Virtual all-hands meetings, spending hours in training sessions via Zoom, and way-too-long emails from your CEO are so 2020.

The pandemic caused execs to get creative with internal communication, and some of them have found internal podcasts—often accessed by employees via login apps or unlisted RSS feeds—to be a solution to commanding the attention of their increasingly dispersed workforces.

An internal podcast is certainly not for everyone. But for some workers, a podcast they can listen to whenever they like is an attractive alternative to reading a long email or attending a meeting at a mandated time.

• “Everyone has a preference for a certain style of communication at a certain time,” said Jen Grogono, president and CEO of uStudio, an enterprise podcasting and media platform.
• “I might decide that most of my day I would prefer to peruse email, but there are some days where I find myself busy or working on a project where I put something on in the background.”

Heating up

Internal podcasting predates the pandemic, but the WFH era “absolutely” accelerated the trend, said Shira Atkins, co-founder and CRO of Wonder Media Network, a podcast company that creates original shows as well as branded content.

• WMN made its first internal podcast for a client in 2018, and has done about 10–15 more in the years since, including one for DoorDash, Atkins told us.
• The DoorDash show was a one-off, nine-episode production called The DoorDash Operator meant to “keep employees connected to our digital workspace while they were out walking their dogs, grocery shopping, etc.” during the height of the pandemic, said Rachel Dorcelien, the brand’s director of employee connections and employer brand.

Brands ranging from Arlo Technologies to trucking company Grand Island Express have also jumped on the trend. Keep reading here.—AM

Each Tuesday, we spotlight Marketing Brew readers in our Coworking series. If you’d like to be featured, introduce yourself here.

Justine Palkowski is content marketing manager at 43North, an accelerator program that invests in attracting and retaining startups in Buffalo, New York.

Describe your career to date. My passion for content marketing goes back to when I would spend countless hours carefully curating my MySpace profile to tell the perfect story of myself. After graduating college at the tail end of a recession, I hustled my way into a marketing career by guest-writing blog posts and volunteering to manage social media accounts for Creative Mornings. Eventually, I landed as an editor for a startup that writes a daily newsletter, where I learned the only thing I love more than writing is the excitement of an early-stage company.

What’s your favorite ad campaign? So cliche, but the old-school Apple ads from when the iPod was out. The ones of someone listening to music, dancing through city streets, and transforming into different colors. The campaigns were so impactful and created strong emotions without using any words.

One thing we can’t guess from your LinkedIn profile? My biggest regret in life is not going to art school.

What marketing trend are you most optimistic about? Least? Email marketing. I love email marketing. It’s my bread and butter. Companies like Flodesk are making it easy for all creatives to build an email list and send beautiful emails without knowing HTML.

The least—TikTok. It’s exhausting. The algorithms have changed, so it’s not easy to grow a following like it was in 2020, yet it’s the one thing every creator and brand is trying to do. On one hand, it’s cool how TikTok is becoming a search engine, but on the other, is the time and effort worth the ROI? Maybe for some, but definitely not for all.

What’s one marketing-related podcast, social account, or series you’d recommend? I love following The Marketing Millennials, specifically on LinkedIn. And I think every small-business owner should listen to Goal Digger.

If you took some vacation time this summer, we’re happy for you. But we know that means you might’ve missed a Marketing Brew or two.

Have no fear: We’ve rounded up our most popular stories from Q3 below. Read them, share ‘em if you’re so inclined, and let us know what we should keep our eyes on for the rest of 2022.

How much should graphic designers worry about DALL-E 2?

When an influencer couple breaks up, what happens to their brand deals?

Major publishers are buying ads in mobile games to juice traffic

What happens when high-income households opt out of ads?

Should brands keep advertising through a recession?

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren’t those.

Link(s) in bio: Instagram is allowing some creators to add multiple links in their bios.

🎃: Take a look at these top fall keywords and their engagement rates to get some seasonal marketing inspo.

Make a move: Find a beginner’s guide to conversion-rate optimization (along with best practices) here.

Stop their scroll: If you wanna create video marketing that catches (and keeps) your customers’ attention, turn to Vimeo, the authority on beautiful video. Get tips and tricks to make video marketing that moves people here.*

Lights, camera, Brew: Morning Brew is on YouTube! Our shows cover the tech, trends, and companies you care about—and don’t worry, we’re not jargon people. Watch here.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}

Have you been wondering how HBO is crushing the modern marketing game (any House of the Dragon stans)? Or how Duolingo’s Duo the owl became a storytelling sensation on TikTok? And really, how the heck has Vans managed to transcend the generations and stay part of the cool crowd, even as our beloved skinny jeans get dunked on day after day?

Well, you’ll find the answer to all these questions and more (yes, much more) at the biggest Marketing Brew event yet: The Brief on Nov. 15. This jam-packed day of panels, presentations, and networking will give you strategies to implement immediately, plus the chance to interact personally with some of the best in the industry (not to mention your fellow marketing rock stars). Quick: We have advanced pricing for only a limited time, so grab your ticket here before the cost goes up!

• The CW’s long-serving CEO, Mark Pedowitz, is stepping down now that the broadcast network has been sold to Nexstar.
• CNN is facing a $475 million defamation lawsuit from former president Donald Trump, the latest in many suits he has brought against news organizations.
• The Supreme Court will hear cases about whether social media sites should be held responsible for “terrorist propaganda uploaded by users.”
• Victoria’s Secret is debuting a global campaign that’s part of its broader rebrand.
• Disney exec Kareem Daniel, who heads up the company’s media and entertainment distribution division, has joined the board of McDonald’s.

If you went to college, did you major in marketing?

Yes
No
I minored in marketing

It’s corn—candy corn, that is. The sweet and divisive confection, which is sold today by brands like Brach’s and Jelly Belly, first went by what other name when it was first created?

1. Jelly corn
2. Kernel candy
3. Chicken feed
4. Corn crunch

Keep scrolling for the answer.