On A Personal Note Podcast
The IdEA
Digital River had talked about doing a podcast with The Cleveland Orchestra for years. They liked the idea, but time, budget and energies never fully aligned. Then, COVID-19 struck. In one fell swoop, the pandemic put an end to live music, to performing onstage as a 100-member ensemble. And yet, we all needed the healing, hopeful power of music more than ever before.
The product
In record time, we came up with podcast manifesto—basic tenets for delivering on The Cleveland Orchestra’s brand promise in a podcast:
• We believe that the power of music—particularly our music—is to take listeners on an emotional journey.
• We want to bring our listeners comfort, human connection and healing by sharing that music, some of the highest quality in the world.
• We want to give audiences the opportunity to discover something new—or find new meaning in something they’ve heard a million times before.
• We don’t want to produce a musicology program. We want to make a human program, expressed through music.
And just like that, On A Personal Note was born. We created traveling kits of audio gear to deliver to our musicians’ homes so they would sound their best. We balanced teaching our kids at home with set-up and storyline calls. We interviewed our guests in their homes, from our homes while asking the impossible —to achieve the intimacy and vulnerability you might expect when you’re sitting across from someone, leaning in.
The Results
Average listening time per episode was
10
MINUTES
On A Personal Note was downloaded
30K
TIMES
over its two seasons.
Listening on Facebook:
9.8K
MINUTES
Reach on Instagram:
5K
PER SINGLE EPISODE
Reach on YouTube:
1.7K
PER SINGLE EPISODE
Even more meaningful, The Cleveland Orchestra was able to fulfill its mission at a time when there was no other way. On a Personal Note become a lifeline for many. As one of our many five-star reviewers put it:
“[On A Personal Note is] the next best thing to being at Severance; connecting with members of The Cleveland Orchestra and hearing great music—an antidote for COVID”