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Magazine Week Conference & Excellence Awards Highlights
21 November 2011
More than 300 executives from across the Australian publishing industry gathered in Sydney to hear international and Australian speakers celebrating the enduring power of magazines, as well as firing up discussion about what engages readers.
In his keynote address to a packed audience, Steve Allen, Managing Director of Fusion Strategy, said; "Magazines can build brand recognition and trust rapidly, and in a fast-growing internet age, this is a great strength.”
Simon Sharwood of CommStrat posited: "An editor has two audiences: the search engine and the reader. The headline that works for one will be repellant to the other, while editor of marie claire, Jackie Frank, insisted, "Keep true to your brand, and the rest will follow, through whichever platform you communicate".
The increasing influence of advertisers over editorial was hotly debated, with smaller publishers in the audience challenging the stance of 'editorial not for sale.'
Private Media CEO Amanda Gome presented on growing an online publishing business, and US speaker, Marion Minor, founder of M2M Media 360, encouraged publishers to explore business information as a potential revenue stream.
UK-based subscriptions expert, Alan Weaver, emphasised the importance of renewals for magazine publishers, highlighting the role direct debit will play in subscriptions going forward.
And Publishers Australia's Custom Publishing Leadership Group released highlights of its inaugural research into the effectiveness of custom media in Australia. The study, conducted by McNair Ingenuity Research on behalf of Publishers Australia, focuses on the relationship readers have with Custom titles.
For more information and to purchase the study, please contact Publishers Australia.
On day two of the conference, it was standing room only for Phil Scott’s presentation. The ACP Magazines’ Managing Director reported on the 38th FIPP Congress held in October in India. Against the backdrop of declining international sales figures, Scott countered; ‘Australia is in a fundamentally better position than the US, UK and Europe. Australians’ early uptake of new technology is only helping... I’m a great believer in new technology. It’s transformational for our business.’ Scott claimed Apple’s Newsstand had ‘turbo-charged’ ACP’s sales, both single copy and subscriptions. He also pointed out that the newsstand sales success of The Australian Women's Weekly’s Royal Wedding issue demonstrated the valuable opportunities still facing magazines.
He ended with a warning to publishers: digital editions alone are not a silver bullet, magazines must reinvent themselves, not just re-purpose their print editions, for new media.
For key presentations from the Magazine Week Conference click here
2011 Excellence Awards Winners announced
Winners of the 15th annual Excellence Awards, run by industry body Publishers Australia, were announced at the end of the two-day Magazine Week Conference, at a gala dinner attended by nearly 500 publishers, editors, journalists, designers, digital suppliers and printers. Addressing guests at the Awards, Publishers Australia Chairman, Geoff Hird, called for a united voice from all sections of the industry to promote the power and health of magazines; "We have a powerful, evolving product, fantastically talented and innovative people, and we continue to deeply engage audiences - we just need to do a better job of taking this to market.”
marie claire, published by Pacific Magazines, was voted overall winner of the 2011 Excellence Award. The other winners of the main categories from which the overall winner was voted were: foodService (B2B), Mumbrella (website), QANTAS - The Australian Way (custom), and Vogue Living (consumer under 50k circ). Editor of the Year was won by Nick Smith of GQ magazine.
Awards winners:
The Excellence Award & Consumer Magazine of the Year (above 50,000 circulation): (From the winners of Website of the Year, Custom Magazine of the Year, B2B Magazine of the Year, Consumer Magazine of the Year (under and above 50,000 circulation)
marie claire
Website of the Year
Mumbrella.com.au
Custom Magazine of the Year
QANTAS- The Australian Way
B2B Magazine of the Year
foodService
Consumer Magazine of the Year (under 50,000 circulation)
Vogue Living
Regional Publication of the Year
Barossa Living
Small Publisher of the Year
Sterling Publishing
Cover of the Year – Consumer
Vogue Australia
Cover of the Year- B2B
VOICE+DATA
Cover of the Year - Custom
triple j magazine
Special Edition of the Year
Runner's World COACH
Custom Magazine Designer of the Year
Kate Barnett, INTHEBLACK
B2B Magazine Designer of the Year
Monica Lawrie, My Business
Consumer Magazine Designer of the Year
Jack Milenkovic, GQ Australia
Innovation in Print
SHOP til you Drop
Most Successful Subscriptions Campaign of the Year
Run for Your Life $9.95 campaign
Digital Marketing Strategy of the Year
Medical Observer: Smartest GP campaign
Single Article of the Year
Brett Williams, Police Journal
Analytical Journalist of the Year
Claire Weaver, madison
New Journalist of the Year
Mitch Brook, OUTthere
Journalist of the Year
Michael Stahl, Wheels
Editor of the Year
Nick Smith, GQ Australia
Integrated Media Brand of the Year
FourFourTwo
Relaunch of the Year
INTHEBLACK
Launch of the Year (below 50,000 circulation)
TREADLIE
Launch of the Year (above 50,000 circulation)
Smarter Business Ideas
Association or Member Organisation Magazine of the Year
INTHEBLACK
Best App on Mobile or Tablet Device
Fitness First Magazine app
Source: Publishers Australia