News

Kylie Davis, who ensures that the editorial and advertising departments of the Sydney Morning Herald work together to produce lucrative new print publications for special clients ­ without compromising editorial integrity ­ has joined the programme of the World Association of Newspapers new Power of Print Conference, to be held on 27 and 28 May in Barcelona, Spain.



Ms Davis, the Managing Editor for Editorial Business Development and Strategic Publishing for the Herald and the Sun-Herald, oversees a project that has brought in close to $5 million Australian (2.54 million Euros) of new revenue in under 12 months.



Far from being standard "advertorials" or special reports, the new print products are high quality, customised publications that are charged at a premium - DriveLife, a motoring lifestyle section targeted at women and new readers; Wow! Queensland, custom published glossy magazines; and tourism and back to school magazines, among others.



Ms Davis says that customised editorial products are needed in today's market, and she will explain the editorial issues, how they were resolved, and the results, during a conference session on new product development.



Although digital innovation is a primary area of newspaper industry development, print and advertising continue to fund these new ventures, as well as being the profit centres for the vast majority of newspaper companies, even in these tough times.



WAN created the new “Power of Print” Conference and Expo, to be held on 27 and 28 May, to acknowledge this reality, and coupled it with the annual World Newspaper Advertising Conference and Expo, to be held on the 28 and 29 May in the same venue. The two events will showcase the best examples of revenue generating and cost-saving innovations at newspaper companies today.



Full details of the Power of Print Conference can be found at

http://www.wan-press.org/powerofprint2009/home.php , while the Advertising

Conference details can be found at

http://www.wan-press.org/advertising2009/home.php



Highlights from the Power of Print conference include:



- ³The facts about newspapers, profitable print trends,² a keynote speech by

Gavin O'Reilly, Chief Operating Officer, Independent News & Media Plc & the

President of WAN.



- The results of a major new research project undertaken by

PricewaterhouseCoopers, in cooperation with WAN, that examines how newspaper

publishers react to changing consumer behaviour. The project, which will be

presented by Marieke van der Donk, Senior Manager for Entertainment & Media

at PwC, is based on surveys of consumers, publishers and advertisers,

enriched by industry and company reports, analyst reviews and PwC expertise.



- A session that will examine three opportunities that can add more than a

million dollars to the bottom line: exploiting new digital printing methods;

developing new products and new revenue from capital equipment; and

utilizing distribution networks to deliver new, targeted, high yield

products.