But when the glitz of the evening begins to fade and the Champagne fizz has gone flat, what does it mean to be a PPA Award winner? What do our line-up of champions say about us as an industry in 2010?
Part of the answer lies in the numbers. The PPA received more than 700 entries for this year’s awards from business media brands, consumer glossies and customer publishers. The volume itself is impressive but, as PPA chairman Charles Reed noted, it is the breadth of talent on display that is particularly encouraging. Celebrating print remains at the PPA’s heart, but increasingly the association’s membership is expanding its core talent pool beyond the page and into diverse digital channels, continuing to connect and engage with audiences as their media habits evolve.
BBC Good Food, winner of the Consumer Media Brand of the Year, is one such example. It started life 20 years ago in print but in recent years has emerged as a force on multiple platforms. In 2009 alone it produced an iPhone app, launched a new magazine series and signed partnerships that brought the brand to life in live events and on television. The judges said: “BBC Good Food showed fantastic year-on-year growth and has worked excellently across all media channels.”
Business Media Brand of the Year, Health Service Journal, showed equal strength in diversification, underlining business media’s shift from its print-centric past. By growing non-recruitment revenues, increasing awards and display income and launching an online databank, the Emap Inform title demonstrated the power of innovation in meeting changing reader requirements.
A further example was Columnist of the Year Ruth Mortimer of Marketing Week who, as well as her weekly column in the magazine, writes and engages with the title’s audience through online opinion pieces, her blog, Twitter and LinkedIn to develop an ongoing conversation.
Given that the entries for the awards related to work carried out in 2009, the winners also underlined the industry’s resilience in a budget-constricted recessionary environment. Grazia’s Go Shopping Neutral campaign, Restaurant magazine’s practical response to the Credit Crunch, Farmers Weekly’s commercial growth, the continued rise of Cycling Plus, Time Out’s global expansion, and impressive online performances from TES Connect and NME.com were all achieved in the face of the most adverse of economic conditions.
Consumer Magazine of the Year Empire appeared to pay no heed to the world’s economic woes, however, with an editorially ambitious year that proved it is still possible to push expectations of what readers expect from a magazine. The Bauer Media title celebrated its 20th anniversary with a sixth consecutive ABC rise and a special issue guest-edited by Steven Spielberg that delivered 67 world exclusives, Jack Nicholson’s first interview in 30 years, and bespoke photoshoots of 27 of the biggest film stars in the world.
Amid such achievements and change, the PPA Awards are constant in serving as an annual reminder of the level of creative talent harboured within the industry. So, congratulations once more to the publishers, editors, writers and designers who managed to stand out from an exceptional crowd.
The winners’ brochure can be accessed online, along with photos and video of the evening, at the PPA Awards website. For any further information, contact Hannah Bray.
