Professional yet refreshingly authentic in tone, the podcast reflects Eight Group’s practical, confident approach to business, and its commitment to advocating for the wider print and marketing sector.
The idea for the podcast emerged organically. Lance explains: “Over the last probably two and a bit years, I’ve started to listen to lots of podcasts. Probably 3 years ago, I wasn’t listening to any at all. Since then, I’ve become a bit of a ‘podcast-aholic’, if there’s such a word, regularly listening to business-focused content alongside broader interests.”
That shift in habit coincided with a growing recognition of podcasting as a serious marketing channel: “Video content’s been huge in the last 18 months and the podcast area is growing in a marketing sense. So, I thought, this could be a good opportunity to get our story out and have some interesting conversations on a different platform that you wouldn’t necessarily associate with Eight Group.”
Having previously appeared as a guest on several podcasts, Lance and the Eight Group team decided it was time to create their own platform.
A Value-Led Conversation – Not a Sales Pitch
Crucially, From Brief to Broadcast is not intended to be promotional, says Lance: “It’s certainly not an Eight Group sales pitch, far from it. It’s a conversation with interesting people that audiences will hopefully find engaging. That’s loosely associated with what we do as a business, a value-added approach.”
Each monthly episode centres on a specific theme relevant to both Eight Group’s expertise and the wider industry. “We’re going to interview customers, partners and staff each month and there’ll be a different theme or topic to talk about that we hope will create some curiosity amongst the listeners.”
Topics already covered and planned include digital marketing, traditional and online channels, colour management, and data.
“We’re picking relevant subjects that are relevant to our business and also the industry,” says Lance.
The aim is to provide insight, practical examples and honest discussion, content that resonates both within print and beyond it.
Authentic, Confident and Bold
While some industry podcasts adopt a highly polished studio format, Eight Group has taken a more natural approach.
Lance explains: “Ours is going to be very ‘authentic’, it’s going to be a chat, a conversation, a mini interview, which will have some real-life scenarios in it as well. We might go off-piste a little bit.”
Importantly, the podcast extends beyond internal voices he adds: “We’re being bold to interview some of our customers as well and actually put them out there, knowing full well that our competitors will probably see our podcast. That’s fine because we’re confident in our relationships with our clients.
“When you talk to some of our customers, they’ve got some amazing case studies as well, which we want to get out there.”
Advocating for Print Beyond the Industry
Beyond engagement and marketing visibility, the podcast carries a wider purpose: industry advocacy, as Lance emphasises: “There’s probably the hidden agenda in a way. Through my involvement in business networks outside print, I regularly encounter misconceptions about the sector, particularly around sustainability.”
The podcast thus provides an additional platform to “dispel myths” and to present print as “a really good, sustainable and a channel that actually delivers very, very strong ROI.”
Lance is clear that the work of promoting and educating about print is ongoing. “Whatever we do, it will never be enough, but we need to make our contribution. The average age of a marketer now is late 20s. They haven’t got a print-based background like we have, so therefore they don’t know much about it and it probably challenges them, so they think: ‘I’m going to go digital because I know about that’.”
The solution, he believes, lies in making print accessible and supported: “It’s about how we break down the barriers as an industry and actually say, look, it’s not hard. You’ve got some great print businesses out in the market, who will hold your hand and walk you through a journey if you’ve not used print before as a channel to market.”
How to Listen
From Brief to Broadcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and the Eight Group YouTube channel.
“It’s one a month and they’re around 30-35 minutes, it’s quite a nice length, not too long, but enough time to get into some decent content that hopefully the audience will like. We welcome all feedback, good, bad and indifferent… if anybody’s interested about either being on the podcast or any ideas about topics we’d like to cover, bring it on. I’d love to hear,” concludes Lance.
With its combination of practical insight, open discussion and industry advocacy, From Brief to Broadcast represents more than a new marketing initiative. It is a confident statement of intent, positioning Eight Group not only as a service provider, but as a thoughtful and progressive voice within the modern print and marketing landscape.
