NPR reaches a very environmentally-conscious audience. NPR podcast listeners are 150% more likely to have participated in environmental causes, and 70% are very interested in finding out how they can help the environment.¹ They are also 60% more likely than average to enjoy activities like hiking and backpacking,¹ making NPR a sponsorship platform well-suited for outdoor brands.
One of NPR’s continuous sponsors is an outdoor gear company that not only inspires outdoor enthusiasts but connects communities to help protect the environment. This sponsor ran a brand lift study to help measure the impact of its most recent NPR campaign.
Goal
Creating positive change in the outdoors has been a mission for this brand from the start. For this campaign, the sponsor aimed to raise awareness and opinion of brand among NPR audience. By discovering the campaign’s impact on its target audience of outdoor enthusiasts, the sponsor could determine listener’s intent to support environmental brands and causes.
Solution
NPR’s & Neuro-Insight’s recent Transference of Trust study revealed that 46% of consumers pay close attention to a brand’s social responsibility efforts. This brand leveraged that attention using CSR messaging across NPR platforms to help share the brand’s mission with NPR listeners.
The NPM team created custom Brand Soundscapes creative that showcased the brand’s community engagement approach to sustainability that could be shared in sponsorship placements across NPR platforms and in the brand’s own channels. The Soundscapes featured executive interviews and highlighted the initiatives the brand was taking in order to make the outdoors accessible to everyone.
The campaign ran for nine months across a variety of NPR programs like All Songs Considered, Code Switch, and Throughline.
Results
NPR’s style of storytelling connects with listeners, creating a brand safe environment for sponsors to engage with listeners too. Out of all the listeners who played the brand’s Soundscape creative, 46% completed the video. That’s 15% higher than the benchmark!
Environmental brands that align with the interests of the NPR audience and show authentic corporate social responsibility through messaging have a strong chance of being well-received as a sponsor. Post-campaign research confirms that this brand is universally known among the NPR audience with strong recall, brand use, and website engagement. Recall of the sponsorship was strong with 74% of those 18-34 recalling the sponsor – far above the norm of 45%. Listeners think very well of the brand, want to learn more about it, and strongly agree that is involved in meaningful and impactful work.²
Among NPR listeners exposed to the campaign:
