Mastering The Room
The Ask
Challenged to increase engagement with its campus community, stakeholders, alums, and prospective students, George Washington University College of Professional Studies knew it had to find more relevant ways to showcase its strengths by rethinking how it showcased thought leadership and branded content. The solution had to promote its greatest assets and differentiators while also serving as a powerful recruiting tool. As part of the effort, the college decided to resurrect a political podcast that had gone dormant. GW and its executive team approached Humble & Wallop with the challenge: How do you drive interest, create awareness, and strengthen the reputation of a renowned university?
about
The Answer
H&W rebranded and relaunched its proprietary political podcast, Mastering the Room, with new positioning, brand messaging, and a shorter – more digestible – format to reconnect with audiences. We refocused the podcast to provide a forum for guests to engage in difficult conversations and defend their positions on polarizing topics. Working with a dynamic new host, Casey Burgat, we created a promotional and public relations strategy that attracted elite guest bookings — from New York Times best-selling authors, to members of Congress. We also developed thoughtful media relations outreach, meaningful partnership connections, a social media strategy, comprehensive producer duties, production and editing, publishing, and cross-channel promotion.
Results
Within three hours, we were able to generate more than 203.8 million media impressions being featured on the likes of Yahoo, AP, MarketWatch and KTLA5. Email outreach was even better. We saw a 93.6% delivery success rate that resulted in an astounding 17.7% clicks. We continued to watch live as podcast subscriber numbers climbed over the course of the first five episodes, resulting in numerous additional premiere guest bookings. And this is just the beginning.
Amanda Gillespie
The relaunch of The Mastering the Room Podcast's 2-part premiere episodes, spearheaded by the insightful political analyst and esteemed professor Casey Burgat, has sparked a buzzy political conversation that extends far beyond the confines of the university and airwaves, but has driven unprecedented download numbers. Setting a new standard for political engagement!
Casey Burgat
Without the incredible team at Humble and Wallop, "Mastering the Room" would still just be a pipedream. From episode recordings to promotion across all channels to creating a top-notch brand, effectively from thin air, Humble and Wallop has proven invaluable at every stage of the creative process. I am forever indebted and impressed by the team's professionalism, effectiveness, and humor.
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