The main SIPA UK conference is over for another year, and we are delighted to thank everyone who submitted entries for our 3rd Annual Awards for Publishing Excellence.

Thanks also to our judges for the day, who faced a number of tough decisions to pick the final winners – not an easy task. They were:

Charles Arthur, Alliance Media
Ruth Brooks, Janes Information Group
Rory Brown, outgoing SIPA UK chair
Caroline Frost, Informa Business Information
Kelly Furneaux, Informa Business Information
Nick Gallehawk, BNA International
Peter Hobday, Subscriptions Strategy
David Nutt, Response Consulting
Daniel Rowles, ArtReview.

The winners were announced at the conference by Jonathan Feroze, Managing Director, Business Monitor International, and were presented with their awards by Victoria Mellor, CEO of Melcrum Publishing.

THE WINNERS

MARKETING CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR

Winner: Euromoney Institutional Investor plc, for the Chocolate Renewal Campaign
Tony Cancelliere, Gill Chalk, Maeve Doherty, Ben Eva, Simon Gates, Emmanuelle Rathouis, Alex Thomas, Hayley Ward, The sales team

The team successfully trialled a discount offer and free chocolates to a selection of customers due to expire.

The judges said: “Compelling environmental stimulus for looking at renewals in a terrible market. Logical setting out of rationale. Good idea to test. This campaign has succeeded and the renewal rates are relatively stable. They intend to roll out the free chocolate and discount over the whole portfolio. Sound tactics in terms of addressing renewals in trying conditions. They should be rewarded for new initiatives in renewals marketing.”

Award collected by Hayley Ward, Head of Retention Marketing 

MARKETING TEAM OF THE YEAR

Winner: Incisive Media, for Audience Development Team
Kim Baker, Kim Ferrara, Tim Martin, Lyndsey Muller, Romina Rushton, Sarah Smith, Helen Varnava, Rebecca Wilson

The team were targeted to make a 10% saving across the department – focusing on distribution costs and subscription bureau costs. Through hard negotiation of costs (including new pitches from existing suppliers), clever use of digital magazines and forging partnerships with external companies and sales teams, they achieved a 25% saving and a total to date of c. £2 million.

The judges said: “Fantastic cost savings and innovation. Great new ideas. Incisive’s Audience Development team has saved their company over £2 million in distribution and bureau charges in the last year. Not only that, they have also delivered c. £70k revenue from some highly innovative ideas. Well done to them.”

Award collected by Rebecca Wilson, Head of Audience Development 

See the winning entry here

Runner up: Incisive Media − Database Team

SALES TEAM OF THE YEAR

Winner: Euromoney Institutional Investor plc, for Metal Bulletin Sales Team
Sunaina Chablani, Christina Economou, Ksenia Fahey, Tom Hawkins, Emma Hayward, Andrew Isabel, Ben Johnstone, Paul Kennet, Melissa Kroc, Matt Lesyk, Aidan Neville, Bejal Pattni

Despite price rises and product changes, the sales team generated substantial growth in subscriber volumes, the overall cash generated, and ROIs on both new and renewal sales.

The judges said: “Despite aggressive rate increase, 42% up on previous year’s overall cash. Good electronic analysis of prospects. Good upsell, and renewals cross-selling is very successful. Consultative selling, average call times increasing, improved training and development, very clear.”

Runners up:
Kable – Market Intelligence Sales Team
Media Analytics – The Sales Team

Award collected by Bejal Pattni, Sales & Marketing Executive

BEST NEW LAUNCH

Winner: Electric Word plc – Optimus Professional Publishing Ltd, for Primary Assemblies for SEAL
Claudia Conway, Giles Flitney, Tom Kington, Racheal Tillbrook, Meg Ward

Their main objective was to create a quick-to-market book product that could be launched as soon as possible after the successful SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) conference. They reduced the time from commissioning to publication from one year (often longer) to just 8 months, to take advantage of funding and get to the market before their competitors. It became by far their best-selling book, with market penetration of over 11%, and dramatically exceeded their sales targets.

The judges said: “[It won because of] Speed to market. Fastest book sold by Optimus Education. Good pre-launch marketing activity and sales and then quickly reacting to that. Systems and discipline clearly set. Goals clearly monitored. Target market well known and understood, as is the need to provide establishments with this product – entrepreneurial. Executed well, without needing to reinvent the wheel. Good editorial and marketing co-ordination for pre-sales, monitoring and measuring.”

Award collected by Racheal Tillbrook, Books Marketing Manager

See the winning entry here

Runners up:
Incisive Media – Unquote” South Africa
Electric Word – Eco-friendly schools conference

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR

Winner: Econsultancy
Ashley Friedlein and team

Econsultancy provide two forms of content: research reports, and content based around the forums and blog, proving a combination of user-generated content and expert comment. In 2009 Econsultancy developed the third iteration of its website, with a new platform designed to ‘do the basics beautifully’ with usability at its core. It enables a greater level of customization to allow the user to tailor the information they want to receive, and web analytics have been incorporated to measure the business KPIs and drive optimization.

The judges said: “Clear user focused design, incorporates best practice and user interactivity. All content is original and based on feedback from users. 30% growth of year-on-year revenue and gets twice as many visitors as its nearest competitor. Embraces new technology and found profitable and practical uses, i.e. not just Twittering for Twittering’s sake. Engagement is encouraged throughout and some great interactive tools deployed. They clearly understand their community very well and are totally customer focused.”

Award collected by Ashley Freidlein, CEO and co-founder, and Linus Gregoriadis, Head of Research 

See the winning entry here.

Runners up:
Steel Business Briefing – SBB Daily Briefing
Euromoney Institutional Investor plc – Metal Bulletin

BEST USE OF INTERACTIVE MEDIA

Winner: Informa Business Information, with Scripnews.com
Andrew Williams

In April, the swine flu outbreak generated a large amount of mainstream media hype. Due to the highly topical nature of the event and Scripnews.com’s focus on pharmaceutical news, the event created a short window of opportunity for a focused online campaign, generating over £5,000 in revenue and 144% growth in traffic with a ROI of 3,542%.

The judges said: “Responded to high consumer interest with the right media. Existing database best practice and good SEO use. Fast move to market and strong ROI. Good use of swarm marketing. Excellent use of interactive media – quickly and cheaply.”

Award collected by Katie Howe, Head of Marketing and Best Practice 

See the winning entry here.

 

SIPA UK AWARDS 2010 - the Awards Ceremony 2010 will be moving to an evening slot right after the annual conference, so that more people can come after work to cheer their companies on. Watch this space for more information!