Creating sharp Thought Leadership podcasts for NatWest

We worked with NatWest to create dynamic conversations, showcasing unique insights into the banking industry with the power of podcasts

When it comes to creating the best corporate podcasts, we know the impact that unique insights, strong leaders and passion can have. For NatWest, we worked with senior leadership to convey these three key ingredients, fostering dynamic conversations and defining an audience eager for a new kind of corporate podcast - one that would be accessible enough for any listener, as well as technical enough for those interested in the forefront of thought leadership in the banking sphere. 

The Takeaways

• Effective thought leadership is all about clarity

• Podcasts offer unique storytelling options

• Ideas must always be refined to deliver the best results

The Challenge

Our challenge was to create a series of podcast episodes that would reflect the NatWest brand, and discuss empowerment and the changing landscape of tech within banking, all in a way that would still be accessible. 

We were challenged to facilitate conversations with guests from across the industry, as well as working closely with our first-time hosts to help them to develop their on-mic style. One of our hosts, Burcu Karabork, had this to say about going into podcasting for the first time: “There’s something very unsettling about knowing your thoughts are going to be snapshotted in time... As such, I was quite worried this experience would be riddled with cringe-worthy moments that I would come to hate a year from now.” Working with our hosts to feel comfortable and confident while podcasting was therefore central to our work with NatWest.

Creating thought leadership also requires insights to be clear, concise and logical enough to follow, while also presenting a balanced set of views for a comprehensive understanding of the topic at hand. We helped to define the audience, the content, the style and the ongoing direction of these episodes, in a slick, audio-friendly way.

The Process

We worked with NatWest to define the podcast according to brand needs, and our industry, competitor and market research. We also wanted to help fulfill the desire to convene conversations with authority and insight. We settled on a format that would be able to deliver on both fronts: our two hosts, one topic, and two guest interviews to introduce a variety of perspectives. This would enable a fuller discussion, really getting to grips with an issue within each episode. 

With access to a diverse array of professional and passionate voices, we were able to introduce diverse perspectives seldom heard in industry podcasts, discussing topics in a new light. In the episode ‘Teaching kids to code’, we helped our hosts examine the barriers to teaching kids in underprivileged communities to code, and looked at what this would mean for the next generation, all in a concise 28 minutes. This episode really epitomises success for us and our client; combining intelligent discourse with an important industry topic, while presenting forward-thinking arguments and an array of perspectives, all in one episode. 

Our approach is all about flexibility. “There’s no one rule to follow,” says Sandra Ferrari, Head of Production on the project. “We assist our clients from where they are at. Education is an ongoing process, and one that we are sensitive to.” We continue to educate ourselves and our clients to create the best possible results. For NatWest, this meant redefining and refining content ideas to continually grow the podcast offering. As we worked together, we came up with better ideas on what we needed to cover in each episode - we developed these ideas and gained access to guests who could help us deliver better and better content for our client. 

Insights Explained

Learning 1: Effective thought leadership is all about clarity

Personality goes a long way towards making a great podcast! But a podcast is a cultivated conversation - not just a chat. For this reason, good preparation is always required to achieve clarity. 

We helped our capable hosts to hone their already charming and intelligent personalities into a format that works for audio. Working collaboratively, we were able to really hone in on the key takeaways being offered within each episode, curating concise information and presenting clear stories for the audience to follow. 

Learning 2: Podcasts offer unique storytelling options

Working with NatWest, we were able to gain access to unique authority figures within the industry, and shape new stories within a dynamic format. By offering up multiple voices within each episode and knitting these together into a seamless production, we were able to convey important discussions with multiple perspectives, to really dive into the unique story at the heart of each episode. 

This kind of conversation might be difficult to capture or convey in text, and is hard to share in a live event. With podcasts, we were able to bridge that gap, offering up insights for a wide audience and telling stories that aren’t often heard. 

Learning 3: Ideas must always be refined

When you’ve got so many ideas, which do you focus on? In the case of this project, we worked in an adaptable way, to continually hone content ideas alongside our client. Podcasting is an agile and ever-evolving process. As the opportunities of the format presented themselves, ideas grew and changed, allowing us to explore unique topics with precision. 

We’re proud of the forward-thinking information contained within each of the episodes created, achieving the goals we shared with our client to facilitate empowering conversations and grapple with the future of tech.

The Impact

Creating clear conversations is definitely a balancing act, but we achieved something that satisfied NatWest so much, they came back for another round. Our hosts became confident conversation starters, and Burcu had this to say about the result: “[Message Heard] have that journalistic talent and their finger on the pulse of current affairs to know enough to guide you towards and away from topics. So the question becomes; can you afford that learning curve? Often we only get one chance to impress listeners, after which they turn away from us and don’t come back… for me the key to producing something of a quality I am proud to stand behind is thanks solely to our producer, Sandra.” You can listen to our collaboration here. 

Read more about this project on the NatWest website. 

Want to learn more? At Message Heard, we make podcasts that help your brand reach new audiences. Find out how we can help you by getting in touch.