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Recording Another Name For Everything.

Client: Center for Action and Contemplation
Producer: Corey Wayne
Creative Director/Art Director: Nicholas Kramer
Graphic Designer: Izzy Spitz

Total downloads across shows: 10M+ (2019-2023)
Highest unique listeners per show: 440k+ (Turning to the Mystics)

Key Challenge

After launching Another Name For Everything (the first podcast from the Center for Action and Contemplation) and achieving the #1 spot on Apple’s Spirituality chart for weeks, the opportunity to both reach more people and offer a more intimate medium for the organization’s core teachers was obvious. Our challenge now was to design a series of shows that allowed for each teachers’ unique style and felt like one family under the CAC brand.

Approach

Most importantly, we wanted the shows to be in line with the philosophy and values of CAC: deep, thoughtful, human, approachable, excellent. Referring to CAC’s narrative in the brand storybook, we developed a framework for conversations that retained strong brand-alignment with clear boundaries, but allowed for creative freedom and flow.

We realized giving the teachers freedom to speak instinctually was important and coupling this with interviewers focused on practical, everyday application would allow for a gently guided conversation that would feel more like an exploration of ideas between friends than “sitting at the guru’s feet.” We used simple music, tons of space, and allowed for the wonderful imperfections of production to stay in the final cut.

We wanted the artwork to reflect the diversity we were welcoming in the shows and subtly hint at a window into the content without needing to yell out for attention. The art direction at CAC often stems from a saying of Richard Rohr’s “we would like to attract rather than promote.” Slightly muted and natural colors actually “sit back” a bit from other shows on the shelf, but the careful compositions never seem to get tiresome.

The strong cultural identity of CAC coupled with a clear narrative and inspiring brand guidelines made a growing, adaptable, and unified podcast network possible; and, a world-class producer and talent made it grow to impact millions.

Listen to the shows here or anywhere you get podcasts.