Southern Crossings Podcast:

Series Strategy

Hey Hein,

Congratulations on what you've built. Southern Crossings is a remarkable community, and this podcast is the next step in celebrating it and the way of bringing new ideas, thought leaders, and high-quality conversations to the people who matter most.

After our meeting, I've put together this strategy document to capture everything we discussed and give you a clear roadmap for the series. It covers your goals, audience, content direction, show structure, sponsorship opportunities, and amplification strategy.

Rotating hosts is ideal for this format between Paul, Tanya and yourself. This format will feel dynamic, credible, and deeply connected to the Southern Crossings community.

The intention is simple: create a podcast that works hard for Southern Crossings. One that builds authority, attracts the right guests, engages an audience, supports your awards strategy, and becomes a sustainable, commercially viable asset.

Use this as a guide, not a rulebook. We'll refine as we go, but this gives us a strong foundation to build from.

I'm excited about what's possible.

- Darcy

Goals

The series has seven clear goals. Every decision maps back to one of them.

Celebrate the Community

Celebrate and humanise the Southern Crossings community, bringing its members, stories and culture to a wider audience.

Introduce New Ideas

Introduce new ideas and high-calibre thought leaders to the Southern Crossings network and beyond.

Tell the Southern Crossings Story

Explain Southern Crossings purpose, history and offerings to new and existing audiences.

Build Credibility

Build authority and credibility before the Southern Crossings Awards, positioning the community as a leader in Australian business.

Drive Awards Awareness

Increase awareness of award nominations and participating judges.

Create Reusable Content

Generate reusable video, written and social content from every episode, maximising the return on each recording.

Target Audience

Prospective Southern Crossings members: South Africans looking to contribute and collaborate with peers.

Existing members are the community around the show, distribution network and source of questions and guests, not necessarily the sole primary audience.

Awards entrants, judges, sponsors and attendees are important secondary campaign audiences.

Who They Are

  • C-suite executives, founders, and senior business leaders
  • Private company owners and family business leaders
  • High-profile professionals across Australia's business community
  • People who value peer connection, recognition, and thought leadership

What They Care About

  • Staying ahead of trends: AI, resilience, leadership, growth
  • Connecting with peers at their level
  • Being recognised and celebrated for what they've built
  • Practical insights they can apply to their business

Format & Frequency

The series is built for quality and credibility, appealing to high-profile guests and easy for a busy executive audience to consume.

Episode Length: 30 Minutes

30-minute recordings are appealing to senior guests and easy for the audience to consume on a commute or between meetings. It also reduces production costs and makes batch-recording practical.

Host & Co-Host Format

Paul Greenberg, Hein and Tanya rotate as host across the series, each bringing their own perspective while keeping the show dynamic, credible, and deeply connected to the Southern Crossings community.

Series Structure: 6 Episodes

The committed program is six episodes, generating content through to approximately the end of year.

Distribution

The show will be available across Apple, Spotify and Amazon Podcasts.

LinkedIn is the primary social channel, leveraging the pre-existing Southern Crossings network.

Each episode generates clips, posts, and articles for maximum organic reach.

PodReach is the podcast marketing platform by Pro Podcast that will amplify the series as well.

Episode & Guest Strategy

Six episodes, each with a clear purpose. The series builds from the origin story through to high-profile C-suite conversations and a live event recording.

The Origin Story:

Trio interview. Paul hosts Hein and Tanya in a fireside chat format. Cover the Southern Crossings story, its purpose, the membership model, and the vision ahead. Intentionally conversational, not over-scripted.

High-Profile C-Suite Interviews:

Senior business leaders and Southern Crossings Awards judges.

Priority guest include Brad Banducci (former CEO, Woolworths), and could include Raphael Geminder, and Giam Swiegers.

Meet the Judges:

A dedicated episode introducing the awards judges, the criteria they use, and FAQ content (nomination dates, key logistics) that can be clipped into social videos to drive awards awareness. Nominations open 1 November.

Trending Executive Topics:

Episodes woven throughout the series covering AI, resilience, leadership, and growth. Guests or solo format depending on the topic.

