Shift London 2017 in review

​Newsworks, the trade body responsible for promoting UK newsbrands, hosted its fifth annual ‘Shift’ conference in London on 1st March 2017.

The conference provided an insight into the latest thinking and trends for the national newspaper industry, and saw marketers, planners, strategists and publishers come together for a morning of stimulating debate, inspiration and provocation on politics, marketing and newsbrands.

Professor Patrick Barwise tackled the big questions facing the industry, and first discussed recent issues, specifically ad fraud and viewability. According to a study that he quoted, media as a category in which advertising is included, is now less trusted by consumers than banking. Patrick also spoke about the importance of not getting caught up in ‘short-termism’ and working with brands on their long term brand equity.

This was echoed by Katrina Lowes, Head of Marketing for Vodafone Global Enterprise, who stated the importance of reporting the truth and said the greatest part of newsbrands was that they had context and could bring a story to life. Katrina also pulled out some fantastic stats, stating that newsbrands reach an impressive 96% of millennials, who spend on average, an hour consuming news content.

The ‘real truth’ and fake news were key themes occurring throughout the event, which is not necessarily a bad thing for newsbrands as Isabel Oakenshott advised. As the barrage of fake news sites increase, readers are more likely to visit trusted news site for the real news, she discussed.

Sam Wise, Head of Planning at Saatchi and Saatchi, praised newsbrands in four main areas: unparalleled societal relevance, honed storytelling and craft skills, insane levels of ingrained trust and unique ability to sniff out the interesting.

The Guardian’s John Harris and John Domokos discussed what they’ve learnt about politics and journalism by stepping outside of London’s bubble. The pair talked about how video has not just brought stories alive, it has made us go out and have real encounters, and how they believe that the underlying disaffection with politics and power is not going away.

Related articles

Sign up to our newsletter

Oops! We could not locate your form.