Ostensibly to attend the awards our real priority was to use the event as a chance to meet some of the high profile movers and shakers in the industry.
As part of the structure the training council had organised three seminars through the morning.
The first was run by Lysanne Currie,the editor of Sky magazine.By virtue of it being sent to all the homes of Sky subscribers it has the largest circulation of all consumer brands.
She described how the magazine had been successfully re branded back in September 2007 from a magazine that was read by less than 50% of its intended readership to a year later when that figure is over 61% and it can trace its success through HD take up via the magazine and put 4.9m viewers onto a recommended programme.
The secret? Creating a reader profile ( in this case it is 34 year old Rebecca from Bristol with 2 kids) and marketing the Sky Brand.
Today says Lysanne,the magazine can boast of groundbreaking covers,celebratory interviews real life stories and tailoring content in line with Sky's business priorities.
It sill has some way to go including most importantly managing a online presence but her decision to join "the monster" has certainly paid off
Paul Kurzeja is the creative director of Redwood Publishing.
For Paul,despite all the gloom and doom in the industry,it is an exciting time to join the industry.He compares the new opportunities with those following the Gutenburg revolution and reminded us of a quote from Rupert Murdoch
"the middle is dead,the bland and safe is never coming back"
