Good morning! Today’s newsletter is brought to you by Peter.
Visionary art director George Lois has died aged 91 — www.nytimes.com
So much of this newsletter is, rightly, focused on the ups and downs of digital media. But every now and then there’s a reminder of our ink-on-dead-trees lineage; the death at 91 of ad man and art director George Lois is one of those moments.
You might not know his name, but you’re sure to recognise his work. And if you don’t, take five minutes out of your digital day to take a look at some of his Esquire covers, described by the New York Times as, ‘acid-rain critiques on society, race, politics and war’. And try to imagine having the balls to picture a beleaguered Muhammad Ali as the martyred St Sebastian for the cover of a US magazine in 1968.
If you want a properly heartfelt tribute, take a look at Terri White’s Instagram post. Explaining why she had one of George’s Lois’ covers on the her office walls for over 20 years, Terri wrote: “Ask any Editor or Art Director and they’ll likely tell you that no-one did more to contribute to the modern magazine cover. And they’re right.”
Rest in Print Mr Lois.
Facts are free, but comment is sacred — www.hbmadvisory.com
Former head of digital at the Times, Alan Hunter, is arguing – somewhat against the established wisdom – that comment is at least as important as facts in news. He writes, “The fact-based side of news offerings looks increasingly commoditised.” For him, commentary and analysis are where publishers can distinguish themselves. “All the user data I’ve ever seen has shown this type of journalism to get more page views, more subscriptions and more engagement than vanilla news.”
Combining podcasts with live events — www.podpod.com
This might be the first time we’ve linked out to Campaign’s new podcasting title PodPod. This piece on how blending in-person experiences with podcasts can bring benefits for both formats is excellent. It looks at the financial opportunities, but also what you’ll need to do to make your podcast work out there in the real world.
Boom time for B2B as Mark Allen Group turnover grows 37% to £60m — pressgazette.co.uk
Good news at the Mark Allen Group. The B2B publisher is celebrating ‘yet another record year’ financially. Group turnover was up 37% to £60 million in the year to 31st March 2022 and profits before tax rose 54% to £9.4 million. The high cost of print has accelerated the group’s digital rollout – now 27% of revenue – but it doesn’t want to ‘impose digital on all our readers and advertisers’.
New podcast:
Publishers power through as hype around emerging technology comes crashing down — voices.media
This episode we’re joined by Simon Owens to explore how publishers are weathering the ‘crypto winter’ and general disenchantment around emerging technologies. Will early experiments in the metaverse pay off for publishers, and why is AI image generation so exciting? Listen to find out!
Media Moments 2022 launch event — voices.media
Our annual report launches on Wednesday November 30th! It’s taking a look at everything that’s occurred in media over 2022 – so it’s a small task, obviously. You can join us and a few very special guests for the launch event. We’d love to see you there!
