Carolyn Morgan, MD of the Specialist Media Show and James Evelegh, Editor of InPublishing, presented the awards to the four overall winners. Read more about their inspiring stories:
K9 Media for their digital editions and re-use of content online.
Ryan O’Meara’s specialist media business began online; he only launched a print magazine in response to advertiser pressure, but he quickly found the economics of newsstand distribution and promotion untenable for an independent publisher. So two years ago, he stopped the print edition of K9 Magazine and went digital only. Magazine content is designed to be “evergreen” focussing on practical tips on dog ownership. Digital subscribers get access to the magazine archive when they sign up. Content is also repurposed into ebooks, which are sold online and provide added value for subscribers. The award was accepted by Ryan O’Meara, MD and Founder of Total Pet Publishing.
Advanstar's chromatography market for their digital edition, online global community and e-learning service.
Advanstar have published peer-reviewed journal LC-GC in the chromatography sector for 25 years, and 5 years ago started to experiment with digital magazine, The Column. Pages are designed as spreads, text is easily legible and there are links back to the main website. Recently, frequency changed from monthly to fortnightly, spreading the original 40pp of feature content across the two fortnightly editions, plus the latest news. Interestingly, this doubled the reading time of each edition, so readers spent in total four times as long with the edition per month. Chromacademy is a paid-for e-learning service, which now has 3000 subscribers accessing an archive of 3000 modules. Chrommunity is a free community which has 2000 members from 88 countries who ask questions and contribute blogs, some published in the magazine. The award was accepted by Peter Houston, Director of Content, Advanstar.
Songlines for their creative development of retail relationships and brand extensions.
Songlines, the magazine for world music fans, has cultivated relationships with key music retailers Amazon, iTunes and HMV, publishing a digital edition with sampler tracks, and a buyers guide with the pick of recent album releases. The Songlines Music Awards has cemented these relationships, with a free iPhone app including links to buy music, and a special awards page on iTunes. All this activity has driven paid subs to the digital Songlines magazine above 1000. Songlines also takes its brand into festivals and concerts with Songlines Encounters and holidays with Songlines Travel. The award was accepted by Paul Geoghegan, Publisher and Director.
Stylist Network for their live events and online networking for female entrepreneurs.
Stylist Magazine saw a growing number of entrepreneurial women among its readers, and launched a series of live networking events, with expert speakers, which are now profitable thanks to a combination of paid-for tickets and sponsorship. The events are supported by online networking and Q&A sessions and practical information packs. The network has strengthened reader relationships and provides good editorial content. The award was accepted by Jamie Klingler, Publishing Manager.
The judges for the Media Pioneer Awards were James Evelegh of InPublishing, Chris Llewellyn, President of FIPP and Joanna Reynolds of Reynolds Busby Lee. Four other companies were commended by the judges:
* Military Times (Chelsea), for their integrated campaign for Intel
* VRL Financial for their transition to a data business
* Magicalia, for their integrated campaign for Heinz
* Virtual Event World, for launching a global virtual event
Details on all the nominations can be found on the Specialist Media Show website.
Nominations are now open for the 2012 Media Pioneer Awards. We are looking for innovation and entrepreneurial activity with measurable results in specialist consumer and b2b media markets. Shortlisted businesses will have their stories published on the Specialist Media Show site and in InPublishing's website and InPubWeekly. 2012 winners will be announced at the 2012 Specialist Media Show.
Contact Carolyn Morgan to nominate your specialist media business.
