Josh brings a strong foundation into the project. As the host of Reign with Josh Smith, he’s built a reputation for high-quality, emotionally honest interviews with globally recognised talent. That level of access and trust is rare – and it gave us a clear opportunity to build a format and brand that could match it.

From the outset, the focus wasn’t just on launch – it was on longevity.

We started with strategy and alignment workshops, defining what The Great Chat needed to stand for, how it should feel, and where it could differentiate in a crowded podcast landscape. The goal was to create a clear identity that could carry across episodes, guests and platforms – not something that would need to be rethought six months in.

From there, we developed the brand world. A visual identity designed to work natively across Spotify, YouTube and social – flexible enough for episodic content, but distinctive enough to be recognisable at a glance.

Every decision was made with distribution in mind, not just aesthetics. Because the reality is: most podcasts don’t struggle with content — they struggle with how that content is seen.

This is where social strategy becomes critical.

We approached The Great Chat as a social-first format, thinking beyond full-length episodes and into how moments would travel. What gets clipped. What gets shared. What stops the scroll. The visual system, pacing and content outputs were all designed to support that — ensuring the show could grow through content, not just through platform discovery.

That thinking carried through into launch.

A Leicester Square billboard moment gave the show immediate presence in the real world, while three episodes dropping back-to-back created momentum online. Together, it set a clear tone: this is a show worth paying attention to.

And the content delivers on that promise. With guests including Jason Isaacs, Mia McKenna-Bruce and Golda Rosheuvel, the conversations are open, thoughtful and culturally relevant — covering vulnerability, resilience, identity and creative courage in a way that feels both personal and widely relatable.

What we did

We worked closely with Josh and the wider team as a creative and strategic partner across the full launch:

• Podcast strategy & positioning
  • Defining the role of the show, its tone, audience and point of difference in a crowded market
• Brand identity & visual system
  • Creating a distinctive, flexible identity designed to work across social, YouTube and streaming platforms
• Social-first content strategy
  • Building a framework for how episodes translate into short-form content — from clips to trailers to ongoing formats
• Creative direction & rollout
  • Ensuring consistency across all touchpoints, from launch moments to day-to-day content
• Launch thinking & momentum planning
  • Supporting a launch designed to create immediate visibility and sustained interest

This is how we approach podcasting at Monty. Not as a single output, but as a brand, a content engine and a distribution strategy working together.

Because the podcasts that break through aren’t just the ones with great guests or great conversations… They’re the ones that are built to live – and grow – where audiences already are.

Listen to Josh Smith’s Great Chat Show wherever you get your podcasts.