ReTrial Podcast

Entertainment Marketing

The Dayton Bar Association increased member engagement with an educational series highlighting important moments in local legal history. 

Legal History Podcast Drives Member Engagement 

In 2022, the Dayton Bar Association won a grant to produce ReTrial, an educational podcast series highlighting important moments in local legal history. Originally, the organization planned to produce three audio-only episodes hosted by trial attorney and historian David Greer and Judge Gerald Parker. However, in September, with their funding set to expire at the end of the year, their production partner backed out before recording the first episode. 

Enhancing the Production with Video Footage

With three months to go before their deadline, the organization approached us to help get the project back on track, and we accepted the challenge. During the planning phase, we found opportunities to expand the scope of the project without any additional investment. Instead of three episodes, we proposed six, and instead of recording audio-only episodes, we recommended capturing video footage as well. 

The hosts agreed, and we produced a six-episode pilot season in just three months, including choosing episode topics, conducting research, writing outlines and scripts, developing the brand for the series, and building a film set in a courtroom.The series was hosted on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Podcasts, and YouTube, and each episode ran between 45 and 50 minutes. Expanding the format to include video gave the organization promotional video content to use on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, which helped them reach a much larger audience than they would have with still images and audio clips. 

Pilot Season Highlights Important Moments in Legal History 

ReTrial’s pilot season reached audiences in Dayton and Cincinnati, and across the country in places like Seattle, New York, and Denver. The show garnered 19 5-star ratings on Apple Podcasts, and the Dayton Bar Association’s LinkedIn page saw a 34.5 percent increase in followers as a result of the campaign’s organic reach.

To promote the campaign and provide more opportunities for member engagement, the organization hosted four episode premiere events. Each event drew nearly 100 attendees and started conversations within the community about the importance of law and local history. 

Finally, the successful pilot season helped the Association secure another grant from the Dayton Foundation to continue the series with a second, longer season of eight episodes.