SXM Media sought to create an intimate studio space away from the hustle and bustle of the show floor.
Podcasting is hotter than ever and on track to continue growing with audiences. In December, Edison Research named SXM Media—whose portfolio includes SiriusXM, Pandora and the Stitcher podcast network—the No. 1 most listened-to podcast network for Q3 in 2022 based on total audience reach. To maintain its positioning, SXM Media saw an opportunity to reach advertisers and clients through a podcast studio it activated at CES 2023 in Las Vegas, Jan 5-6, within The Female Quotient’s Equality Lounge (CES’s Official Equality Partner).
In the studio at ARIA Resort & Casino, SXM Media hosted recordings of its own Pass the Mic podcast, which aims to amplify the voices of women leaders in business to inspire the next generation.
“So much of our industry is about relationship building, and I think we lost a lot of that in the pandemic era. SXM Media was created in the middle of the pandemic, so we needed an opportunity or a forum to bring it to life,” says Clark Chaine, vp of b-to-b and trade marketing at SXM Media. “[Pass the Mic] is a powerful platform for women leaders and cmos to participate in and to engage our advertisers and clients. It was about how do we give that more legs? We looked at the landscape for industry partnerships, and we aligned with The Female Quotient.”
The Female Quotient is a woman-owned business that works with companies and leaders to curate experiences, thought leadership and solutions designed to achieve gender equality in the workplace and beyond. For the last 10 years, The FQ has hosted the Equality Lounge at CES and this year welcomed SXM Media into the space with the branded podcast studio. [Read more about the Equality Lounge platform in our Q&A with The FQ’s ceo.]
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The branded podcast studio was home to 13 recorded interviews with leading female executives.
The cozy podcast studio offered a stark contrast to the hustle and bustle found across CES’s exhibit halls. It featured two chairs and a white couch with SXM Media-branded pillows, as well as large backdrops splashed with the podcast name and SXM Media’s and The FQ’s logos. The team wanted to create an intimate space where the participating women felt comfortable sharing their perspectives and stories on their career journeys and breaking the mold.
Over two days, Jocelyn Hudak, director of b-to-b content and digital marketing at SXM Media, hosted 13 Pass the Mic interviews with executives including Shauna Alexander, vp-business development at SoundCloud; Christine Guilfoyle, president of SeeHer; and Latraviette D. Smith-Wilson, chief marketing and equity officer at Horizon Media.
One of the benefits of partnering with The FQ was the proximity to leaders who were speaking on panels presented at the Equality Lounge. Chaine says the team was able to ask speakers as they were coming off the stage if they’d like to join the podcast, and Allison Ausband, evp and chief customer experience officer at Delta Air Lines, was one of the panelists who signed on for a recording session. SXM Media also extended the Pass the Mic experience to a private dinner, unplugged and off the record, where the participating women came together to discuss successes, struggles and experiences.
CES 2023 marked SXM Media’s second in-person event experience, with the first taking place at Advertising Week New York in October 2022, where it gathered content for its The Genrelist podcast series, released on Jan. 4. These two experiences have been testing grounds for SXM Media to try out different spaces and formats. Advertising Week’s activation was located in a more trafficked area and spanned five days, while CES’s took up two and was based in a closed-off room at the lounge. The team approached these two projects with openness and is reviewing results and learnings from both for the future.
“It’s about figuring out how you collaborate; rising tides float all boats. Like us and The Female Quotient, we’re doing this together. It was much more effective for us,” Chaine says. “After this activation, we’re going to put more of a strategy behind it. What do we want it to become? I think it could have a dedicated event that we produce around [podcasting], where we bring people and advertisers together. We’re really excited about bringing the brand to life in new and creative ways.” Agency: In-house.
Photo credit: SXM Media