Hall of Fame / Flexible:

Final episodes kept deliberately flexible to accommodate late-confirmed guests (e.g., Gail Kelly or other Hall of Fame nominees)

Guest Selection

Guests are selected for strategic fit: Southern Crossings judges, patrons, and high-profile leaders.

No Over-Scripting

A cheat sheet of key points rather than prepared answers.

Conversation is seeded organically. Scripted content undermines authenticity.

Show Structure

A consistent episode structure that integrates sponsors naturally and keeps the conversation compelling from start to finish.

Produced Intro

Branded intro with music and show title.

Sets the tone and positions Southern Crossings as a premium production

Welcome to Keeping Great Company by Southern Crossings.

A podcast for those who value community, connection and access to the leaders pioneering change in the Australian Business Landscape.

These are their stories, their lessons and and your opportunity to elevate your own journey.

Sponsor Read

Host-read, conversational and brief.

Max 30 seconds per sponsor.

If multiple sponsors, rotation applies per episode to ensure fairness.

Keeping Great Company is about the relationships, expertise and shared ambition behind great businesses.

That’s why we’re proud to be supported by AltX, connecting wholesale investors with curated private real-estate credit opportunities through its digital platform.

Learn more at altx.com.au.

For wholesale investors only and this is general information, not financial advice.

Host Introduction

An overview of what's to come on the episode.

Today on Keeping Great Company, we’re exploring what becomes possible when ambitious people find a community built on genuine connection.

I’m joined by Southern Crossings founder Hein Vogel and General Manager Tanya Kunze to unpack why the organisation was created, what it offers South Africans building careers and businesses in Australia, and the vision for where this community goes next.

Quick Fire

A quick-fire segment where responses shouldn't be more than 20 seconds allowing us to quickly establish and humanise each person.

  1. Tell us about yourself in 20 seconds
  1. A career highlight
  1. The TV/Book/Podcast you're enjoying

Questions

The key questions, think about what's most important to capture so we can then share online.

The Story Behind Southern Crossings

What the community looks like

How people can engage

What you're currently seeing/hearing in the business world.

The Awards

Why this podcast and who's to come

Key Takeaways


The memorable moments the host wants people to remember from this episode.

Outro

Branded close with a call to action: visit the Southern Crossings website, explore membership, or submit a nomination.

Thanks for listening to Keeping Great Company by Southern Crossings.

Click follow for future epiosdes

And to learn more about the community, explore membership or submit a nomination for the Southern Crossings Awards, visit southerncrossings.org.au.


Sponsorship

Sell sponsorship before launch. The team's combined LinkedIn reach of 40,000+ followers is a compelling pitch, and securing sponsors upfront covers expenses before a dollar is spent on production.

  1. Three Corporate Sponsors: Target three sponsors at $6k each for the six-episode series. This covers production costs and creates a commercially viable series from day one.
  1. Sponsor Presence: Sponsors receive episode reads (max 30 seconds, host-read and conversational), logo on social media highlight, mention in podcast amplification. - Optional presence at the Southern Crossings Awards event on 8 April.
  1. AltX: Priority pitch target. Hein to present the sponsorship opportunity at the upcoming AltX meeting.
  1. LinkedIn Reach: The combined Southern Crossings network (40,000+ followers across Hein, Paul, Tanya, and the organisation) is the primary distribution engine. Sponsors get access to a highly targeted, senior business audience.

Next Steps

Four things to move on immediately.

01

Sign Off on the Quote

Review the production quote and send the agreement to Ivy to process. Darcy to be cc'd. Ivy may have partially completed some fields already.

02

Submit Artwork and Intro and Outro Package

Design on name then submit brief (links in email)

03

Lock In Episode 1

Confirm episode 01 structure and studio booking for Monday, 21 September. Paul and Hein to arrive 10:30 AM; recording starts at 11:00 AM. Hein and Tanya to align on messaging and membership terminology before the recording date.

04

Secure Sponsorship

Build out the sponsorship package. Pitch AltX at the upcoming meeting using the sponsor pitch templates.

05

Finalise Guest List

Shortlist three priority guests for Episodes 2–4. Confirm approach to Brad Banducci outreach.