Author: Gareth Jones

Four embossed black and gold foil covers carry the Led Zeppelin logo, along with a design that forms a zeppelin airship.

The four covers feature symbols from Led Zeppelin’s IV album to represent each of the four band members – vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist John Paul Jones and late drummer John Bonham.

The issue includes a 22-page feature on the band, including a world exclusive interview and photo shoot with founding member and band leader Page.

Commenting on the issue, Editor Paul Brannigan said: “We wanted to round off the inaugural year of Planet Rock magazine in a genuinely special manner – and what better way than by paying tribute to the greatest, most iconic hard rock band of them all?

“With Led Zeppelin celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2018 we’re honoured to have a world exclusive interview with their visionary leader Jimmy Page, who sheds light upon both the quartet’s illustrious past and their as-yet-unwritten future. Given Zeppelin’s magical alchemy, it seemed appropriate to salute each of the four band members with their own bespoke cover.”

Planet Rock was launched last May. The latest issue is available to buy from today.

Haymarket’s consumer brands are leaders in their specialist sectors, connecting with millions of affluent consumers. Print remains an important platform for our brands to engage with their communities, but it is just one of a number of brand platforms through which they entertain and inspire. In the round, our consumer brands continue to grow both reach and engagement, as our passionate and loyal specialist audiences trust them to get more from the things they love. Kevin Costello CEO Haymarket

With seven titles in our portfolio showing increases in actively purchased numbers, it is clear to us that the demand for high-quality journalism is still strong, and indeed gets stronger.  It’s encouraging to see such resilience at the top end of the print market, alongside the tremendous growth across digital and social platforms. Albert Read Managing Director Condé Nast Britain

Our trusted print magazines can engage and inspire readers in a way that other media struggles to do. We proudly circulate over four million magazines a month and I’m thrilled to see such a robust set of numbers. We have invested heavily in print and to be rewarded with market leaders in each of our monthly competitive sectors, alongside six period-on-period increases, is a fantastic achievement. We continue to build loyal audiences through paid-for channels and our dynamic approach to distribution, both of which deliver strongly to advertisers. We are experts at curating professionally produced content and remain focused on delivering this wherever our audiences are – in print, digital or at one of our iconic events. James Wildman CEO Hearst Magazines UK

Immediate’s focus on special interest brands and high-quality content continues to pay dividends. Our market-leading print brands continue to perform well and drive revenue growth on the newsstand and in subscriptions. Alongside our growth in print, we are making significant investments in our digital platforms where TV shopping, digital marketplaces, e-commerce, live events and innovative subscription models are transforming our business model as we develop our multi-platform strategy. Immediate now reaches over 22 million consumers a month. Tom Bureau CEO Immediate Media Co.

Bauer Media retains its leading position in the highly competitive TV Listings and True Life markets. We’re extremely proud of our performance this period – TV Choice is the only magazine in the UK to sell over one million copies a week and Take a Break’s monthly companion magazine has seen an impressive 25% YOY uplift. We’ve also seen continuing success for our specialist magazines, particularly our gardening titles Garden News and Garden Answers, while Practical Photography is the fastest-growing monthly magazine in the UK. These standout performances demonstrate how magazines play a critical role in the lives of our readers, creating meaningful connections in a truly trusted environment. Our world class editorial teams are tireless in ensuring that they have a deep understanding of their audiences, both through insight and instinct. This enables us to deliver content that has a strong cultural impact whatever the passion area and brings readers back every week or month. Rob Munro-Hall Group Managing Director Bauer Magazine Media UK

Our brands have an enduring ability to connect with their audiences in print. We remain focused on evolving this hugely important part of our business, where we continue to deliver a trusted environment and effective platform for our advertising partners to target engaged readers.  At the same time, 2017 saw traffic to our sites grow by 29% on the year and we also saw growth in our digital advertising revenues. We’ve continued to grow our events portfolio and affiliate revenues and have seen early success in our TV production arm. As we continue to transform our business, our focus for 2018 remains on creating quality content and experiences that entertain and connect people to their passions. Marcus Rich CEO Time Inc. UK

I’m pleased to see continued print and digital growth in the Dennis Current Affairs portfolio. The Week continues to dominate the current affairs marketplace with its ever increasing portfolio of brands. The Week Junior has shown extraordinary growth since launch with a 48,015 ABC. Its rise, almost all subscription driven, is truly remarkable. MoneyWeek has proved a perfect addition to the growing current affairs portfolio – and these circulation increases further cement Dennis as the leader in the sector. James Tye CEO Dennis Publishing   The latest ABC figure [an increase in The Big Issue sales for the third year in a row] is testament to the hard work of our talented and award-winning editorial team who produce a great read, week in, week out. However, it’s also reflective of the difficulties and challenges that befall an increasing number in our society. The Big Issue is here to meet that need, both by providing anyone who needs it with the opportunity to earn an income – and also by using our distinctive editorial voice and campaigning agenda to push for positive change. Russell Blackman Managing Director of Publishing & Business Development The Big Issue

The specialist children’s magazine publisher was recognised for the magazines it produces, with the support of Hasbro’s Publishing, Consumer Products and Brand Teams.

