Podcast episodes and brand stories

Answered 5 October 2026: both recommendations accepted. These resolve two older naming questions. They do not approve a bulk rename, the remaining video terminology or every drafted definition.

What I need from you

Choice	Recommendation
Podcast Episode	Use one name for a complete episode, whether audio or video. Keep excerpts identifiable and linked to their episode when supported by evidence. Do not rename every stored Podcast Video as a complete episode.
Brand Story and Origin Story	Keep Brand Story as the type. Make an origin story a defined, searchable narrative focus about beginnings, rather than an automatic alternative name for every Brand Story.

The table records the accepted recommendations. Your video, advertising and Offer decisions are already recorded. These two choices are recorded in the decision log.

Answers carried forward

Interview already describes a whole-piece type. Questions and answers are a searchable presentation, not an automatic synonym for Interview. A podcast episode may qualify as an interview, but its membership in a podcast does not establish that form by itself.

Several types can describe a piece when each genuinely describes the whole piece, with one leading. A short feature within a longer piece belongs to that part. Removing slashes from names does not mean the two words were synonyms.

1. One episode name across audio and video?

Recommendation: use Podcast Episode for a complete installment of a podcast. Record whether it is audio or video separately. Preserve the show's name, episode information and source. A published excerpt can remain independently browsable without pretending it is the full episode.

Checked example: OpenAI's episode 9 page identifies the conversation with Ben Goodger and Darin Fisher and lists chapters extending beyond an hour. The OpenAI TikTok used in the older review runs 2 minutes 48 seconds and directs viewers to more from episode 9. Its publisher context supports an excerpt relationship; it does not support treating this upload as the complete episode. Playback frames and the caption were inspected, not the entire episode.

Counterexample: a standalone interview does not become a podcast episode just because it has microphones, two people or a long runtime. Conversely, a narrated podcast installment need not be an interview. Episode membership needs source evidence.

The old card proposed changing every record with the video label to the new episode name. That would lose the distinction its own example demonstrates. Review each record's scope before any migration. Keep an uncertain parent unresolved rather than guessing.

Alternative: maintain separate Audio Podcast Episode and Video Podcast Episode names. That makes format visible in the type list, but duplicates a distinction that can be searched separately. Both approaches still need to distinguish complete episodes from excerpts.

Downstream: collection needs enough context to connect the show, episode and separately published excerpt. Search should offer the complete episode and its useful parts without counting them as identical uploads. Processing must check available media and duration; a naming change must not silently change whether analysis runs. This choice does not set a new processing schedule, approve reanalysis or settle the physical storage of shows and excerpts.

2. Does Origin Story mean the same thing as Brand Story?

Recommendation: keep the ideas related but distinct. Brand Story remains a type for a piece whose central narrative explains a brand's history, development or values through events and decisions. An origin story describes a narrative focused on how something began. That focus can apply to a brand, product, project or person; it is not automatically a Brand Story.

Checked example: the beginnings section of Patagonia's company history traces climbing, making gear and the development of the business. That is useful evidence for an origin-focused narrative. The complete history continues beyond those beginnings, so a search result should distinguish the relevant section from the scope of the whole page.

Counterexample: Patagonia's ownership letter briefly recalls its beginnings, but mainly explains a later ownership decision and its purpose. A passing origin reference is not enough to label the entire letter an origin story. Its letter or announcement form can remain available alongside any other whole-piece classification it genuinely earns.

Alternative: keep Origin Story as a separate whole-piece type alongside Brand Story. That gives origin narratives their own type filter, but still requires rules for overlap and for beginnings described only in one section. The recommended narrative focus can remain just as searchable while applying across several forms.

Downstream: classification should identify the subject and the passage supporting the description. An origin-focused section should be discoverable without applying its focus to every part of its parent. Source titles stay intact. Campaign membership and medium remain separate descriptions. Brand Film has already been removed from the canonical type list; this choice does not reopen that decision. This is an approved meaning, not permission to merge stored labels automatically.

What this packet leaves open

The evidence note separates prior decisions, inspected examples and selected system checks. The original cards stay available as history.

The standing definition review still requires individual definitions, examples and exclusions. Accepting these two choices does not approve all drafts or close that review. Other naming pairs, exact excerpt vocabulary, type-list headings and technical implementation remain in the review plan.

Prepared 4 October 2026.

The review date below records reconciliation with the approved video decisions. The source inspections retain their original dates and limits.

Last reviewed 5 October 2026.