APA News

ABC's reveal Customer Publishing Industry remains buoyant

ThuAMPSTE_RFebruaryC822Feb

Customer publishing has once again shown itself to be the most robust of marketing tools and indeed magazine genre. The latest ABC results have shown customer magazines taking the top seven consecutive positions by circulation, the best result that we have ever seen, and the medium still represents a third of the magazines in the top 100.

These latest results are a true representation of the buoyancy of this medium. Brands are continuing to invest in editorialised branded content as it delivers valuable engagement which in turn bolsters loyalty and boosts sales.

APA Digital Workshop - Tue 23 March - Effective email strategies for brands

FriAMPSTE_RMarchC822Mar

We are now taking bookings for our next digital training workshop on Tues 23^rd March. The workshop is looking at ‘effective email strategies', aimed at customer publishers wanting to learn more about creating and executing effective email campaigns for their clients.

The workshop will offer a practical guide to all aspects of the email marketing process and will provide you with the key to understanding the legal requirements, developing a long term strategy, running day to day operations, best practice, measuring success and monetising client email campaigns.

Book your place >>

Caspian to publish million-member magazine

FriAMPSTE_RMarchC822Mar

Caspian has been awarded the contract to publish "benhealth", the quarterly publication of the Benenden Healthcare Society.

After a full competitive tender process, Caspian is appointed to help the Society take its quarterly magazine to a new level of publishing excellence. The Benenden Healthcare Society is a not-for-profit mutual society that has been providing discretionary healthcare for 105 years. The Society has a membership of more than 940,000.

Apple to cull content apps from the iPhone?

FriAMPSTE_RMarchC822Mar

Several weeks ago Apple removed a number of ‘sexy' apps from its iPhone online store after receiving complaints from customers who thought they were degrading to women. Now it looks as if the company will undergo a similar cull but this time focussing on content based apps.

US online advertising spend to overtake print in 2010

ThuAMPSTE_RMarchC822Mar

American marketing analysts are predicting that spending on digital advertising will overtake print for the first time this year. Outsell is forecasting that $119.6 billion will be spent on digital campaigns with $111.5 billion invested in print, including newspapers and magazines.

ASOS delivers innovative Twitter-drive website

WedAMPSTE_RMarchC822Mar

Online fashion retailer ASOS has unveiled an innovative website that is designed to keep its customers abreast of the latest fashion news. Its new asosfollowsfashion.com collates the tweets of a number of industry figures in one place. So Twitter streams from models like Agyness Deyn are next to key fashion bloggers like SusiBubble and brands such as River Island.

Apple iPad rivals announce newspaper content deals

WedAMPSTE_RMarchC822Mar

With the UK launch of the Apple iPad now less than two months away ereader/tablet manufacturers have been upping the ante by announcing new deals and touting new products.

Everybody has an idea that matters

TueAMPSTE_RMarchC822Mar

Sappi, the global manufacturer of sustainable paper, has been supporting graphic design for the non-profit community for ten years now. Because everybody has an idea that matters, Sappi has decided to open up its "Ideas That Matter" programme to a wider community of engaged citizens.

Sappi Fine Paper Europe price increases following Chile earthquake

MonAMPSTE_RMarchC822Mar

Sappi Fine Paper Europe believes it necessary to inform you about recent events in the pulp industry, specifically highlighting the consequences of the earthquake which took place in Chile during the night of Saturday, February 27^th, causing tragic loss of life and massive structural damage to the country's infrastructure.

Email Marketing for Brands - APA Digital Breakfast - 9th March - Book your place

FriAMPSTE_RMarchC822Mar

Last few days to book your place on this month's APA Digital Breakfast on Tuesday 9^th March.

Skip Fidura, Managing Director at dotAgency and Vice Chairman of the DMA Email Marketing Council, will discuss the vast opportunities for email marketing. He will look at a customer publisher case study and provide advice on how to improve performance and get even better results.

And don't forget our new workshop discount offer for 2010; if you attend the digital breakfast about Email marketing, you get a £20 discount voucher off the cost of the corresponding APA Digital Workshop that takes a more in-depth look at ‘Effective email strategies for brands' on Tues 23^rd March.

Find out more and book your place today >>

Apple confirms iPad will launch in the UK in April

FriAMPSTE_RMarchC822Mar

Apple today confirmed that its innovative new touch screen PC will launch in the UK in April. The official line is that it will debut in the US on April 3, for Wi-Fi models and in late April for Wi-Fi + 3G models. All models will be available in late April in a number of countries including the UK.

Sony plans to take on the iPad and iPhone

FriAMPSTE_RMarchC822Mar

The Wall street Journal is reporting today that Sony is working on a rival to Apple's tablet PC the iPad. According to the WSJ the company will soon unveil a product that "blurs distinctions among a netbook, an e-reader and a PSP."

Brands shouldn't be too preoccupied with mobile apps say O2

ThuAMPSTE_RMarchC822Mar

Mobile phone apps like those created for Apple iPhone might be the big story of the moment with some high profile successes like those from Carling, Stella and Tesco. However a leading figure in the UK telecoms industry has argued that brands shouldn't get preoccupied with apps and ought to consider a multitude of mobile marketing opportunities.

Standard Life MoneyPlus Light

ThuAMPSTE_RMarchC822Mar

Inspired by the impressive results generated by its quarterly customer magazine MoneyPlus, Standard Life is launching a second version of the publication, targeted at a younger, ambitious, increasingly affluent audience.

