“Audiobook sales revenue has been on a steep rise since 2018, reaching 1.3 billion USD in 2020”- Statista

“19% [of Millennials] say they have paid in the last year for a subscription service for eBooks or audiobooks such as Kindle Unlimited or Audible”- American Press Institute

“The majority (79%) of Millennials want to work for a company that cares about how it contributes to society and 69% would refuse to work for a company that is not socially responsible”- Journal of Education For Business

“Spoken word audio listening is up 40% in the past seven years, and up 8% year over year”- National Public Radio Organization and Edison Research

“116% growth in spoken word listeners 13-34 years old in the past even years, with 18% growth in the last year”- National Public Radio Organization

“Employees have a deeper affiliation with the message through organizational storytelling due to aligning stories with their own experiences and understanding”- International Journal of Business and Social Science

“Storytelling that integrates a moral and spiritual component can transform an organizational culture so members of the organization begin to feel connected to a larger community and a higher purpose”- Journal of Business Ethics

“83% of Millennials would be more loyal to a company that allows them to contribute to social and environmental issues”- Cone Communications

“Three uses for storytelling in organizations: (1) to motivate employees, (2) for education and (3) to consolidate corporate culture”- Journal of Marketing

“Storytelling is essential to successful branding, since your brand is the sum of all your corporate behaviors and communications that inform your customers’ experiences with your product or company”- The Journal of Business Strategy

“A poor cultural fit is frequently cited as one of the main reasons [an employee] decides to leave an organization… defining the organization's culture through storytelling should start with branding of the organization and continue through the interview and onboarding process”- Physician Executive Communication Journal

“There is value in a story that is, designed to drive the simulation and to elicit the [employee’s] best performance”- Society for Human Resource Management

“Online audio (podcasts, radio shows, music and audiobooks) has become more popular than ever before”- Publishing Research Quarterly

“73% of the U.S. 12+ population (an estimated 209 million people) have listened to online audio in the last month, up from 68% in 2021”- Edison Research

“Audio platform superiority was about the desire to use an audio platform that is perceived to be superior to other audio alternatives, including on-demand convenience (time and place) and content (vari- ety and uniqueness)”- New Media and Society Journal

“Stories are a device… [that] provide managers with a form of social and intersubjective interaction that reflects belief systems, role expectations, interpersonal norms and conditions for work behavior”- International Journal of Management

“Audiobooks have had a big shift in popularity in 2018 where for the first time, “a full half of all Americans ages 12 and older have listened to an audiobook, up from 44% last year”- Forbes

“Narrative presentation of corporate strategy, comparative advantage, is more effective at producing a consistent and confident choice of competitive advantage among an audience than a presentation of corporate strategy using a PowerPoint style, bulleted list approach”- Journal of Strategy and Management

“There are currently about 1000% more titles published since 2011”- Audio Publishers Association

“The most recent era in audio entertainment… users are asserting power over the medium to select particular content at particular times”- Mass Communication and Society Journal

“The storytelling process yields positive impacts on internal and external stakeholder outcomes including increasing employees’ thriving and meaningful work, as well as the attitudes and trust of multiple external stakeholders”- Journal of Strategic Marketing

“Brands can bring their CSR (corporate social responsibility) efforts to life through authentic storytelling [and] Millennials want to know what companies are doing to make the world a better place”- Center for Social Impact Communication at Georgetown University

“Audio narrative has recently benefited from profound cultural shifts in media consumption associated with on-demand television’s binge watching revolution and the advent of digital longform storytelling”- Journal of Radio & Audio Media

“Story-telling is an important element… involving the sharing of experiences and creation of mental-maps of the environment in which people are motivated to perform to their full potential”- Leadership and Organization Development Journal

“[the way employees are on-boarded] sets the tone for the culture of a place, the people, and the values of a new institution and can have a significant impact on employees’ sense of belonging”- Journal of Research, Assessment, and Practice in Higher Education

“A focus on social responsibility is particularly important to attract, retain, and increase the commitment and engagement of Millennial employees and talented women”- Center for Creative Leadership

“When it comes to digital storytelling for branding, there is, a more positive attitude towards the company when the employer branding message is using digital storytelling”- Management Dynamic in the Knowledge Economy Journal

“The audiobook market share shifted from 42% digital copy sales in 2009 to 87% digital copy sales in 2017”- Audio Publishers Association

“[onboarding] can also aid employees in identifying values congruence which is critical to career contentment and commitment which can significantly impact retention to both the field and the institution long-term” - Journal of Research, Assessment, and Practice in Higher Education

