BCP 2014: Corporate publishing on the rise

"The more paid, owned and earned media grow together, the more content agencies can set the tone as to which content is played out via which channels at which touchpoints with customers, users and readers," Siefke continues. In content marketing and corporate publishing, content takes the lead! Together with its media partners acquisa, Horizont, w&v and werbewoche, Forum Corporate Publishing welcomed more than 700 guests to the BCP Congress and the subsequent awards ceremony.

The industry event of the year was entitled "Content counts" and brought together CP experts from Germany, Sweden, the UK and the Netherlands. Success factors for corporate media, the future of mobile content and other national and international CP topics were discussed.

One of this year's congress highlights was the presentation by Handelsblatt publisher Gabor Steingart, who explained the challenges and opportunities for publishers in the digital age. In his presentation, Christian Rätsch, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi, emphasized the rapidly growing importance of mobile media for individuals and society. In order for companies to be the decisive step ahead of their target group, they must strategically accompany this development from the very beginning. From product development to sales, marketing and service: "Companies need a digitizer."

Clemens Koob presented the results of the new baseline study at the BCP Congress. Koob summarized the topic "Print, online, mobile - CP in a new dimension" as follows: "Information and entertainment, snacks and background information - our thirst for content is immense. Stories that inspire, answer questions and solve problems are therefore the key to the hearts and minds of customers and employees. The new baseline study shows how companies use this 'content power'."

Baseline study

Winners of the BCP Awards

Following the congress, the coveted BCP Awards were presented in front of around 680 guests. A total of 47 gold award winners were selected from over 700 publications submitted for the BCP 2014. "The importance and growth potential of CP media remains high," says Michael Höflich, Managing Director of Forum Corporate Publishing (FCP). "With its nominees and award winners, the BCP confirms what our baseline study empirically proves: That content-driven corporate communication is on a par with other marketing disciplines."

The coveted BCP Awards in cube design were presented in 28 categories and four times as a special prize. Main sponsor Steinbeis Papier honored publications with a high sustainability factor with the "Green Publishing" award, the printing company Laserline from Berlin awarded CP media with outstanding print finishing and print processing with the special prize "Print & Innovation", the "International Communication" prize for international communication concepts and the best CP cover with the "Cover of the Year" award were also presented.

The 150-strong BCP jury was impressed by the variety of media submitted. With over 700 publications, a record number of entries was achieved this year. In particular, there has been a strong increase in submissions for the special prizes "Green Publishing" and "Print and Innovation". "Many companies have now internalized that sustainability is one of the most important success factors, that they must face up to their responsibility towards the environment and society and communicate this transparently. This strategic approach is also increasingly being practiced in the implementation of corporate publications," says Michael Höflich.

All nominated publications, gold award winners and photos of the congress and the award ceremony are available at Bcp-award.com.

Reinforcement for the FCP Board

At the general meeting of the Forum Corporate Publishing, the board was confirmed in office. Andreas Siefke, Managing Director of Bissinger, remains Chairman of the FCP. In addition to the chairmanship, six other positions were awarded in the scheduled elections: Christian Fill (Managing Director of Burda Creative Group) was re-elected as Deputy Chairman. Ralf Ansorge (Managing Director Profilwerkstatt) retains his position as the third member of the Board of Directors. Olaf Wolff (Managing Director Publicis) was confirmed as divisional board member for "Generic Marketing". Holger König (Managing Director Koenigsfilm) is a new addition and will be the divisional director for "Moving Image" in future.

There are personnel changes in Switzerland and Austria, as both boards did not stand for re-election after two terms. Viviane Egli (Managing Director Primafila) replaces Urs Arnold as the Swiss country representative. In Austria, Christine Starmühler (Managing Director of Starmühler Werbeagentur & Verlag) is taking over from Klaus Lerch.