JAR Audio Has Rebranded. Here’s What That Means.

Why JAR Audio is now JAR Podcast Solutions, and how our new name reflects a sharper focus on business outcomes, strategy, and podcasting’s next chapter.

 

Dear clients, partners, and marketing leaders,

We have some exciting news to share. And if you’ve worked with us before — or followed our journey from the early days — I hope you’ll hear this update as what it truly is:

Not a cosmetic change.

But a strategic one.

After eight years of growing JAR Audio into one of North America’s leading branded podcast agencies, we’ve rebranded.

Going forward, we’ll be known as JAR Podcast Solutions.

We’re still the same company — same leadership, same team, same award-winning, creative force — but with a sharper point of view, a clearer offering, and a renewed commitment to delivering business results through the power of podcasting.

And I wanted to personally explain what that means — and why it matters now more than ever.

Why the name change?

When Jen Moss, Aaron Johnson, and I launched JAR back in 2017, we were jumping into what felt like wide-open water, with no map.

Brands were just starting to experiment with podcasts. And very few companies were offering a podcast service. There wasn’t a clear playbook. “Branded content” mostly meant long-form, cinematic YouTube ads nobody watched, or blog posts no one read. Podcasting? That was still seen as a very niche medium.

But we had a hunch. A gut feeling, really.

Podcasting, we believed, was going to become a core channel for brand storytelling. Not just a “cool idea” — but a legitimate platform for building trust, engaging audiences, and making meaningful emotional connections at scale. At the time, podcasting was purely an RSS-based audio format. 

So we named ourselves JAR Audio — and off we went.

But the landscape has changed. Rapidly.

Podcasting is now mainstream. 67% of Americans have listened to a podcast, and over 135 million people tune in to listen to their favorite shows every month (Edison Research, 2024). Marketing teams now perceive branded podcasts as serious content assets that are integral to any marketing strategy, and today, shows are held to higher standards of performance and ROI than ever before.

Clients aren’t just asking why they should make a podcast.

They’re asking how to do them well.
They’re asking how they can get them to perform better for the business.

And they’re asking how to measure their success, not just for the podcast, but for the brand.

“Audio” podcasts no longer reflect the full scope of what we offer. Our work now spans strategy, audience development, show development, video podcasts, live podcasts, audience growth (audience development, plus earned, owned, and paid growth), analytics, cross-channel amplification, podcast advertising production, sonic branding, and yes, audio podcasting. Through all this and more, we help clients build audience-first shows that connect to their business goals, and actually perform.

So we’ve made the shift. JAR Podcast Solutions speaks directly to the job our clients hire us to do.

How it started: A conversation between creatives

A quick rewind.

JAR didn’t start in a boardroom. It started in a bar — with a conversation between three people rethinking what content could be.

Jen Moss was just leaving the world of public radio. She’d spent years as a CBC producer, creating nuanced, human-first storytelling that actually meant something. Aaron Johnson was pushing the boundaries of radio and podcast tech. Meanwhile, I was coming out of a career in advertising that — to be honest — had lost its shine.

We were restless — searching for a medium that still respected the audience’s intelligence, that slowed things down, that pulled people toward the brand’s message instead of pushing (or blasting) it out, and that made space for trust.

We saw podcasts as the answer. Or at least an answer — to an industry racing toward algorithmic sameness, clickbait creative, and shallow brand engagement.

So we asked: What if brands could sound more human? What if marketing felt more like a conversation than a campaign?

That question became the heart of JAR. And eight years later, it still is.

What’s staying the same

Let’s get this out of the way: this is not a pivot away from podcasts.

We’re doubling down.

You’ll still get the same team, the same creative focus, the same belief that thoughtful storytelling — paired with strategic clarity — can move the needle.

What’s new is the way we talk about what we do. And how we guide clients toward smarter, faster, more outcome-aligned podcast strategy.

We’ve always believed a branded podcast should have a job to do. Now we’ve built a system that makes that belief operational.

Introducing the JAR System

Job. Audience. Result.

Every podcast we produce now runs through the JAR System, which is our proprietary framework for aligning branded shows with real (emphasis on real) business outcomes.

Job: What’s the core business challenge this podcast is solving?
Audience: Who are we trying to reach? What do they care about? How — and where — do they listen or watch?
Result: What does success look like, and how will we measure it?

JAR is more than a name.

It’s a strategic filter that keeps us focused, accountable, and audience-first, from pitch to publish.

We see it it deliver real results daily, in projects like:

• Amazon’s This Is Small Business – where we deepen relationships with small business owners through inspiring, actionable storytelling 
• Genome BC’s Nice Genes! – where we help connect with younger, science-curious listeners and make complex genomics topics accessible and engaging 
• RBC’s Disruptors – where we help communicate the brand’s climate-tech thought leadership, spotlighting innovation and Canadian voices in sustainability 
• Cirque du Solei’s Cirque du Sound – where we rebuild emotional connection with global audiences in the wake of COVID disruptions

These are some of our many successful shows, but more than that, they’re solutions matched to real strategic challenges. That’s the JAR System in action.

Why this matters right now

Marketers are under pressure.

Budgets are scrutinized. Channels are noisy. Everyone’s being asked to do more with less — while proving ROI at every turn.

In that environment, “we want to make a podcast” doesn’t fly anymore.
You need a business case.
You need strategic clarity.
You need proof it’s working.

That’s exactly what our rebrand is designed to support.

Because podcasts aren’t marketing nonsense. Done right, they build affinity, trust, and lasting customer relationships. They extend the brand story beyond ads. They feed social, thought leadership, internal comms, and even sales enablement.

And audio drives the highest engagement and completion rates in digital media.

In other words: this is not the time to treat podcasting like an experiment.
It’s time to lean all the way in and treat it like a strategy.

My reflection: From ad tech to actual connection

In a past life, I spent my days pitching digital campaigns, writing brand decks, and chasing performance across channels I didn’t fully believe in anymore.

So much of marketing had become reactive. Formulaic. A/B tested to death. And most of it — if we’re honest — was instantly forgettable.

But when I started playing around with them as a hobby, podcasts felt different.

They felt like something real. A place where people weren’t just performing — they were listening, reflecting, growing.

That’s why we built JAR in the first place. And it’s why we’re evolving it now.

The tools are sharper. The stakes are higher. But the heart is still the same.

We want to help brands create content that earns people’s attention, rather than interrupts it; drives business while building trust; and delivers outcomes without losing its humanity.

What’s next for JAR Podcast Solutions

This rebrand is just the start.

We’re launching new offerings tied to business results — like podcast audit tools, smarter audience profiling, integrated video support, and a better analytics stack. We’re also expanding our relationships with content channel experts to help clients repurpose shows across channels more effectively — something more and more marketing leaders are asking for, and an even better way to get the most ROI out of your show.

We’re continuing our commitment to ongoing innovation that will continue to reinforce client success.

We’re holding tight to our love of immersive, compelling, fact-checked, and well-paced storytelling. 

And we’re continuing to invest in strategy — because at the end of the day, a brand’s podcast is only as good as the thinking behind it.

If you’ve worked with us before, thank you. Truly. You’ve shaped who we are.
If you’re just discovering us — welcome. We’re ready to nail your brief.
And if you’re wondering what a podcast could do for your business today?
Let’s talk about it.

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We’ll send the occasional insight, client story, or bold opinion about where podcasting is going — and how to make it actually work for your brand.

We promise to keep it real. 

Thanks for being part of the journey.

— Roger Nairn
Co-Founder & CEO, JAR Podcast Solutions