Shutter Stories: A Canon podcast created by Future Fusion, the content marketing arm of Future Plc, was awarded Silver Best Branded Podcast in the International Content Marketing Association Awards 2020 for taking the podcast from 0 to 20,000 downloads within 11 months of its launch. 

The results in summary:

• – 21 podcasts downloaded over 20,000 times since its January 2020 launch
• – 1900 listeners for Episode 1
• – Within a month, Shutter Stories was in the top 50% of podcast downloads
• – 33% month-on-month growth in listeners in September 2020
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Background and brief

There has been huge growth in podcast audiences in recent years. Canon's competitors in the photography industry were already producing podcasts in other markets, but Canon had the opportunity to launch the first of its kind in the European market. 

Future Fusion proposed a branded podcast to Canon based on this observation, and Fusion’s unique position to provide a solution – as a content agency with excellent access to photographers and filmmakers through work creating video and written interviews for the Canon Europe Pro website. 

Shutter Stories was to be a fortnightly podcast that served as the voice of the brand, providing information in a conversational and relatable manner. Shutter Stories would not take a hard marketing approach. Instead, the podcast would discuss kit as it related to its guests’ real life experiences. 

The ultimate aim was for Shutter Stories to drive debate by talking about industry-wide issues, placing Canon at the centre of that discussion. 

Key brand podcast objectives were:

• – Promoting the brand & foster brand loyalty
• – Cultivate an audience
• – Own the narrative
• – Support product launches
• – Provide a platform for debate
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Future Fusion’s branded podcast strategy

Fusion proposed an anchor-led podcast that would rotate among three types of episode formats according to the topic of the day. These included:

• Inspirational interviews that were intimate and personality driven
• Roundtable discussions with a community feel
• Technical vox pops providing simple deep dives

The Covid-19 impact reflections

Published bi-weekly, early episodes were achieved at live events or video shoots, but the Covid-19 pandemic soon put a major obstacle in the way: all avenues for recording were suddenly no longer viable. 

In the wake of the lockdown restrictions, Future Fusion found a way to connect photographers and filmmakers from all over the globe onto a single call that feeds directly into the mixer in its recording studio. Not only did this ensure continuity for Canon, it meant that Fusion could include a more diverse range of voices than they might have been able to do previously.

Results

The podcast medium is more intimate and helps humanise a brand in ways that other media don’t allow. 

By July, six months into its life, Shutter Stories reached 10,000 downloads. Each subsequent episode consistently achieved enough downloads to place Shutter Stories in the top 50% of podcasts. 

Listeners engaged across a wide range of platforms, from Apple to Spotify, Google and more. Listeners tuned in from Europe, predominantly, but also from Asia, Africa and North America. 

Within 12 months, it has surpassed 20,000 downloads. 

https://www.canon-europe.com/pro/shutter-stories-podcast/