The PPA Festival: key takeaways from The Big Picture Stage

Industry News

The PPA Festival: key takeaways from The Big Picture Stage

Industry News

The PPA Festival: key takeaways from The Big Picture Stage

10 May 2024

As the publishing event of the year, the carefully curated agenda was designed to bring together and galvanise the industry - turning your optimism into action and opportunity.

This stage hosted strategic insights from industry figureheads and thought leaders looking at the biggest challenges facing our sector.

Powered by:

Sajeeda Merali, PPA CEO opening address

“Trust is the commodity that stands this industry apart”
“Publishing brands are a kitemark for the consumers we serve”
“The need to differentiate our content is critical”

The future of media

Alan Rusbridger, Editor, Prospect
Joshi Herrmann, Founder, Mill Media Co
Moderated by: Nina Wright, Chair, Harmsworth Media

This session explored the challenges of journalism, trust, and accountability, and why Mill Media Co offers hope to the industry.

“Teaching six-year-olds how to distinguish fake news is an essential tool of being a citizen” – Alan Rusbridger

Churnalism: “The decline in media quality is due to journalists having to write too many stories in not enough time… a radical reduction in volume will work, as long as the content is highly differentiated” – Joshi Herrmann

Alan Rusbridger on AI: “You’d be stupid not to try it. But be transparent about how you use it”.

“If we want to engage with younger people, we need to understand that we’re competing with Netflix and TikTok, and we need to be better” – Joshi Herrmann

Can the ‘forever promise’ transform your business?

Robbie Kellman Baxter shared her expertise and experience of consulting global giants including Netflix, The Wall Street Journal, and Microsoft on their subscriptions and membership strategies.

“Membership economy is like a painting palette. It’s not just their journey with your product, it’s about what they are trying to accomplish”

“When I go into an organisation, I try to get a feel for whether they love their product the most or whether they love their customers the most”

“Launching is about gathering. Knowing whose problem you’re solving and solving it on an ongoing basis”

“The burden of having a big ship that has been travelling for a long time is that it is very hard to turn. When you are in a lead phase you need to look through your telescope way ahead of your journey to prepare to turn the ship”

What B2B and B2C can learn from each other

Amanda Barnes, Chief Executive, Faversham House
Brian Morrissey, Founder, The Rebooting
Sean Cornwell, Chief Executive Officer, Immediate Media

Brian Morrissey discussed the emerging trends, technology, and consumer insights shaping our industry. The CEOs then shared their perspective on the rise of specialist interests, the competitive events landscape, the biggest industry threats, and managing talent pipelines in an rapidly-evolving market.

“We’re entering the age of experts. Individuals are beating institutions” – Brian Morrissey

“Your CRM is now more important than your CMS” – Brian Morrissey

“User experience has to be phenomenal. Especially if you’re charging for content” – Sean Cornwell

“We should be allowing people to discover unknowns. People need to be able to wander” – Amanda Barnes

“Scale is brilliant, but it can result in complacency. You can miss sub-communities” – Sean Cornwell

Sean Cornwell on AI: “We use it in everyday workflow, it’s table stakes. But we are also testing new, AI powered user propositions”

“We use generative AI as a search tool within our own archives” – Amanda Barnes

Media matters: politician question time

Christine Jardine, Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West & Cabinet Office Spokesperson
Damian Collins, MP for Folkestone and Hythe
Rachel Blake, Labour Candidate MP for Cities of London & Westminster
Moderated by: Andrea Thompson, Editor-in-Chief, Marie Claire UK

An interesting discussion between representatives from the three main political parties.

Christine Jardine on AI: “It’s not a case of undermining copyright, it’s about making sure that it’s always fit for a purpose and up to date”

“We need to create the same competition provisions that they have in countries like Australia so that there is fair compensation between big platforms and publishers” – Damian Collins

“We have to make sure we don’t allow AI to produce generic copies of published content” – Damian Collins

“We do need a tax regime which encourages people to stay in this country rather than going elsewhere” – Christine Jardine

“Sometimes I don’t think we actually appreciate the amount that the economy gains from a successful arts and creative industry sector. Onward investment in [creative] industries is just as important as that initial injection of funds to set them up. We have to regard creative industries as an industry, not just a luxury” – Christine Jardine

“Platforms are making the equivalent of editorial decisions about what people see. They need to be accountable” – Damian Collins

“We have a league table obsession that has undervalued the value of creative arts” – Christine Jardine

“Pathways out of education into the industry are critical” – Damian Collins

Tackling AI’s gender bias

Eleanor Krivicic, VP and Assistant General Counsel, International Shutterstock
Hannah Williams, Managing Director, Digital Content, Immediate Media
Kendal Parmar, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Untapped AI
Moderated by: Lisa Smosarski, Editorial Director & Board Director, The Stylist Group

In this session, editors, tech pioneers, and entrepreneurs shared examples of the gender biases present in AI, explored the mechanics of how this happens, and discussed how to stop tech from perpetuating and exacerbating stereotypes and discrimination.

