The promotion of Alan Partridge’s new podcast has been ramping up for months and, just when you think it had run out of gears, this happens...
The 11ft Alan Partridge statue outside Norwich train station to promote his new podcast on Audible (Courtesy of BBC News)
Radio adverts, video clips and outtakes, a clever, well-run LinkedIn account (yes, I have followed), and now an 11-ft statue in his hometown of Norwich.
Whoever is behind the campaign – I’ve checked with a few sources and nothing confirmed yet – deserves a hearty round of driving-glove-wearing applause, followed by a few pints of real ale (no ‘Ladyboys’, thank-you-very-much).
So, after being off our screens for just over a year (since The One Show parody ‘This Time…’ in 2019), exactly how has Alan bounced back… this time…
The podcast: From the oasthouse
The 18-part podcast series was revealed earlier this year and since then radio (“the thick globules of my voice dripping into your ear folds…(sic)”) and TV adverts, alongside organic social media activity, have formed the basis of the campaign.
Podcasts have been continually gaining popularity in recent years (Spring 2020 RAJAR data below, shared by Podnet), and impressively maintaining this popularity during lockdown, even though commuting was vastly reduced. See the recent RAJAR lockdown figures here.
Amazon-ing campaign?
Alan’s From the Oasthouse podcast is an ‘Audible Original’ (everyone else noticing a lot of Orignal’s nowadays? Might be reaching peak Original soon) so has the might of Amazon, and depth of pockets, to make this a success.
Flexing its product diversity muscles, Amazon’s marketing machine has the power of Audible and Alexa at its fingertips. However, the irreverent humour behind the campaign’s organically-shared assets could be the key to cut-through, not the advertising spend. Although, that helps!
Video trailers
Very Partridge, just what we need right now?
Who is the real Alan Partridge? Join Alan in a new series of podcasts from his Oasthouse, only on Audible.
#AlanPartridge #Audible We love Alexa but...she's no match for Lynn.
Organic LinkedIn creativity
Yes, I have Connected…
In addition to the video trailers, audio adverts across radio stations (still a decent platform with good reach, folks) and the spread of print/digital coverage and angles – Irish Times ‘To this day there’s never been a story published suggesting Alan Partridge has tits’, NME’s ‘Nine unmissable moments’ and DigitalSpy exploring why it’s ‘…about more than making people laugh’ – the team behind the Audible promotion have chosen to use LinkedIn.
Launching an Alan profile earlier this month with an article entitled ‘Think Yourself Creative': a thought piece’, the uniqueness of LinkedIn is that it focuses on organic interaction and engagement ON the platform.
By enabling fans and interested people to like, comment and follow The Real Alan Partridge, it means that they don’t have to spend money on ads. The advocacy of people clamouring to ‘Connect’ with Alan – a character created by Steve Coogan, in case you’ve been living on another planet since the 90s – means that engagement and subsequent visibility of his profile, content and promotion of the podcast is pushed out by LinkedIn’s algorithm.
Very clever.
Your thoughts?
Is Alan the tonic we need right now? What do you think of the campaign? Even if not a fan of the character, what are your views on its execution/timing of a podcast and balance of traditional channels and LinkedIn’s organic algorithm?
Is this as much of a coup for Alexa and Amazon as it it for Mr Coogan…?
Am I too much of a Partridge fan boy?! (yes)
Let me know below; don’t be reserved – interested in your thoughts.