Albert Hogan is a Senior Director of Brand and Content Marketing at Audible. Based in our London hub, he oversees a a multi-marketplace team as they work to create marketing campaigns that get audiences excited about Audible’s culture-defining content and the incredible things that come from listening.

Last year, his team was part of a massive, multi-team effort to launch Audible’s first global brand campaign in 11 different marketplaces and several languages, through amazing commercials, social media influencers, 3D billboards, takeovers and other out-of-home experiences—a campaign that has since been recognized with several awards, including a prestigious British Arrow for VFX and CGI animation; a Shorty Award; and it was shortlisted at the Tribeca Festival and received a Webby Award honor.

Audio has always been a part of Albert’s life. He trained as a concert pianist, then pivoted to working in music marketing roles at some of the world’s biggest media companies, like Disney and Universal. He then transitioned to working in book marketing at a “Big Five” publisher. So when, in 2020, an opportunity came to work at Audible’s intersection of books, entertainment and audio, he jumped at the chance.

He says, “I was drawn to the idea of flipping the narrative of my career, because I'd always worked in legacy entertainment companies that were trying to do more tech-enabled work,” and Audible had long been leveraging advanced technology to bring innovative audio storytelling to audiences.

Albert’s team is spread across Europe. “We work across five marketplaces, five languages, five different stages of development of the brand, and five very different audiences,” which makes it very instructive for rolling out universal marketing with cultural variances that resonate from place to place. For Albert, data is vital to the team’s strategies, but it’s also crucial to have team members from those countries who can advise on the local accuracy and relevance of Audible’s marketing. “A part of my job I love is learning about different cultures and sensibilities around listening and genres,” he says. “It's really fascinating.”

To help deepen their ability to synthesize data with cultural knowledge, Albert’s team has the leading-edge analytics tools at their disposal. “AI is going to open up a lot of possibilities there,” he says, “but a balancing act between analyzing data and understanding cultural nuances is critical for a brand.” He adds: “Authenticity is key.”

The global brand campaign has been the culmination of that knowledge—and represents a pinnacle of Albert’s career at Audible. “It’s been garnering a lot of attention within the industry and the advertising world. We've won a lot of awards, and people in the creative business are excited to work with us, whether it's directing or sound editing or producing marketing with us.” He adds, “But we're not going to rest on our laurels. We want to continue to refine it.”

The campaign is currently evolving to focus on fandoms and genres, particularly romance, including microgenres like romantasy and historical romance, by putting the spotlight on those universal listening moments that unite listeners wherever they are in the world.

“We're seeing a drive for escapism,” says Albert, “and the idea of letting your imagination run wild through listening is really appealing.” His team uses advanced data and analytics to understand and predict listening trends, while also keeping an ear to the ground for cultural shifts and happenings. “I often say to my team, you have to be part soothsayer, part magician to figure out what's going to be the next thing.” 

In five years, Albert has witnessed an amazing evolution in the audiobook landscape, “going from predominately listening to a single narrator do a very faithful reading of the text to these amazing adaptations we're doing now—multi-cast recordings in Dolby Atmos with full soundtracks,” like the Audible Original George Orwell’s 1984 and the forthcoming Pride and Prejudice, starring BAFTA-winner Marisa Abela (Industry, Back to Black) as Elizabeth Bennet and BAFTA and BIFA-nominated Harris Dickinson (Babygirl, The Iron Claw).

Albert’s looking forward to listeners experiencing the fresh take on such a timeless story. “If you're a Jane Austen fan, it is faithful and gives you what you want,” says Albert, “but what's new is that we get the perspective of Lizzie from inside her head, so we actually get to hear her respond in a less formal way to the various situations she’s in. And the chemistry between Marisa and Harris is palpable. I'm excited that we get to create another wave of love for that story.”

The pace of innovation, from the content Audible is creating to the way it reaches millions of listeners around the world, is thrilling for Albert and his team. He says, “And it’s a real privilege to be involved with that as it's happening.”

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