Hogan Lovells

Trail: Audio Content

The Route:

Tapping into the popularity of true crime, Hogan Lovell started a podcast series — “Proof In Trial” — that brings consumer-friendly true crime stories to life for audiences beyond corporate legal departments. The series goes behind-the-scenes and beyond the legal technicalities of the most riveting U.S. true crime cases, and each episode tells the story of a particular case. The series also shines a light on the integral pro bono work its litigators are involved in.

The company engaged reporters covering the business of law and waged aggressive organic and paid social media campaigns, focusing on LinkedIn and Twitter, to increase reach and engagement. It targeted different audience segments with varied paid and organic posts and used A/B testing to ensure reach and resonance. Hogan Lovell’s promotional approach was to make the series available through several consumer-oriented platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and Stitcher.

The Peak:

The series was met with acclaim from legal press, such as Reuters and Law360, as well as rave reviews from lawyers. Season One’s five-week promotional campaign generated more than 625,000 social media impressions. Engagement rates on LinkedIn and Twitter far surpassed platform averages, while click-through rates on both platforms outperformed their respective averages as well.

Season Two’s three-week promotional campaign generated more than 654,000 social media impressions and click-through rates surpassing those from Season One. Both seasons’ promotions landed the series in host platform Omny’s top 50% of podcasts. Average episode consumption during promotion was about 73%, and, as of October 2022, the podcast achieved over 5,800 downloads.