Held at Manchester’s People’s History Museum on 3 October 2017, Newsworks’ fourth Shift North conference was focused on the evolution of newsbrands and included sessions with the Guardian’s Chris Moran, The Sun’s Sophie Tighe and The Telegraph’s Cat Wildman.
The morning opened with the Guardian’s editor of strategic projects Chris Moran giving delegates a live demonstration of the title’s data analytics tool, Ophan. Using breaking news stories, he showed how data informs key editorial decisions – from which stories to push out to what languages it should be produced in.
Next up, The Sun’s Snapchat editor Sophie Tighe took to the stage to share how the newsbrand is using the platform to reinvent The Sun brand for a younger, previously untapped audience. Along with celebrity and entertainment news, Tighe also demonstrated how the title is engaging young people with more serious messages on Snapchat, such as equipping them with the knowledge they wanted to vote in this year’s general election.
The Telegraph’s director of product Cat Wildman followed, giving the audience an insight into how a modern newsbrand operates across a diverse plethora of platforms. Spanning podcasts to Instagram to events, Wildman showed how The Telegraph maintains its brand voice across the board to engage readers.
A research update followed, with Newsworks’ insight director Denise Turner giving a run-down of Newsworks’ latest research ‘Getting closer to the Great British public’, produced with Flamingo and Tapestry.
Finally, Bountiful Cow’s founder Henry Daglish wrapped up the morning with a session in which he gave a frank view from a start-up. With his agency almost a year old, Daglish shared his thoughts on the modern media landscape and newsbrands’ role within that mix, as well as an insight into how Bountiful Cow operates.
