Urbanski, A. (2013, April 4). NPR Broadcasts to a New Audience. Direct Marketing News. Retrieved December 4, 2014, from http://www.dmnews.com/npr-broadcasts-to-a-new-audience/article/287558/
In December 2013, Emily Carrasco became NPR's first CMO. The majority of NPR's listeners "are more reflective of the affluent suburbs than the barrios and other ethnic enclaves", and with Carrasco coming from a renowned Hispanic ad agency called Republica, she believes she can reel in a new audience to NPR. Having been on "the client-side", she says it will enable her "...to step back and ponder what each side may be thinking about." The main impetus for reaching a cross-cultural audience is social media. Access to radio broadcasts are limited in poor neighborhoods and Third World countries, so they rely heavily on mobile access. As Carrasco puts it, “Social media allows brands to talk to any consumer. There is now a high degree of elasticity in how they connect to consumers.” Along with her mission of reaching a new audience, Carrasco also has a goal in mind to bring NPR to a more stable financial environment, since depending on government funding isn't always reliable.
I think it was a smart choice to bring in a Hispanic woman into the corporate side of NPR, as she would bring a different viewpoint to the table than another white male businessman. I do believe she will bring in many other viewers from different ethnicities, not only because she is Hispanic, but because she seems to have a vision for the entire company. She also brings an awareness of other potential viewers and gives the possibility of having viewers in different Third World countries. She is using other forms of media, like social media and mobile access to social media, to reach out to an untapped market of consumers and that will make the company grow in viewership numbers.
As a loyal listener of NPR, I can say that I have noticed a change in the marketing tactics of their programming, no doubt inspired by Carrasco's ascension as CMO. They have definitely become more aggressive in their use of social media, and now boast a web presence that not only complements their radio programming but is an immersive journalistic agency in its own right. I (yes, nerdily enough) follow their news account on both on Twitter and Tumblr, and find that this makes their programs a whole lot more accessible to listeners like me who are unable to tune to their station throughout most of the day. They also managed to combine both textual and audio elements seamlessly on their social media accounts, in a way that doesn't detract from either. Though far from reaching the web presence of other news organizations, like CNN, Carrasco's attempts to reach a wider audience through social media are definitely bolstering NPR's clout.
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