River Group wins magazine contract for Princess Cruises
Following a competitive pitch The River Group has been engaged by Princess Cruises (Carnival Corporation & PLC) to deliver their premium travel magazine Journey.
Customer publishing is the part of the industry most readers never think of as publishing. Membership magazines, airline and supermarket titles and the content agencies behind them reach millions of people, often with circulations that consumer titles would envy.
The purpose is different too. A membership magazine is usually there to keep members renewing, and a brand title has to show a return for the client paying for it. That creates a running question about independence, and the strongest titles tend to have an editorial identity of their own rather than sounding like the organisation behind them.
If there’s something customers don’t need more of today, it’s content.
Jackie Scully Customer media
The agencies have changed shape around this. They produce fewer print editions and more digital content, and put far more effort into distribution and income generation, while publishers' own branded content studios compete for the same budgets. Print still matters, though. Members continue to rank the magazine among the benefits they value most.
Below you'll find some of our best feature articles on customer and contract publishing, from membership magazines and in-flight titles to content agencies and branded content studios, alongside our latest news and industry commentary.
We asked Jackie Scully, managing director at Think, what does best practice publishing look like in customer media? This is what she said…
The National Trust is a treasure trove of historic and beautiful places, and, unsurprisingly, it has a huge membership. One of the benefits of membership is its highly regarded magazine…
Content marketing is all the rage, and companies like River, that have been doing it for over twenty years, are highly expert at it. River CEO Nicola Murphy tells Jo Bowman that while quality content is the bedrock of the company, it’s the marketing
Content has become mission-critical for many membership organisations. But, Mike Sewell asks, should this valuable asset be regarded as an exclusive member benefit, or used as a marketing tool?
Lots of publishers are now offering club style membership schemes, looking to generate extra revenue and deeper engagement. Dickon Ross looks at the membership model.
Ann Hartland, group business and strategy director, Cedar Communications, tells Ciar Byrne about how the customer media sector is managing the digital transformation journey.
What does the future hold for customer media? CPL One’s Sarah Simpson, looks ahead.
Spring hasn’t sprung until CRUNCH takes place, writes Richard Reeves, MD of the Association of Online Publishers, which recently held its first CRUNCH event of the year. The mood was suitably optimistic for a change of season.
Following a competitive pitch The River Group has been engaged by Princess Cruises (Carnival Corporation & PLC) to deliver their premium travel magazine Journey.
The PPA has welcomed content marketing agencies Seven and John Brown Media back into its membership.
Following the success of last year’s Bake, the first in a new series of one-shots from the Sainsbury’s magazine stable, Fresh will go in store on 13 January 2016.
Hearst Magazines UK is relaunching Asda’s in-store magazine under a new brand - Good Living - and has made new appointments to its editorial team.
The Future Media Lab, EMMA’s think tank on media innovation and public policy, launched a new innovation project earlier this week: Accelerating European Media Innovation and Insights (AEMII).
The winners of the 2015 Scottish Magazine Awards, organised by PPA Scotland, were announced on 16 December.
Hearst Magazines UK has appointed Ally Oliver as Editor of Asda’s customer magazine, which is distributed to over 1.9m readers.
The winners of the PPA Independent Publisher Awards were unveiled at a lunchtime presentation at The Brewery on December 9.
Air Business, the global distribution and subscriptions management company, has appointed Rob Barham as group sales director.
Headley has expanded its digital printing division with investment in a cutting-edge HP Indigo 7800 Digital Printing Press.
The Content Marketing Association (CMA), the industry body for the content marketing industry, last night announced the winners of its sixth annual International Content Marketing Awards at a ceremony at The Roundhouse in London.
Riding for the Disabled Association is launching a new magazine – available by free subscription – designed to inform and inspire its readership about the work of RDA UK; disability sport and equestrianism.
Haymarket Network has taken another step in its longstanding 15-year relationship with the British Army, creating a consumer-style fitness and lifestyle magazine – The Locker – to aid recruitment.
“Paper’s paper” seems to sum up the prevailing view at some magazine publishers of one of the essential raw ingredients in print publishing, and this represents a major missed opportunity. Denmaur Independent Papers’ Julian Townsend and Peter Sommerv
Content marketing agency Archant Dialogue has appointed a new Commercial Director, Tim Kersen, from Mail Brands to develop its client offering and generate new business.