Podcasts educate, entertain CRE community

With about 30 episodes now available online, Cook’s show tackles the gamut of trends in retail real estate, with titles like “What to Do with 324 Empty Department Stores” (No. 22), “How Do Baby Boomers Shop?” (No. 20) and “Food for Thought” (No. 24 — a discussion of the wave of recent store closures).

Some of the episodes provide takeaways from JLL’s printed reports. Others are breezy conversations between Cook and his industry colleagues. An avid podcast listener himself, Cook started “Where We Buy” late last year by making some recordings on his iPhone. He has since ramped up the production quality by adding music and embracing more-complex equipment. “Since I was a kid, I have always listened to public radio and talk radio,” he said. “In the 1990s, when I discovered NPR’s ‘This American Life,’ I thought it was the greatest thing in the world.”

Cook occasionally meets people and realizes they are already fans of his show. “They will say, ‘Hey, I liked your thought on this,’ and it will be something they heard on the podcast,” he said.

Podcasting is also a good brand-building tool for JLL, the researcher says. “Our brand in retail is around understanding the mega trends, the big picture and the story of what’s happening,” he said. “Because audio is such a great storytelling medium, it’s the perfect venue for us.”

Cook is not the only podcaster at the company. U.K.-based colleague Jonathan Doughty, head of EMEA, now is host of the “Food and Beverage” podcast, with initial episodes focused on F&B in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Another show, “Real Time,” with JLL researcher hosts George Cutro and Chad Buch, covers the industrial market in Chicago. Jay Siegel, a Washington, D.C.–based associate with the company, self-produces a podcast called “Sustainability Defined.”

The podcast format is ideal for the hectic schedules of retail real estate professionals, who can listen as they travel, Cook says. And there is plenty of room for other experts and companies to explore podcasting: Podcasts focused specifically on retail real estate are still few and far between, Cook points out. (“America’s Commercial Real Estate Show,” with host Michael Bull, includes retail content.)

While knowledge and facts are critical, the tone of a good podcast tends to be quite a bit more relaxed than that of a typical research report, says Cook. “Humor is really important.”