Everyone's starting a podcast. Brands, founders, your neighbor's dog walker. The barrier to entry is basically zero, which means the barrier to being boring is also zero.
Here's the podcast nobody should make:
The interview show with your CEO. Unless your CEO is genuinely fascinating (most aren't), this is a vanity project disguised as content. Listeners can smell it.
The product update show. "This week we launched a new feature..." Nobody subscribed to hear your release notes out loud.
The thought leadership panel. Three executives agreeing with each other for 45 minutes. Groundbreaking.
The "we should have a podcast" podcast. No concept, no point of view, just vibes and a Yeti mic.
The podcasts that actually work? They're not about the brand at all. They're about what the brand cares about. They have a voice. A perspective. Something that would be interesting even if the logo wasn't attached.
A podcast isn't a content decision. It's a brand decision. And most brands aren't ready to make it. Or honestly, support it.
Anyway, I'm starting a podcast.
I know. I just roasted everyone and now I'm doing the thing. But here's the difference (I hope): it's not a brand podcast. It's me thinking out loud about creativity and possibly discussing it with other creative people.
What creativity actually is, where it shows up, why many of us have lost touch with it.
Will it be good? Certainly not at first. Maybe not ever. But it won't be a product update show.
More soon.
— Michelle
Un-Boring Brand of the Week:
Miss Havisham's Curiosities
This week I fell down a rabbit hole with Miss Havisham's Curiosities, a line of vintage insult teacups that are somehow elegant and unhinged at the same time.
The copy alone is worth studying:
"Every piece is painstakingly insulted by one of our ceramics artists, re-fired carefully in a kiln, and packed by our evil cat army."
"We'd like to speed that up and deliver you cups faster, but currently each cup is insulted by hand and that takes time."
From the FAQ: "No, dearie, we are strictly an online venture. But, like an evil unicorn, we occasionally make magical appearances at various fleas and pop-ups."
At first glance these porcelain teacups look perfectly proper. Look closer and the cups begin to speak their minds. Because sometimes the most elegant way to say exactly what you mean is with scalding wit wrapped in roses.
The founder, Melissa Johnson, said it best: "A wise woman once told me, 'If you got hate in your heart, you gotta let it out.' By far, our favorite way to release it is by stewing over a scalding cup of tea."
This is the energy. Weird, specific, memorable on purpose. A whole brand built on a point of view.