“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 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

“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

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

“83% of Millennials would be more loyal to a company that allows them to contribute to social and environmental issues”- Cone Communications

“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

“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

“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

“Three uses for storytelling in organizations: (1) to motivate employees, (2) for education and (3) to consolidate corporate culture”- Journal of Marketing

“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

“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

“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

“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

“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

“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

“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

“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

“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

“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

“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

“Audiobook sales revenue has been on a steep rise since 2018, reaching 1.3 billion USD in 2020”- Statista

“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

“Online audio (podcasts, radio shows, music and audiobooks) has become more popular than ever before”- Publishing Research Quarterly

“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

“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

“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

“The audiobook market share shifted from 42% digital copy sales in 2009 to 87% digital copy sales in 2017”- Audio Publishers Association

“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

“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

“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

“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

“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

“There are currently about 1000% more titles published since 2011”- Audio Publishers Association

“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

“[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

“Over 71 thousand audiobook titles (were) published in 2020, a 39% growth between previous years”- Statista

“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

“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

“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

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Improve customer and employee engagement with a gripping story: Business Audio Theatre

Avatar Silicon Review September 14, 2020 28


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Audio, in any form (podcast, audiobook, and music), allows people to escape some of the mundane tasks in life, and absorb knowledge while being active. It is not only the most widely used medium, but it has proven to be more effective than reading a book or watching a video. As audio fits into any mobile device and can reach a large audience quickly, businesses have an opportunity to communicate with their customers in an easy and relevant way.

A well-scripted, fully casted, entertaining, and professionally performed audio play in audiobook form is the best channel to reach your employees and target audience as it is highly measurable.

Taking this fact as an opportunity, Business Audio Theatre took the concept of business audiobooks to a whole new level. The company is focusing on creating intricate business audio plays for its clients. Instead of relying on strict narration, it employs professional actors to play the parts in scripted scenes that convey your message through story. Business Audio Theatre uses its studios, expert audio scriptwriters, actors, editors, sound effects, and music to create a lively audio performance for your brand story. In simple words, Business Audio Theatre gives your brand an entertaining format to demonstrate its history and what it stands for.

How it all started

According to Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey, the founders of Barefoot, now the world’s #1 wine brand, “Turnover and lack of engagement are the biggest hidden costs for any business.” For seven years before they sold their business, they had virtually no turnover. This was a result of their unique business culture, which has been the subject of hundreds of articles, keynotes, and podcast interviews.

Starting with no money and no knowledge of their industry, they employed their own unique culture to overcome many seemingly insurmountable obstacles. They collectively refer to that culture as “The Barefoot Spirit.” Their book by the same name spent nine weeks on the New York Times Business Bestseller’s list. Readers accompany Houlihan and Harvey, on their entrepreneurial journey from the laundry room of a rented farmhouse to the boardroom of their acquirer, E&J Gallo, the world’s largest wine company.

Now they have taken their own story and created a totally new form of business audiobook they call “Business Audio Theatre,” (BAT). The Audiobook Publishers’ Association named The Barefoot Spirit as one of the Top Five Business Audiobooks of 2020. “We have produced an example of what we can do for other founders concerned about preserving and communicating their culture,” says Harvey.

Business Audio Theatre is a Forestville, CA based company founded in 2019. Houlihan says, “We are excited to make this process available to companies that want to preserve their founder’s legacy and business principles, to reduce turnover and increase engagement.” He points out, “The best way to convey business principles is through story. And the best way to convey story is through audio theatre.” Houlihan and Harvey are national radio network workplace culture experts. Now, they are offering an innovative way to train employees to reduce turn-over and increase engagement.

“When the cement is wet, you can move it with a trowel. But when it gets hard, you will need a jack hammer,” Houlihan explains. This is in reference to the first critical moments when a new employee on-boards. Harvey says, “Most new hires are already ‘brainwashed’ by the culture of their previous job. You inherit that cultural mindset – unless you do something about it right when they’re hired.”

They were looking for a digital on-boarding tool to help companies train employees in their business’ culture when their associate, Ryan Foland, a top business communications specialist, introduced them to Matt Weinglass of Sherwood Players Productions in Hollywood and Business Audio Theatre” was born. Using MP3 technology, they produce high-end, fully-casted, audio on-boarding and brand-building tools, designed to preserve the founders’ legacy, story, and principles.

The idea is to use story to not just show your people how to conduct business as the founder intended, but demonstrate the positive advantages of that behavior – not just what, but why? Business Audio Theatre is in an easy-to-use, audiobook format, available anytime, even while multitasking. The listeners are not tethered to a screen as with video and text. Harvey says, “When listeners experience the founder’s challenges and successes, they can better identify with the company!” Weinglass adds, “This is a fully cinematic, 3-D experience for your ears. It brings the stories to life!”

Today’s MP3 and mixing technology make it possible to engage Hollywood actors to voice parts in the founders’ stories and deliver remotely. If you already have a book with scenes and dialogue, it can be adapted for audio screenplay. But if you don’t, a BAT expert will take down your story and write an audio play. Then the production director conducts the auditions, casting, and recordings. Once all the recordings are complete, the editors go to work and do their magic with integration, sound effects, and music.

The result? A training and branding tool that can be enjoyed anytime, anywhere for years to come.

Meet the leaders behind the success of Business Audio Theatre

Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey are the Founders of Business Audio Theatre. As Founders and thought leaders themselves, they appreciate the communication of business principles and are committed to preserving the legacy of other founders. Their New York Times Bestseller, The Barefoot Spirit has become a staple for more than 60 schools of entrepreneurship around the world. They keynote at numerous universities and organizations about their Guiding Principles for Success (GPS). They give classes, media interviews, and write articles on these principles in such business publications as The Business Journals, Forbes, Entrepreneur, C-Suite Network, and others.

Bonnie and Michael provide insights, guidance, and valuable connections to help companies on their journey from ideation to monetization. Although the lessons they learned came from the wine industry, their business principles are universal, including strategic planning, using soft skills to reduce the need for cash, problem solving, and the entrepreneurial culture.

They are headquartered in the beautiful Sonoma County wine country where they share their mini-estate with corporate execs, students, and others looking for a natural retreat where they can reboot in numerous ways. Here they provide programs on key subjects and tailor events to suit their clients’ needs. They also provide a unique insider’s perspective on the wine country in California.

Bonnie came from a serial business management background, and had a consulting practice to small business owners before founding Barefoot Wine. Her foot is on the famous Barefoot Wine label. After attending various schools, Michael pursued a career in Public Administration and had his own consulting practice before the Barefoot enterprise. They live in the heart of the Russian River Valley with two Bengal cats who tag along with them on hikes. www.businessaudiotheatre.com

“Rather than strict narration, professional actors play the parts in skits that convey your message through story with sound effects and music.”

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