How do you create the platform for a music luminary to chat with an all-star guest list, launching the first original podcast on Pandora?
Insight: Pandora was built on the music genome project; in the early streaming era it was a ground breaking technology that connected characteristics of any song, artist or album beyond the basics of human preference. Way beyond. With his range and depth of music, production, and cultural industry knowledge, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson might be the most perfect personification of this early streaming provider concept.
In partnership with Questlove, and leveraging the power of our technology, Questlove Supreme was born. It is the deep music lover’s podcast, hosting a weekly, illuminating dialog with the artists - and the talent behind the artists - who make our most beloved music, and shift culture.
To start, we launched a press blitz with Billboard being our cornerstone. In conjunction with a larger Pandora rebrand and accompanying above the line “Sounds Like You” ad campaign, we produced a tv spot featuring Team Supreme, directed by Michel Gondry. Finally, we launched the original podcast as a weekly series with an incredible line-up of guests including Maya Rudolph, Solange, Q-Tip, Spike Lee, Michelle Obama, Jack White, Usher, Bootsy Collins, Tessa Thompson, Chaka Khan and more.
Our design approach paid homage to one of Questlove’s influences - Blue Note Records - with a logo lockup and brand look developed in-house. It became the central visual to build the show’s brand on-platform and cross-media deliverables.
As we moved into the future seasons 2 & 3, we modernized the color palette, logo and type treatments, advanced the technical playback features on platform, made past episodes available in an archive (to mirror our new on-demand streaming service upgrades) and continued to build the on-air magic of incredible guests, Team Supreme comradery, and PR-driving exclusives heard only on Questlove Supreme.
A comprehensive social media plan, creating short animated clips and BTS-style video content would support key guest clips and drive traffic to platform.
For over 3 years, we were a hit with a committed audience. Questlove Supreme grew to nearly 7 million uniques, achieving a cult following, weekly return listenership of over 60% and created a significant buzz for the new streaming offering of podcasts on platform.
Role: Program Lead: Strategy & Creative Direction, Pandora
Design Direction: Jeff Ho
Design: Sophia Mola, Savio Alphonso
Art Direction & Photography: Michael Baca
Audio Production: Brian Douglas
DP: Bryan Gentry
Animation: Philip Gleichauf