Linda Swidenbank and NME Win PPA Honours
May 8, 2008
SOUTHBANK PUBLISHING director Linda Swidenbank and NME were IPC’s stars of the show at last night’s PPA Awards for editorial and publishing excellence, held at the Grosvenor House in Park Lane.
Linda took the accolade for Publisher of the Year (Consumer Magazines) for her work on Woman & Home, in a category in which Country Life's Jean Christie and Caravan’s Joanna Pieters were also shortlisted.
According to the judges, against the criteria Linda's entry "ticked every box”. They added: “In 2007 Woman&Home really established itself under the direction of Linda Swidenbank with its highest circulation in 11 years, advertising revenues up 13 per cent and a 20 per cent increase in profits.
“Her partnership forged with award-winning editor Sue James has created a driving force that has transformed the title into an inspirational bible for the grown up woman. The website has been a profitable addition, up 633 per cent year on year with organic growth and 1m impressions. Swindenbank has also spearheaded the spin-off title Feel Good Food – profitable from the first issue thanks to a unique distribution model forged with retail partners.”
In naming Linda the worthy winner the judges pointed to the “fantastic partnership with her editor, the significant improvement in performance and its impressive brand extensions”.
Southbank managing director Jackie Newcombe was delighted with the win, telling InsiderOnline: "The evening belonged to Linda – her excellent work on Woman and Home made her a worthy winner if ever there was one.
"At the same time, it was great to see Southbank being recognised once again at the industry's top awards, with no less than five short-listed nominations. It’s testament to the fantastic work that goes on throughout the group and it was a great source of pride to me to see us mentioned so often throughout the evening."
NME publishing director Paul Cheal collected NME’s award for Consumer Media Brand of the Year, a new category at this year’s event. Nuts was also given a special mention in this category.
The judges were hugely impressed with NME’s unrivalled approach to brand development, describing it as the “headline act of brand development” and as “setting the template for how a modern magazine brand can extend its reach and influence in a variety of ways and across a variety of mediums”.
They said: “In 2007 NME’s strategy was to optimise cross-platform content, extend brand reach and offer innovative solutions for advertisers, taking its music loving audience in new directions. To say the historic brand had a busy year would be the biggest understatement since Thomas Watson of IBM said in 1943: ‘I think there is a world market for five computers’.
“The brand has seen double digit online traffic, advertising sales and sponsorship, its four biggest ever, sponsored nationwide tours and a record sponsorship deal for NME awards and a first sponsorship for Club NME. Additionally is has developed NMETV on Sky with a dedicated weekly audience of 200,000 viewers, and announced the launch of a national digital radio station. If that wasn’t enough NME.com has extended its video content onto third party platforms, resulting in 2.2m views on Youtube. By the year end NME’s brand reach, driven by new platforms and live activity had hit an astonishing 1m people, up 30 per cent year on year.”
Ignite managing director Eric Fuller added: “Multi-platform publishing is at the heart of our growth strategy, so for NME to win best Consumer Media Brand, and also have Nuts highly commended in the same category, is immensely satisfying. Ignite’s teams are showing the rest of the industry how it’s done, and I’m delighted to see their innovative work rewarded in such a high profile way.”
