Digiday Live: How Umpqua Bank caught the podcasting bug

It’s a truth as old as the hills: people hate talking about money. In this episode of Digiday Live recorded at the Digiday Content Marketing Summit, Lani Hayward, evp of creative strategies for Umpqua Bank, shared how her team started a  conversation about money in a format that hasn’t caught on for most brands yet: the podcast.

Launched in September 2015, the podcast Open Account invites celebrity guests like Portland Trail Blazers center Meyers Leonard and “Daily Show” producer Baratunde Thurston to share their money challenges and successes with host SuChin Pak. The podcast is part of a larger initiative by Umpqua called “Made to Grow,” a campaign which aims to decrease the stress associated with money money and encourage honest conversations — and better money habits.

“This podcast is trying to make us have a conversation,” said Hayward. The reach of the podcast might be small — downloads were at 300,000 when Hayward spoke at the Digiday Content Marketing Summit in August — but the quality leads are there. “We know that in this forum of content, we’re getting so many more hits than with direct marketing or anything else.”

Interested in how other brands are approaching content marketing? Check out these episodes:

• How the Philadelphia 76ers marketing team creates content for every type of fan.
• Coca-Cola’s content marketing gamble and success with the website “Journey.”