Interview with Davide Schioppa, CEO of Podcastory
March 3, 2022
Interview with Davide Schioppa, CEO of Podcastory, innovative and dynamic podcast factory in Italy
If it’s true that podcasts have landed later in Italy it’s also true to say that now they are among us, do without it! Podcastory knows it well and proposes, through an innovative startup founded in 2019, the creation and promotion of branded podcasts.
What Podcastory does
Podcastory, as mentioned, takes care of the production of native digital audio content at 360 degrees. It is therefore a point of reference for all those who want to create podcasts of different types, to adopt a company sound logo, and to develop and follow an audio strategy.
The factory is divided into three areas: The Sales/Markeing area, the Account area and the Production one.
Sales/Marketing area
The area consists of two working teams:
- the group of commercials, composed of senior sales managers
- the marketing team, made up of research and development talents
The Account area involves a group of account managers who bring the branded audio content into life.
The production area consists of three distinct but synergistic working teams:
- the group of authors, composed of 40 talents of creative writing
- the group of voices, composed of great voices of cinema, actors and radio talents
- the sound engineering team, composed of six talents of sound engineering
To whom Podcastory is addressed
The reference market is composed of companies that want to convey their values and increase brand awareness through and audio strategy;; communication agencies that want to offer new services to their customers (branded podcasts, audio amplification, etc.); publishers who want to increase the offer of their content.
Podcastory is also a startup very close to the issues of sustainability and environmental protection, so much so that it has launched VoiceGreen, a one-of-a-kind product of which Davide Schioppa, CEO of the company, will tell more about in today’s interview.
Hi Davide, nice to meet you and thank you for your time. Podcastory: tell us more about this beautiful podcast-story
I am an advertiser, I have been working in the world of advertising since the beginning of 2000, and since 2017 I have been studying the world of Digital Audio. At the end of 2019, Podcastory, the first Italian podcast factory, was founded with the idea of transforming the podcast into a (almost) cinematic storytelling tool, at the service of brands. Today, after two years, Podcastory has gained a leadership position in the branded podcast market in Italy, and transformed an idea into a structured company rich in talents.
How and when was the idea of Podcastory born?
There is an exact moment when the idea of the name was born: during the first event on podcasting in Italy, I think it was the end of 2018. In that moment I thought the right way was to use movie voices to make branded podcasts: watching commercials on TV where Hollywood stars, brand testimonials, were (and are) mostly silent.
How did you launch Podcastory? Did you use crowdfunding campaigns?
I would never ask someone for money without validating the goodness of the idea and the business model. I have a vision of the entrepreneur as the one who ‘romantically’ undertakes, making his strength and talent available to the mission. We started with our own strength (my and my fellow founders), starting from our capabilities. Only when we realized that the idea was standing on its own two feet, we extended the possibility of investing to groups of professionals and friends in the advertising industry. Today, now that the company is solid and produces profits, to ensure even faster development, we are considering new forms of financing, including crowdfunding.
The project is also present in the USA. In your opinion, how is the podcast market in Italy evolving compared to the American one?
The experience on the US market was born from the proximity to companies very similar to ours and above all from the desire of some of our Italian customers on the US market to produce content also valid for American listeners.
Podcastory: very evocative name, do you want to tell us anyway some curiosity about the choice of name?
I think the company name should be simple, evocative and memorable. And Podcastory respects all three points. Isn’t it?
VoiceGreen, can you tell us what it is and why sustainability is so important for you?
The podcast is a super power that allows you to speak directly to people’s ears. So why not use it to try and spread some culture about sustainability? So, VoiceGreen comes from here, from this desire.
Curiosity: the podcast you’ve become more fond of?
The special project made with VoiceGreen in collaboration with MiTE on the occasion of the Youth4Climate held last September in Milan. For the first time in history a Minister has become a podcaster, in fact the special was inaugurated by the voice of Minister Cingolani. So, I think that podcast is a real gem.
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