When H&M launched their video podcast, in May this year, they quickly became the most popular podcast in Sweden. Their first episode was quite good with the right mix of product advertising and other content. But when the second episode was released then didn’t hit the spot, they were relying on the thought that consumers like them so much that would not mind watching their commercials in just another marketing channel. But the problem is that podcasting is not just another marketing channel, consumers turn to podcasts for different reasons but very few, if any, turn to podcasts to watch commercials. Consumers are leaving the TV and radio to avoid commercials and get a more personal type of (ad free) entertainment.

Today H&M are not even on the top 100 list of podcasts in iTunes Store in Sweden. They might climb up to a better position again when a new episode is released, but the whole point is to stay interesting all the time, not just when they push out a new episode and advertise the release massively in stores. People should want to seek out the content (pull) instead of the old school marketing that focuses on pushing out the ads to all consumers weather they want it or not. None of the great podcasts need this type of marketing to get listeners/viewers. You can’t buy listerners/viewers in the same way in the new media landscape. H&M is a huge brand, but that is not enough if they want to succeed in podcasting. The best content wins, not the biggest budget.

That is why H&M is failing at podcasting right now, and they need a new approach if they want to be successful in the future.

- Tomas

Technorati Tags: brands, h&m, podcasting, vodcasting, vidcasting

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