pace in which the information was shared to the content highlighted.
Room for improvement:
Although the hosts hit all the talking points and presented the information in an ‘elevator pitch’ format, it was evident that the hosts were reading word-for-word from the script. This caused the ad-read to sound rushed and certain important tidbits weren’t emphasized clearly.
Partnership track record:
Over the last year, Canva has sponsored 29 podcasts and has sponsored Startup Hustle twice.
Where else has Canva sponsored?
Thick & Thin, Rocketship.fm, Beyond the To-Do List, Freelance to Founder
What other brands have appeared on Startup Hustle?
Gusto, Full Scale, Chatdesk, WIX, and Helium
Takeaways:
The hosts of the Startup Hustle proved that a good ad-read doesn’t need to include elaborate details and intricate personal anecdotes. Matt and Matt read out all the necessary information, seamlessly included a short tidbit related to the topic of the episode, and even added a quick personal experience. Although it would have been nice if the hosts made it just a tad less obvious that they were reading from a script, it was overall a good ad-read.
It would be interesting to see how other podcast, ones that focus on different categories, promote Canva’s platform and features. This entrepreneurship podcast focused on the ability to create presentations, social posts, and videos on the platform in order to push your Startup forward. How would the ad-read differ for a podcast focusing on parenthood or cooking, for example?
Have you heard a great podcast ad recently? Tell us about it.
To learn how ThoughtLeaders can help you with your podcast strategy, book a demo.
