How are you planning to celebrate PPA’s centenary in 2013? We’re really excited – and honoured – to be marking this milestone. The centenary will run through everything we do this year, from our conference and awards to everything in between. We have some special events planned, with probably the most significant being a public vote for the cover of the century. We asked members to submit entries for consideration and a panel of independent indus- try experts has now whittled that down to a final ten, which were unveiled at our official ‘opening ceremony’ in London on 25 February.
What do you hope to achieve? Covers are the public face of this industry and a public vote is a great way of opening up our centenary celebrations to the widest pos- sible audience. This might be the PPA’s centenary but we are really using it as a vehicle to celebrate 100 years of magazine publish- ing and our members, and this is a way of reinforcing the creativity and heritage of our industry among the great British public. At the same time, it helps to put into context the incredible peri-
od we’re currently in, where the whole notion of a magazine has become very fluid. Our members are now focused much more on the brand and the content rather than how it’s delivered, wheth-
This might be the PPA’s centenary but we are really using it as a vehicle to celebrate 100 years of magazine publishing
Brace yourself
Few of the founders of the PPA could have imagined how much the industry would change since its formation in 1913. As the UK association celebrates its centenary, CEO Barry McIlheney reveals that it is preparing for an equally revolutionary century ahead.
er that be in print, online, an app or, increasingly in the case of our business members, a data service. So, while we draw on a rich her- itage, innovation and creativity are more critical than ever before for today’s publishers to keep in step with their audiences.
How is the industry shaping up in 2013? Better than you might think. Market conditions have certainly been challenging over the past few years, but magazines are unique in their ability to connect with readers - there is a very strong bond there – and that relationship has proved to be very resilient. For consumer magazines, many commentators have glibly accept- ed the narrative that the growth of digital must therefore lead to the death of print, and I have to say that this is an incredibly simplistic analysis of a very complex and nuanced situation. Our own study into the tablet market, The TAP Report, found that tablet owners are more likely to be buyers of printed magazines and also consume a broader range of magazine brands. So, yes, we are experiencing sig- nificant growth in digital channels, but alongside that print has held firm and remains the engine room of strong revenue generation. In the B2B sector, there has been a major readjustment in the pro- file and make-up of our member companies. In recent years the