• by Tanya Gazdik , June 30, 2021

Buick is offering consumers a bonus episode of a popular podcast in a cross-platform sponsorship with SXM Media to promote the Buick Enivison SUV.

The General Motors division is aiming to reach a younger demographic and more females, says Kate Hrabovsky, Buick advertising and media operations manager. 

The special episode of “Office Ladies,” which dropped at the end of May, is titled “Monday Motivation.” The theme tied into how the Buick Envision can help listeners “keep up with the chaos” of their week.

To address consumers’ misconception of Buick, it was important that the hosts of the podcast — actresses Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey from the TV show “The Office” — could experience the vehicle for themselves. So Buick lent the women two Buick Envisions to try out. 

The test drive allowed them to speak naturally and off-script about the product throughout the episode, Hrabovsky says.

"Jenna and Angela brought the Buick brand and the technology-packed 2021 Envision to life so naturally for their audience, who is a perfect fit for Buick,” Hrabovsky says.

The episode was downloaded more than 500,000 times in the first week. Social promotion for the bonus content on the podcast's Instagram account, @officeladiespod, garnered more than 100,000 views and hundreds of comments from fans. 

Post-episode, the Nielsen Podcast Ad Effectiveness study showed that listeners had significantly higher brand affinity and were more likely to seek out information about Buick.

Podcast listeners are a very appealing audience for automotive marketers, according to Nielsen. They’re young, affluent, diverse consumers and are more likely to purchase luxury vehicles and SUVs within the next year.

Podcast consumption was trending upward even before the pandemic hit, according to Edison Research and Triton Digital. More than three-quarters (78%) of Americans are familiar with podcasting and 57% have listened to a podcast this year, up from 55% in 2020 and 51% in 2019.