Vox Creative and Ben & Jerry's Extend Partnership With Second Podcast on Social Justice

Vox Media is discovering that addressing social justice is sweeter than ice cream. Ice cream brand Ben & Jerry's and Vox Creative, the creative brand studio from Vox Media, are continuing their branded content partnership with a second podcast series called Into the Mix. The show hopes to influence future social activists through discussions with cultural figures like singer John Legend. The show is hosted by New York Times best-selling author of her autobiography, Somebody's Daughter: A Memoir, Ashley C. Ford. Each episode features a guest with cultural influence in the arts who talk about how they use their platform to disrupt issues in society, such as racism or the criminal justice system. One of its latest episodes interviews Grammy Award-winning singer John Legend, who is also the founder of FreeAmerica, a campaign to end mass incarceration. The partnership's first podcast series, Who We Are, tackled topics on the history of racism in America and aired in September 2020. It made Apple's list of top 10 history podcasts, according to Ben & Jerry's U.S. integrated marketing manager Jay Tandan. Addressing social injustice, which can take many forms, has been a priority for brands and consumers, especially since the police brutality cases that sparked protests in summer 2020. The partnership is also indicative of Vox Media's growing investment in the audio space. Vox Media's chief executive officer Jim Bankoff told Adweek the publisher banks heavily on the success of its audio business and that the entirety of Vox Media Studios was expected to see $100 million in revenue by the end of last year. Vox's production team told Adweek that Ben & Jerry's biggest contribution to the partnership is its relationship with famous figures since it dedicaties ice cream flavors to them. This includes upcoming guest Big Freedia, a New Orleans hip-hop artist and community activist. Ben & Jerry's created the Big Frieda's Bouncing Beignets flavor and educated consumers on the No Kid Hungry Foundation, which fights child hunger in New Orleans. "The #1 way they're involved is by connecting us and having laid the groundwork with these partnerships. They provide context on how they integrate into the storytelling," Vox Creative's executive producer of branded audio Annu Subramanian told Adweek. While Ben & Jerry's involvement supports the content, there are other ways for publishers like Vox to monetize podcasts. "We are growing our branded podcast arm," Subramanian said, adding that the publisher also has released a series with cell phone company Straight Talk Wireless and is in production with a lifestyle company for another venture. According to the publisher, its podcast studio, the Vox Media Podcast Network, has over 150 active shows. Vox Creative has three standalone podcasts with brands. While Vox and Straight Talk's show, More Than This, explores the lives of everyday people, it's also the first of Vox's shows that opened the idea of accessibility to a broader audience. Vox's team created visuals for the show's episodes for deaf people to experience the story and sound. "We are looking at how we can live online and still be thoughtful about audio … and serve different audiences as well," Subramanian said. An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the Vox Media Podcats Network had 20 active podcast shows. Pivot to Video—Vox Media Brings Its Podcast to Salesforce+