Introduction

James Hewes, FIPP President & CEO

Hello everyone and welcome to this year’s edition of the Innovation in Media World Report. One of the challenges of producing an annual report on innovation is to ensure that you are reflecting what you’re writing about — in this case by ensuring that the report is itself innovative. We’ve therefore decided to completely overhaul the approach to the book for this year. To start with, you will notice our fabulous new design, which is intended to make the sections punchier and easier to read. Our designer, Vasco Ferreira, has done a fantastic job and I think the report has never looked better. Our approach to covering innovation is completely different this year too. Rather than dive straight into business models, the report opens with the one area that we always say is the most important but very often omit to cover – people. The front section of the book is all about how to recruit and retain the best talent, looking at the innovative ways in which our industry is managing its people. But this section also comes with a call to action, in that we need to recognise that there’s an awful lot more that we need to do here. The sub-heading of this chapter — ‘You’re probably doing it all, or much of it, wrong’ — is unfortunately true for many of us.

The fifth chapter of the report challenges us to stop slacking on one of the crucial areas of importance to our industry and to society — sustainability. While we were able to find a number of examples of genuinely good innovation, it is clear that there’s still a very long way to go. I would like to issue a challenge to all of us to use the next year to put this area at the heart of our industry.

These two sections bookend our usual look at the proliferation of business models from our industry. Efforts to diversify revenue streams continue to produce new and interesting ideas, many of which are showcased here. There’s a deep dive on one of the hottest topics at the moment, podcasting, where our handy ‘how to’ approach will help you make the most of this area.

And of course it wouldn’t be the Innovation Report if we didn’t close the book with our regular look at all things new in print. Almost 600 years after the invention of the printing press, we continue to find ways to innovate in this medium. Some of this year’s discoveries have to be seen to be believed.

The Innovation Report is FIPP’s flagship publication and, as we continue our journey towards being an organisation for all creators of professional, highquality content, regardless of medium, an indispensable resource for anyone seeking to understand the latest trends in our industry.

A big thank you to our Editors John Wilpers and Juan Senor at Innovation Media, as ever they’ve done a fantastic job. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have.