“When we think about the bias of AI, you need to first look at the inputs. How did we get here?” – Eleanor Krivicic

“The root to equity in power is who you have, and encourage to have, a seat at the table” – Hannah Williams

“These issues don’t start or end with AI” – Hannah Williams

Adapt and thrive: CEO strategies to lead through change

Katie Vanneck-Smith, Chief Executive Officer, Hearst UK
Philip Swinden, Managing Director, Haymarket
Moderated by: Gideon Spanier, UK Editor-in-Chief, Campaign, Haymarket

This session tackled a number of business issues as Katie Vanneck-Smith and Philip Swinden chatted about if subscriptions have reached their limit, what is next? How to make a media business truly sustainable, a realistic view of the opportunity vs threat of AI, and much more.

“We’ve had to adapt our mindset at pace. Thinking about print and digital is unhelpful because it’s really all about our customer” – Katie Vanneck-Smith

“We’ve reached peak subs around individuals. Our focus is now on organisational subs. Recurring revenue here can be as high as 99%” – Philip Swinden

“Clients are buying content experiences with guaranteed outcomes” – Philip Swinden

“Our job is to make ads a premium part of our products” – Katie Vanneck-Smith

“We describe our known universe as organisations that engage with our products. 96% of that universe is unconverted [into subscribers]” – Philip Swinden

“If change happens to people, it never lands. We have to give our teams the chance to be part of that change” – Katie Vanneck-Smith

“The intellectual property of our brands is our biggest asset. It doesn’t matter whether it’s publishing or not. [For example], a podcast is a type of magazine. Magazines are platform agnostic. It’s how you package things that matter” – Katie Vanneck-Smith

What happened to fun at work?

Clive Hyland, Head of Neuroscience, The Happiness Index
Jessica Barclay, Head of People, Haymarket Media Group
Maliha Shoaib, Reporter, Vogue Business
Moderated by: Bruce Daisley, Sunday Times Bestselling Author of Fortitude & Creator of “Eat Sleep Work Repeat” Podcast

With constant time pressures, the relentless pace of digital transformation, the expectation to achieve more with less resource, and the rapid development of AI many teams are feeling the pressure. According to The Happiness Index, a ‘fun’ workplace leads teams to be more creative, more dedicated, and more likely to deliver outstanding results.

“The science is absolutely clear – happy people are more productive” – Clive Hyland

“Gen Z has grown up in an era of constant crisis creating huge dissolution and lack of agency in fixing situations not of their own making” – Maliha Shoaib

“You don’t have to wait to go home to be human – you should feel safe to bring your authentic self to work” – Clive Hyland

“The best thing a people team can do is empower managers to create fun, inclusive, and connected teams and communities” – Jessica Barclay

“There is a crucial need to listen to younger generations” – Clive Hyland

The Post Office scandal and the power of storytelling

Bryan Glick, Editor-in-Chief, Computer Weekly, TechTarget
Jo Hamilton, Former sub-postmistress, Post Office
Natasha Bondy, Creative Director, Little Gem Media
Moderated by: Tom Loxley, Editorial Director, Radio Times

Computer Weekly’s coverage of the Horizon software scandal shone a light on one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British history, and inspired the drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office. Within a week of the show airing, more than a million people had signed a petition, and the government announced a new law.

This session was a fascinating and moving close to the day. The discussion between some of the people behind the story showcased the power of storytelling to galvanise the public and move those in power to take action.

“We [at Computer Weekly] ran 400 stories about the Post Office Horizon scandal before the TV show aired” – Bryan Glick

“If a number just doubles, it’s obviously a software problem” – Bryan Glick

“We all have that fear of being accused of something we didn’t do. This story has clear goodies and baddies. And lots of surprises” – Natasha Bondy

“Yes, they should face prosecution”– Jo Hamilton

“For my mother who didn’t live to see justice, thank you” – anonymous audience member

A big thank you to our student press team for collating these key takeaways: Sophie Nicholson, Leeds Beckett; Nana Okosi, City, University of London; and Devangi Sharma, City, University of London.