Better Together: Why Hawaii Life Uses Wistia for Video and Podcasts

Hawaii Life is a real estate brokerage based in (you guessed it!) Hawaii. They currently have over twenty offices scattered across the islands and employ over 300 independent agents.

From stunning oceanfront views to sweeping tropical landscapes, the area offers no shortage of marketing materials — the destination practically sells itself! The marketing team at Hawaii Life leverages the natural beauty of the area heavily in their campaigns and has invested a great deal in branding and design to match their luxurious surroundings.

Hawaii Life had already tapped the power of video with Channels dedicated to everything from showcasing the area to highlighting individual homes for sale. However, they knew they could be doing more to engage a broader audience.

Looking for a unique way to build excitement for their annual conference, Hawaii Life took an audio approach and created a podcast featuring the event’s speakers. The show previewed content and topics for the live event and was initially launched to build buzz and excitement.

“A real estate conference doesn’t sound that exciting on paper, so we wanted a way to build excitement and anticipation leading up to the event.”

Though the original concept was a one-off project to support the conference, the ideas kept flowing and steamrolled into something really beneficial for the team as a marketing asset. And, it turned into something the team really enjoyed doing!

We sat down with Mike Pooley, Digital Marketing Manager from Hawaii Life, to learn more about the Procast and how Wistia helps the brokerage manage multi-media content assets that look and feel native to the Hawaii Life website experience.

Here are a few highlights from the interview:

Channel design

Branding is extremely important to Hawaii Life. The flexibility and customization available through Wistia sealed the deal when they were selecting a host for their content.

“Branding is huge for us. We worked really hard to create our brand elements. We love how everything is based in the Channel and how easy it is to update everything from the fonts, colors, etc.”

Mike also expressed how their team takes customization a bit further with CSS to design an experience that feels native to their overall website.

“We are kind of control freaks when it comes to our brand. We like using CSS to really take our Channel to the next level and create that native look and feel. That was really important to us.”

All of the flexibility allows Hawaii Life to build a strong connection with their brand and make any necessary changes on the fly. They can easily swap out images, play around with new colors, and connect all of their media with third-parties like Apple and Spotify instantly.

Transcripts

Hawaii Life also invests heavily in accessibility and allowing folks to enjoy the experience that works best for them. For example, some of their agents strongly prefer to read through materials, so the transcripts are a great asset to meet those individuals’ needs. Others enjoy listening passively while they are on-the-go, so the podcast format has been a great addition to round out other written content. Introducing audio has ensured that their content is accessible, flexible, and meets their team and audience’s needs.

“We are big believers in following the users’ preferences. There’s a wide range of demographics on our team, so the fact that we now have options for different preferences is really great.”

Video and audio in one place

Being able to seamlessly host video and audio content in one place was another huge perk for the team at Hawaii Life.

The team uses a popover embed to combine different elements on a single Channel. This unique and flexible approach allows visitors to engage with different shows individually on the main video channel. This has enabled the team to create a true ecosystem for their content and host all of it in one place, which is exactly what they wanted — a clean, consistent experience.

“It’s a true ecosystem. It’s all in one place — which is exactly what we wanted. And, now we can do some crossover with video podcasts.”

The ability to host video and audio together has also sparked new ideas for future content. The company currently has video assets and a podcast but is considering combining the two to take advantage of the beauty of their surroundings — the beautiful Hawaiian islands. It’s unlocked a whole slew of inspiration for the future, and the team is really excited about embracing these mediums together.

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