In his final INMA column of the year, Newsworks communications manager Lewis Boulton explores how this year’s Newsworks Awards saw innovation emerge as a key theme throughout the winning entries
I have a slightly awkward confession to make — one that I’m hoping I can invoke a bit of Christmas spirit to earn back your forgiveness. Promise you’ll forgive me? Here goes.
When I started out in the media industry, the word ‘innovation’ used to give me the ick. Yes, I know this column is called ‘Print Innovations’. It’s not ideal.
Young me felt like he had a good reason. I used to think that, given news brands have been online for more than three decades (just before I had even been born), emphasising their ‘digitalness’ was like a fish bragging about being able to swim.
I’d never truly known a world when news brands didn’t have podcasts, YouTube channels, or social media. It felt a little strange to be celebrating something which, for me, had been a fact of life ever since news had come on my radar.
As I progressed and got to know the industry and, particularly, the pace at which all media is expected to develop in this hyper-competitive, lightning-paced technological age, it became abundantly clear why demonstrating news brands’ laser focus on their editorial and commercial future was so important. And yet, because I was spoiled by news brands’ multi-platform nature since childhood, I’d never really clicked with the subject.
That’s what made the Newsworks Awards such an eye-opener for me this year.
I’m always enchanted by our annual awards: I love seeing how news brands’ enduring strengths like reach, timeliness, and storytelling prowess are pushed to the max year in, year out. However, this year, it was innovation that truly shone more than ever.
We saw how advertisers increasingly harness news brands’ wide-reaching portfolio of formats not only to reach all sorts of audiences but because they value news brands’ voice on those platforms. We saw brilliant innovations away from the creative, with data teams showing how ever deeper insights can capture that winning advantage when it comes to ROI. Plus, we saw how one agency used innovation not only to super-charge its clients’ campaigns, but to benefit the wider news and advertising industries.
See what Lewis chose to highlight in his full INMA column.
