A case study on our very first client led to an engaging conversation.
One of the country’s most prestigious universities recently got a taste of our classic KCM charm when Katie and John stopped by for an engaging discussion about an illuminating report on Katie Couric Media’s beginnings.
Harvard Business School faculty members took a deep dive on the company for a fascinating case study about Katie and John’s mission and how they brought it to life. And once the paper was done, Harvard invited Mr. and Mrs. KCM over to speak with professors N. Louis Shipley and Mark N. Roberge and some of their brightest students about their unique approach to creating a cutting edge digital media company that was designed to stand out from a particularly crowded market.
The case study sets up where Katie and John were in their careers before starting KCM: “By the time Couric and Molner launched KCM in 2017, Couric was well-known and highly admired as an experienced broadcast journalist,” the professors write. “Couric had broken gender barriers in journalism during her career of more than 30 years.” Yep, that’s our girl!
And their description of John is pretty spot-on, too: “Molner, well-liked by his peers for his dry sense of humor, was known as an analytical investor with strong commercial instincts around businesses he advised.”
With all that superb (and complementary) experience, Katie and John knew they could accomplish something great, and they had a big vision — building a media company that could tell the kind of stories Katie does best, but wasn’t tied to the budgets or often-antiquated approaches of some of the huge corporations she’d reported for in the past.
But, of course, that takes cash. Katie and John raised funds from investors, but also needed partners to sponsor the work, and those partners couldn’t be just anyone.
“The first customer would be crucial in establishing a strong foundation for future work,” the Harvard Business School report says. “They wanted to partner with a brand interested in the purpose-driven content about which they were passionate.”
Enter Procter & Gamble. After a careful search, the perfect partnership came to fruition, kicking off a thrilling ride that brought KCM to where it is today. P&G’s chief brand officer Marc Pritchard also joined Katie and John at Harvard (via Zoom) to help share the success story of this relationship, which led to some truly inspiring projects, including P&G and KCM’s joint venture Leading With Love.
With all these great minds in one place, class was officially in session. Katie, John, and Marc joined two productive conversations with Harvard Business School students, who heard about the history and then quizzed their guests about why they made the decisions they did, as well as the obstacles they faced along the way.
John says it was a productive exercise for himself and Katie, too. The class forced them to think carefully about the decisions they made in that first year, and they loved revisiting with Marc the experience of building this business from the ground up. John adds that bringing P&G on board was perfectly aligned with his and Katie’s ultimate goals — creating content that elevates the cultural conversation and telling stories that really matter. And we’re doing a pretty great job at that, if we do say so ourselves.
So next time you take in one of our deep dives on crucial social issues, top-notch pop culture recommendations, or incisive conversations between Katie and some of the world’s foremost thought leaders, you can feel even better about the quality content you’re consuming, thanks to this simple fact…
We got into Harvard, baby!