“Employees have a deeper affiliation with the message through organizational storytelling due to aligning stories with their own experiences and understanding”- International Journal of Business and Social Science

Millennials are more technologically advanced than any previous generation [and] survey data has shown a correlation between age and reading preferences [where] younger people listen to more audiobooks than older Americans”- State University of New York

“Should produce positive effects on key audiences, such as increasingly positive attitudes toward the company and eventually behavioral intentions to support this company”- Public Relations Review

“As technology evolves, people have more options available to them, which may explain why [reports] found younger adults to be more likely to opt for audiobooks and the multi-tasking they enable”- Forbes

“Over 71 thousand audiobook titles (were) published in 2020, a 39% growth between previous years”- Statista

“The corporate world cannot ignore the demands and expectations of Millennials, who are devout in their desire to associate with companies aligned with their values”- Center for Social Impact Communication at Georgetown University

“Corporate storytelling is suggested to help demonstrate the importance of the corporate brand to internal and external stakeholders… as well as help a firm to bond with its employees”- Product & Brand Management

“Maximizing success through onboarding by storytelling during orientations, [helps employees understand] the company's culture and values [and] its goals and history”- Society for Human Resource Management

“64% of Millennials consider a company’s social commitments when taking jobs and will not work for a company if they do not have strong corporate social responsibility (CSR) values”- Cone Communications

“Researchers have shown that storytelling strengthens the connections consumers have to brands, so that to a great extent what a brand means to a consumer is based . . . on the narratives he or she has constructed that incorporate the brand.”- Journal of Business Strategy

“Storytelling that starts with the persona allows us to tap into these deeper recesses, where the influence of attitudes and emotions is greater… loyalty and trust are found there”- Journal of Business Strategy

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About Us


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Let the creators of Business Audio Theatre preserve and communicate your legacy!

Turnover and lack of engagement are the biggest hidden costs to any business!

The Audiobook Publishers’ Association recognized The Barefoot Spirit as one of the top 5 business audiobooks of 2020. This is a totally new form of business audiobook – “Business Audio Theatre” (BAT) where actors voice the parts in scenes that depict the seminal events in the founder’s story, complete with sound effects and music.

Listeners identify with the story, the brand, and the founding principles. Used as an on-boarding or brand building tool, companies can entertain and educate to encourage loyalty and engagement.

The BAT Team


Bonnie-Harvey-Michael-Houlihan

Bonnie Harvey & Michael Houlihan

Project Developers and Producers

Business Audio Theatre audiobook producers; business leaders; workplace culture experts; Barefoot Wine Founders and New York Times Bestselling authors of The Barefoot Spirit and The Entrepreneurial Culture; Finalists 2020 Audie Award for Best Business Audio Book. https://thebarefootspirit.com/

Matt Weinglass

Matt Weinglass

Production Director

Founder of Sherwood Players Productions; Producer and Director of the 1st Business Audio Theatre audiobook; Expert at all unique production details including converting text to audio script, identifying and engaging talent, overseeing all studio operations including sound recordings, editing, musical scoring and sound effects.

Directing Reel – Matt Weinglass (4:25)

IMDb Page

Ryan Foland

Ryan Foland

Communications Consultant

Top Communications Expert at UC Irvine, specializing in social marketing and the latest techniques to engage your audience; bestselling author; speaker; podcast host; 4-time TEDx Alumni; featured in Inc., Entrepreneur, Forbes, Fortune, and more. Learn more at ryan.online

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Rick Kushman

Writer

New York Times bestselling author of The Barefoot Spirit, and A Movable Thirst; Capital Public Radio commentator and podcaster; Sacramento Bee columnist; executive communications expert; Stanford University Master in Journalism; specializing in demonstrating business principles through story and converting business story to text.

David Ferris

David Ferris

Editor and Film Maker

A specialist in crafting compelling business narratives in various media; long-time ghostwriter who has penned business books and memoirs for top CEOs and entrepreneurs in finance, tech, real estate, architecture, engineering, and other industries; award-winning screenwriter; documentary film director, and freelance journalist; Master’s in Journalism (Northwestern University) and Documentary Film Directing (Luca School of Arts, Brussels/Academy of Film and Drama, Budapest), B.A. in Political Science (Columbia University). https://oceansidewriting.com/

• Playwright converts your story to an audio play
• Director conducts auditions, castings, and recordings
• Editors integrate sound effects and music

The result? A training and branding tool that can be enjoyed anytime, anywhere for years to come.