“116% growth in spoken word listeners 13-34 years old in the past even years, with 18% growth in the last year”- National Public Radio Organization
“Should produce positive effects on key audiences, such as increasingly positive attitudes toward the company and eventually behavioral intentions to support this company”- Public Relations Review
“The corporate world cannot ignore the demands and expectations of Millennials, who are devout in their desire to associate with companies aligned with their values”- Center for Social Impact Communication at Georgetown University
“Storytelling that starts with the persona allows us to tap into these deeper recesses, where the influence of attitudes and emotions is greater… loyalty and trust are found there”- Journal of Business Strategy
“Storytelling that integrates a moral and spiritual component can transform an organizational culture so members of the organization begin to feel connected to a larger community and a higher purpose”- Journal of Business Ethics
“Audio platform superiority was about the desire to use an audio platform that is perceived to be superior to other audio alternatives, including on-demand convenience (time and place) and content (vari- ety and uniqueness)”- New Media and Society Journal
“Three uses for storytelling in organizations: (1) to motivate employees, (2) for education and (3) to consolidate corporate culture”- Journal of Marketing
“There is value in a story that is, designed to drive the simulation and to elicit the [employee’s] best performance”- Society for Human Resource Management
“Spoken word audio listening is up 40% in the past seven years, and up 8% year over year”- National Public Radio Organization and Edison Research
“Brands can bring their CSR (corporate social responsibility) efforts to life through authentic storytelling [and] Millennials want to know what companies are doing to make the world a better place”- Center for Social Impact Communication at Georgetown University
“The storytelling process yields positive impacts on internal and external stakeholder outcomes including increasing employees’ thriving and meaningful work, as well as the attitudes and trust of multiple external stakeholders”- Journal of Strategic Marketing
“Audiobooks have had a big shift in popularity in 2018 where for the first time, “a full half of all Americans ages 12 and older have listened to an audiobook, up from 44% last year”- Forbes
“Researchers have shown that storytelling strengthens the connections consumers have to brands, so that to a great extent what a brand means to a consumer is based . . . on the narratives he or she has constructed that incorporate the brand.”- Journal of Business Strategy
“As technology evolves, people have more options available to them, which may explain why [reports] found younger adults to be more likely to opt for audiobooks and the multi-tasking they enable”- Forbes
“Storytelling is essential to successful branding, since your brand is the sum of all your corporate behaviors and communications that inform your customers’ experiences with your product or company”- The Journal of Business Strategy
“The majority (79%) of Millennials want to work for a company that cares about how it contributes to society and 69% would refuse to work for a company that is not socially responsible”- Journal of Education For Business
“Audio narrative has recently benefited from profound cultural shifts in media consumption associated with on-demand television’s binge watching revolution and the advent of digital longform storytelling”- Journal of Radio & Audio Media
“Narrative presentation of corporate strategy, comparative advantage, is more effective at producing a consistent and confident choice of competitive advantage among an audience than a presentation of corporate strategy using a PowerPoint style, bulleted list approach”- Journal of Strategy and Management
“83% of Millennials would be more loyal to a company that allows them to contribute to social and environmental issues”- Cone Communications
“Employees have a deeper affiliation with the message through organizational storytelling due to aligning stories with their own experiences and understanding”- International Journal of Business and Social Science
“A poor cultural fit is frequently cited as one of the main reasons [an employee] decides to leave an organization… defining the organization's culture through storytelling should start with branding of the organization and continue through the interview and onboarding process”- Physician Executive Communication Journal
“There are currently about 1000% more titles published since 2011”- Audio Publishers Association
“Corporate storytelling is suggested to help demonstrate the importance of the corporate brand to internal and external stakeholders… as well as help a firm to bond with its employees”- Product & Brand Management
“Millennials are more technologically advanced than any previous generation [and] survey data has shown a correlation between age and reading preferences [where] younger people listen to more audiobooks than older Americans”- State University of New York
“When it comes to digital storytelling for branding, there is, a more positive attitude towards the company when the employer branding message is using digital storytelling”- Management Dynamic in the Knowledge Economy Journal
“[the way employees are on-boarded] sets the tone for the culture of a place, the people, and the values of a new institution and can have a significant impact on employees’ sense of belonging”- Journal of Research, Assessment, and Practice in Higher Education
“Employees have a deeper affiliation with the message through organizational storytelling due to aligning stories with their own experiences and understanding”- International Journal of Business and Social Science
“[onboarding] can also aid employees in identifying values congruence which is critical to career contentment and commitment which can significantly impact retention to both the field and the institution long-term” - Journal of Research, Assessment, and Practice in Higher Education
