PPB December 2020

Silver Winner: Business Services commonsku An ‘unScripted’ Conversation With Kirby Hasseman And Bill Petrie B ig hair, leg warmers, acid-washed jeans and Swatch watches—ah, the 1980s. But that decade was also the backdrop for something else, a new concept in communication—podcasts. First dubbed “audio blogging” in the ’80s, the concept made a resurgence in 2004 with the availability of broadband internet access and portable audio devices. As of October 2020, research by podcasthosting.org reports there are more than 1.5 million podcasts and more than 34 million episodes. Even in a crowded marketplace, excellence stands out. Industry pros Kirby Hasseman, owner of Hasseman Marketing and Communications and Bill Petrie, managing partner of Brandivate, launched their first podcast, unScripted , in May 2016 and published it weekly—a total of 206 episodes—until June 2020. The podcast, which featured candid discussions on industry news, trends and a wide variety of topics, and had 1,800 subscribers, won Gold in this year’s Pyramid Awards for technology. “Consistency is our biggest pillar. We didn’t miss a week,” says Hasseman. Petrie adds that no matter what was going on in their continued on page 58 Evgeny Karandaev / Shutterstock.com Bill Petrie and Kirby Hasseman record an episode of their new podcast, PromoUpfront. FEATURE | 2020 Pyramid Winners 54 | DECEMBER 2020 |