A couple of months ago I came to Lauren with a serious problem; I was plagued with a dangerous case of podcast listening slump. As always, she had a recommendation – a podcast that seemed to be designed for brains like mine. I instantly fell in love with it. And I’m not the only one – Tom Hanks, Ryan Reynolds, Jackie Chan – they all agree! Read on.
Jacob Reed and Me is an investigative comedy hosted by Jacob Reed about tracking people named Jacob Reed and somehow in the process answering big questions about life and creativity in today’s world.
Here’s what fellow Tinkerer Devin had to say about it in her newsletter Podstack –
‘a new low-stakes-high-quality investigative series…This show reminds of me Dead Eyes, combined with Reply All.’
No wonder it caught Davy Gardner and Tribeca Audio Festival’s last year, and ended up becoming an official selection. However, even a show this well-produced spends time creatively thinking about marketing. Accolades don’t always cut it if no one knows that you’ve got those accolades, right?
That’s how the Big Names Endorsement Campaign was born! On July 8, Jacob Reed and his team at AllTradesCo launched a campaign where Jacob Reed and Me is endorsed by big names [or rather by people with the same names as celebrities. Pretty cool right?!]. They even ran a huge billboard with a quote from Tom Hanks on LA’s Sunset Blvd.
🎙️ I had a chance to chat with the host Jacob Reed about the Big Names Endorsement Campaign, turning competition into collaboration, and the unpleasant parts about PR.
Let it be this piece of advice from Jacob: Figure out something that only makes sense for your show. I think across the board—from podcasting to brand marketing—if you can do something that only works for your voice, you’re immediately not competing with anyone.
On to it!
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. Any emphasis is mine.
Shreya Sharma (SS): We always say that making the podcast is only half the battle; the other half is marketing it. How true have you seen that to be?
Jacob Reed (JR): Absolutely. There are almost 5 million podcasts out there (including all the AI ones). It’s hard to stand out. We were lucky to be noticed early on by Davy Gardner at Tribeca and by Apple’s curation team. Those features have been our biggest bumps, but we still think anyone who is listening is early to the party. Most platforms are algorithmic rather than human-curated; fewer writers cover podcasts; it’s an uphill battle. We’re throwing everything we’ve got at it, but to be real, it’s exhausting.
SS: Tell me about the Big Name Endorsement Campaign. How did it come to be? How did you find your “big name” endorsers? How has the reception been?
JR: Putting up this Tom Hanks billboard on Sunset Boulevard feels pretty crazy. Jacob Reed and Me is the first narrative project from my creative studio, All Trades Co, known for getting attention in a crowded attention economy. Our approach is to energize a community around a pressure point or universal truth. The entertainment industry is going through an extremely risk-averse time. We (creatives, podcasters, artists) are all feeling the squeeze of big names dominating projects as a way for studios to hedge that risk. To satirize the dependency on ‘big names’ we found some of our own: scouring the phone book, social media, and our own listeners for people with names more famous than they are. And, in a way, those people with ‘famous names’ are their own community that we’re giving a voice to. This is all rolling out now, so TBD on the reception.
SS: What’s one piece of marketing advice you’d give a podcaster just starting out?
JR: Figure out something that only makes sense for your show. I think across the board—from podcasting to brand marketing—if you can do something that only works for your voice, you’re immediately not competing with anyone.
SS: You seem to be comfortable promoting yourself but some people are really shy. Can you give the Jacob Reed pep talk for putting yourself out there?
JR: That’s super funny, because I’m really uncomfortable promoting myself. It’s been a struggle throughout the whole show; we even mention in a couple episodes that I’d rather not be at the center of it. But, here’s the pep talk: you’re the person who’s making this thing. You’re the voice, you’re the special sauce, you’re the secret weapon. If you can’t put yourself out there, I just don’t know how it’s going to get any attention. There’s no way around it.
SS: Of all the marketing and PR things you’ve done, what would you never do again? Maybe it didn’t work at all or that you hated it.
JR: I hate telling people to listen. Some of our write-ups have come from cold-emailing writers we really like, but I always feel like I’m bothering someone. I genuinely love talking about the show with anyone who seems interested, and I love giving people who don't know about it reasons to be interested — but there aren't many forums or avenues set up for that. There’s a lot of negativity toward promotion… as if people don’t realize how necessary it is for new shows. Someone started a Reddit thread about how much they loved our show, and it ended up getting a bunch of downvotes because people thought it was us. It's hard to put yourself out there. I'm not done with it — I’ll have to do a lot more of it — but it's not my favorite thing to do.
S: We’re constantly telling podcasters that fellow podcasters represent opportunities for collaboration, not competition. Thoughts?
JR: Yes! Our show is a huge collaboration. Chris Kelly (EP), is a well-established audio creator, Danny O’Malley (EP) and I met when we first started making Jacob Reed and Me. It started as knowledge-sharing; we all really liked each other, and that’s how we began working together on this show. We were also lucky enough to have Ronald Young Jr., who moderated our Tribeca panel, give feedback on an early episode. Christina Choi, host of the great Chasing K-Dramas, championed our show when she was at Bad Robot. Lauren Lapkus is a friend of the show and offered to drop it in the Threedom feed. We’ve been very lucky. We’re also sitting on incredible tape that would make great episodes of Search Engine, Hyperfixed, Death Sex & Money, 99% Invisible… hopefully we get to collab with all our favorite podcasts.
Thank you Jacob Reed for answering our questions! If you haven’t tuned into this show yet, what are you even doing?! Go go go! And tell me everything you thought about it.
Remember Paul and Erika? Co-hosts of That Aged Well that doubled their downloads in less than a year? They’re jumping on a podcast live with me next week Tuesday July 14 at 10am ET. We’re going to talk about nurturing your community and making a podcast with your friend that actually works!
Hub and Spoke is welcoming audio submissions for Sounds of America until July 15. Winning pieces will be featured at the XMTR Audio Arts Festival happening in September.
Speaking of things happening on July 15 – RESONATE is hosting an audio festival in Cape Town, South Africa in 2027! Tickets go on sale July 15. Be sure to get your tickets before they’re all sold out.
Tinkerers Holly Brown, Anne Baird, Lauren Passell, and Arielle Nissenblatt have sessions submitted to Podcast Movement NYC 2026. Buuut, we need your help! (YES, YOU!). Please review and vote for the sessions below so we can take the stage to talk podcast marketing, fiction conventions, and launching brilliant narrative podcasts!
Podcast Growth with Arielle Nissenblatt and Lauren Passell
Podcast the Talk Show with Arielle and Lauren
Creating the audio fiction convention with Anne Baird who co-created the first of many successful TAFCON – The Audio Fiction Convention
How we launched a breakout podcast with Holly Brown of Everybody Knows But Me, which was selected for Apple Podcasts’ Best Podcasts of 2026 So Far
Building the marketing into your podcast with Holly Brown
💜 I know it’s a lot to ask for but we’re hoping to share our marketing techniques and case studies so more creators can thrive! Cast your votes before July 21 to get our podcast marketing heroes on stage.
Thanks for reading folks! That’s all for this week.
Podcast Marketing Magic might not publish an issue next week because it’s my birthdaaaay (it’s a national holiday at Tink). But, Lauren and the team might do a Substack Live so remember to jump on and tell them how much you adore me.
Until next time,
🪄 Shreya
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