We’ve seen a wave of change for consumers and businesses alike this past year. Everyone has had to fundamentally rethink how they do almost everything; creating an environment rich for innovation and invention. Podcasting is a home to stories of innovation and human ingenuity and always has been. It’s the perfect medium for brands to lean into because it provides a long-form and conversational format that supports all the trappings of great innovation stories:
- More detailed and nuanced explanations
- Sharing how the journey is very rarely a straight line and takes unexpected turns
- An honest and transparent view into the mind of inventors, founders and leaders
We are still hungry for stories of both triumph and failure, there lies a unique opportunity for brands to tell their stories of innovation in the medium that has historically provided it a home.
And the timing could not be more perfect.
As the world reopens, consumers are looking to brands for what the future might hold and how their business and product innovation will continue to drive our world forward — making their lives safer, simpler and cheaper.
History suggests that companies that invest in innovation through a crisis outperform their peers during recovery; doing 10% better during the crisis as well as 30% of companies outperforming the market during post-crisis years*.
At ARM, we have had the pleasure of partnering with some of the most innovative companies throughout the pandemic that have provided great comfort and service to consumers as a result of their thoughtful innovation. And we couldn’t be more proud that their stories of innovation were shared through our favorite storytelling vehicle…podcasts. Here’s a look back at some major pivots in a time of need.
Opendoor
What comes to mind when you want to buy or sell a home? Probably a few choice words not safe for work, but also “dread”, “costly” and “time-consuming” are likely some others. Opendoor took the long standing pain point of buying and selling a home, exacerbated further by the pandemic and fear of in-person showings, and created a seamless and painless online experience.
Launched in 2014 and headquartered in San Francisco, Opendoor is a leading digital platform for residential real estate. Founded on the mission to empower everyone with the freedom to move, they set out to reinvent life’s most important transaction with a new, radically simple way to buy and sell your home ON A MOBILE DEVICE!
If you are a seller, you have the option to sell directly to Opendoor or an individual buyer and if you are a buyer, they will help you through every step of the process including covering your mortgage and other expenses for up to 120 days if your financing falls through. Your purchase also comes with an astounding 90-day money back return policy — Opendoor will buy your house back if you are unhappy with it.
Talkspace
As a result of COVID-19, many people who already went to therapy have been forced to move their sessions online. The pandemic has also caused a spike in mental health issues — a Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that 45% of adults in the United States said “their mental health has been negatively impacted due to worry and stress over the virus.” Additionally, a CDC survey found that the number of people reporting symptoms of anxiety or depression has nearly tripled from a year ago.**
Talkspace has been a leader in democratizing access to mental health professionals through their provider marketplace that works in a similar fashion to Uber. Both patients and therapists are able to meet from the comfort of their own homes using Talkspace’s innovative telehealth platform. They provide an exceptional user experience with a disarming and beautifully illustrated virtual intake process and also sets clear expectations during the sign-up process with a timeline of all next steps.
Roman
The pandemic has made all of us more aware of our personal health and how important access to quality and affordable healthcare is. Even men, who often at the dismay of their friends and families, are still 24% less likely to go to a doctor over a one year period than women. Roman was launched in October 2017 by Zachariah Reitano, Saman Rahmanian, and Rob Schutz to help provide men with easy and discreet end-to-end telehealth services. The Roman platform was established to help overcome some of the consumer barriers that for so long had prevented men from regularly attending to their health.
Access to high-quality telehealth became all that much more important during the pandemic when so many people neglected regular screenings or physicals for fear of contracting COVID-19. In fact, 66% of Americans stated that they postponed or cancelled medical appointments during the pandemic***.
Roman provides high-quality online visits, a follow-up call from your healthcare professional to discuss treatment within 24 hours, free 2-day shipping for all prescriptions and unlimited free follow-up visits to fine-tune your treatment. They are leading the way in not just telehealth, but transforming the future of healthcare overall.
*McKinsey Report: Reimagining consumer-goods innovation for the next normal
Link to original Medium article.