Tesco Magazine launches one-off Dove Men + Care title

ThuAMPSTE_RMarchC822Mar

Cedar Communication's Tesco Magazine's March/April issue will carry an accompanying mini title to promote the new Dove Men + Care range.

The 17-page magazine, the result of a deal with Dove owner Unilever, is entitled ‘Man Alive' and contains light-hearted features focusing on real men, rather than male celebrities.

Axon to publish SOAS alumni magazine

WedAMPSTE_RMarchC822Mar

Axon Publishing has been appointed to publish a redesigned alumni magazine for SOAS, the School of Oriental and African Studies.

Twitter to launch advertising strategy very soon

WedAMPSTE_RMarchC822Mar

According to the All Things Digital blog, which is linked to The Wall Street Journal, Twitter has apparently been briefing agencies about the launch of a new advertising service. From later in the year Twitter users who search for keywords will also be presented with text ads that are, like tweets, up to 140 words long. So for example if a user searched for movies they could get an ad plugging an upcoming film.

Ceros recognised as one of the UK's smartest businesses

TueAMPSTE_RMarchC822Mar

Ceros has been chosen as one of the UK's smartest businesses by a judging panel including Dragons Den's Deborah Meaden. The ‘Smarta 100' recognises the UK's most exciting and disruptive businesses, and Ceros was described as "the fix that the digital publishing world has been looking for".

Summersault Communications dominates Central CiB Awards

TueAMPSTE_RMarchC822Mar

Award winning employee, customer and business communications specialists Summersault Communications added to their already packed trophy cabinet by dominating the British Association of Communicators in Business (CiB) Central Awards. Summersault walked away with the highest number of awards given to any one company.

ABC changes the way it reports online traffic

MonAMPSTE_RMarchC822Mar

Media measurement body the ABC (Audited Bureau of Circulation) is to change the way it tracks online traffic.

It is to move away from offering a monthly figure to focusing on a daily number of unique readers for websites. Daily figures are inevitably higher than monthly ones as the latter includes a regular visitor to the site just once. The move is something that UK newspapers have been pushing for.

Condé Nast prepares iPad versions of top magazines

MonAMPSTE_RMarchC822Mar

With the US launch of the Apple iPad just weeks away publishers have started to give details about their plans to launch magazines compatible with the new device. First off the blocks is Condé Nast which has been very vocal about the iPad and already demonstrated how its Wired technology magazine might look on an iPad style gadget.

Apple iPhone users hungry for apps

MonAMPSTE_RMarchC822Mar

A survey by mobile advertising network Admob has highlighted how iPhone users are not coy when it comes to adding apps to their handset. The report concludes that on average iPhone users download as many as nine apps per month and at least half of the users will pay for at least one app.

How to engage with the APA via social media

FriAMPSTE_RFebruaryC822Feb

Here at the APA we see social media as a crucial way of keeping in touch with members and reaching out to the wider media community. And as you may have noticed we have significantly increased our social media presence over the last few months.

Here then is a list of ways you can follow or engage with us >>

US Custom Publishing Council reports sector boom and changes its name

ThuAMPSTE_RFebruaryC822Feb

One of the key industry bodies that represents the US customer publishing industry has changed its name. Apparently reflecting a new era in custom media - and the monumental impact content has today on all marketing initiatives - the Custom Publishing Council (CPC) has changed its name to the Custom Content Council (CCC).

Research finds that most Europeans use the web on a daily basis

ThuAMPSTE_RFebruaryC822Feb

New research has highlighted how a high proportion of European Internet users go online six or seven days a week. The research from IAB Europe took in sixteen European markets, including the UK, and surveyed over 32,000 people. It concluded that 76% of the respondents browse the web for over an hour each day with the heaviest users coming from Eastern Europe.

Kobo, a unique eBook platform, arrives in the UK

WedAMPSTE_RFebruaryC822Feb

Kobo, an eBook shop backed by the US wing of the retail store Borders, launches in the UK today. It boasts a library of over 2 million titles and is supported by a range of large publishers including Random House UK, Penguin Group UK, Bloomsbury, Simon & Schuster UK and Faber & Faber.

Twitter hits 50 million tweets per day

TueAMPSTE_RFebruaryC822Feb

In a post on his blog yesterday Twitter's analytics guru Kevin Weil confirmed that there are now over 50 million tweets a day.

"Folks were tweeting 5,000 times a day in 2007. By 2008, that number was 300,000, and by 2009 it had grown to 2.5 million per day. Tweets grew 1,400% last year to 35 million per day. Today, we are seeing 50 million tweets per day-that's an average of 600 tweets per second. "

Condé Nast to produce upmarket business title for Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks

TueAMPSTE_RFebruaryC822Feb

Condé Nast's contract publishing division has secured a deal to publish an upscale business lifestyle magazine for Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks.

The bi-annual title, provisionally called the Journal, will target the banks' wealthy clients and offer intelligent, business and lifestyle content, according to Condé Nast.

Channel 4 caps amazing run for White Light Media

MonAMPSTE_RFebruaryC822Feb

Channel 4 has commissioned Edinburgh-based White Light Media to produce a 32-page publication celebrating investment in creative content across the UK. Called Creative Cities, the publication will be distributed this spring.

Consumer online spending starts to slow

MonAMPSTE_RFebruaryC822Feb

The latest figures from IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index UK show that while online shopping revenue figures are up year on year they aren't growing as quickly as previous years. Consumer s apparently spent £4.3bn in January 2010 - 5% more than the previous January - which is the lowest annual increase ever recorded.