“64% of Millennials consider a company’s social commitments when taking jobs and will not work for a company if they do not have strong corporate social responsibility (CSR) values”- Cone Communications
“Audiobook sales revenue has been on a steep rise since 2018, reaching 1.3 billion USD in 2020”- Statista
“Stories are a device… [that] provide managers with a form of social and intersubjective interaction that reflects belief systems, role expectations, interpersonal norms and conditions for work behavior”- International Journal of Management
“Maximizing success through onboarding by storytelling during orientations, [helps employees understand] the company's culture and values [and] its goals and history”- Society for Human Resource Management
“The audiobook market share shifted from 42% digital copy sales in 2009 to 87% digital copy sales in 2017”- Audio Publishers Association
“73% of the U.S. 12+ population (an estimated 209 million people) have listened to online audio in the last month, up from 68% in 2021”- Edison Research
“The most recent era in audio entertainment… users are asserting power over the medium to select particular content at particular times”- Mass Communication and Society Journal
“Online audio (podcasts, radio shows, music and audiobooks) has become more popular than ever before”- Publishing Research Quarterly
“19% [of Millennials] say they have paid in the last year for a subscription service for eBooks or audiobooks such as Kindle Unlimited or Audible”- American Press Institute
“Over 71 thousand audiobook titles (were) published in 2020, a 39% growth between previous years”- Statista
“A focus on social responsibility is particularly important to attract, retain, and increase the commitment and engagement of Millennial employees and talented women”- Center for Creative Leadership
“Story-telling is an important element… involving the sharing of experiences and creation of mental-maps of the environment in which people are motivated to perform to their full potential”- Leadership and Organization Development Journal
Blog
Audio is Exploding 💥
Audiobooks are becoming increasingly mainstream, with 38% of American adults having listened to an audiobook in the last year, up from 35% in 2023. This rise signals an overall increase in audiobook consumption. Among the most avid listeners, those who have listened to an audiobook in the last year, the […]
Part 1 | The Barefoot Spirit Audiobook [VIDEO]
Check out this short video of a scene from our Business Audio Theatre adaptation Michael Houlihan & Bonnie M. Harvey‘s The New York Times Best Selling Novel, The Barefoot Spirit! Are you ready to revolutionize the way you experience business stories? Dive into a world where business narratives come to […]
A Transformative Idea: “Business Audio Theatre” From The Founders Of Barefoot Wine. Not Just Narrated … Performed!
Recently, Business Audio Theatre has caught attention, where business audiobooks are performed rather than simply narrated. Michael Houlihan and Bonnie M. Harvey, co-founders of Barefoot Wine, discussed their innovative approach from their home in California Wine Country. After selling Barefoot Wine, Houlihan and Harvey were encouraged by employees, vendors, and […]
Specialization and Division of Labor: A Double-Edged Sword ⚔️
Specialization is efficient but can foster isolation, competition, and a lack of cooperation. A successful company culture relies on teamwork, common goals, and a shared purpose. Without a higher purpose, specialization can become the default culture, with employees viewing their jobs as mere resume builders. The Isolation of Professionalization 💼 […]
Reducing Employee Turnover: The Power of Relationship Bonds 🤝
Turnover is one of the biggest hidden costs in any business. Just when you get the right candidate on board, trained, and experienced, they might leave for another employer. Why? Perhaps they felt unappreciated or identified more with a competitor’s story. When an employee leaves, you lose more than just […]
NEW! Podcast Series
Check out this podcast series where Business Audio Theatre founders Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey break down what exactly we do, why it’s beneficial to your company, and more! 🎧 Their most recent production, The Brain Savers, How a Scrappy Startup Transformed Telemedicine and Patient Care chronicles the entrepreneurial journey […]
Why are podcasts so popular?
Podcasts have become popular for many reasons, including: 1. Convenience: Podcasts can be listened to on-demand, without time or location restrictions, making them ideal for multitasking. 2. Diverse content: Podcasts cover a wide range of interests, including history, comedy, personal development, and hobbies. 3. Authenticity: Podcasts often feature unfiltered conversations […]
How is Audio superior to Video? 🤔
Audio content has unique advantages over video, supported by both scientific research and practical considerations. First, audio is less complicated to produce, requiring fewer tools and less setup time than video, which involves cameras and lighting. This simplicity allows content creators to focus on delivering their message effectively without the […]
The Brain Savers: How a Startup Transformed Telemedicine and Patient Care
The Brain Savers: How a Startup Transformed Telemedicine and Patient Care is a full-cast audio performance featuring Hollywood actors, sound effects, and an original score, produced by Sherwood Players Productions and brought to you by the authors of the New York Times bestseller The Barefoot Spirit. This compelling story, also […]
What is a Brand if not the Founder’s Legacy, Concept, and Intention?
So often we see great brands derailed. They seem to have lost track of their purpose and style, their principles and commitments. They often get watered down and diluted by corporate governance, standardization, and complacency. What happened? They lost their spirit, that’s what happened! They degenerated from a passion to […]