“It’s absolutely fantastic to see the hard work, skills and passion of the Signature team recognised in this way and against such esteemed competition,” Signature’s Managing Director Danny Morris commented on the win.

“It’s an absolute privilege to work with such amazing brands, where the incredibly rich backstory, breadth and depth of assets, are so perfect for producing fun, informative content, which, along with the storytelling, helps fire the imaginations of existing and new fans of the brands. I must thank everyone at Hasbro for their considerable help and support and for voting for us.”

Over 120 partners attended the event.

Signature publishes six Hasbro magazines under license in the UK, including: My Little Pony, My Little Pony Equestria Girls, Littlest Pet Shop, Transformers, Transformers Rescue Bots and Hanazuki.

The deal is part of Hearst UK’s strategic commitment to grow and diversify revenues.

Hearst Live delivers over 100 events a year and continues to grow, with the Hearst Live team increasing in size by 30%. Last year, Hearst Live launched Bazaar at Work in November and has plans to launch the first Big Book Festival.

Commenting on the acquisition, Victoria Archbold (pictured), Managing Director of Events and Sponsorship at Hearst Live, said: “This deal plays to the strengths of our brands and is a perfect fit for our publishing and events business. We are seeing unprecedented growth in experiential events – our attendance levels doubled last year, primarily because our consumers are so engaged in our brands and those we choose to work with.

“From a commercial perspective, we have created successful collaborations with a number of like-minded brands that have delivered a great return on investment. Expanding our events portfolio will enable us to create more of these brand partnership platforms.”

Ruth Carter, Managing Director of Telegraph Events, said: “Events form a key part of our new long-term strategy, with the focus of our events being on quality journalism and our diversified revenue streams, namely Travel and Financial Solutions.

“We thank the talented teams behind Be:FIT and Salon QP for their hard work and dedication and wish Hearst UK the best in continuing the success of both brands.”

Trust in journalists in the UK has increased 13 points from 19% to 32%, the annual global study found.

The credibility of journalists is rising worldwide and higher levels of trust are being placed in them over social media platforms, with credibility of “ a person like yourself” – a peer posting on social media, for example – drastically falling.

Trust in social media platforms and search engines has declined to 24%.

“In a world where facts are under siege, credentialed sources are proving more important than ever,” said Stephen Kehoe, Edelman’s Global Chair of Reputation. “There are credibility problems for both platforms and sources. People’s trust in them is collapsing, leaving a vacuum and an opportunity for bona fide experts to fill.”

Young people aged 16 to 18 are turning away from social media, especially Facebook. Thirty-three per cent use Facebook less than they did a year ago and 11% quit Facebook in the past year.

Of those surveyed, 70% of people think social media companies do not do enough to prevent illegal or unethical behaviours on their platforms, 63% per cent think they lack transparency and 62% per cent think they’re selling people’s data without their knowledge.

Other findings from the report showed that almost seven in 10 respondents worry about fake news and false information being used as a weapon. When browsing social media, 53% of people are concerned about being exposed to fake news, and 64% are unable to differentiate quality journalism from fake news.

“Silence is a tax on the truth,” Richard Edelman, President and CEO of Edelman, weighed in. “Trust is only going to be regained when the truth moves back to centre stage. Institutions must answer the public’s call for providing factually accurate, timely information and joining the public debate.

“Media cannot do it alone because of political and financial constraints. Every institution must contribute to the education of the populace.”

Despite these positive results, media was reported as the least-trusted institution for the first time since the Trust Barometer’s inception in 2001. This seemingly contradictory finding is due to what respondents viewed as the media, with some crediting social media (48%) and search engines (25%) in the category, alongside journalism (89%).

In the face of these figures, the media needs to instil the public with confidence and continue to rebuild broken trust – but it is more than up for the challenge.

The Edelman Trust Barometer is the firm’s annual trust and credibility survey. Originally, it measured responses from 1,300 people across five countries. Now, it is a globally recognised measure of trust.

This is the second licence for the title since its launch in July 2017. The all-new quarterly title is dedicated exclusively to Ferrari, launched with licensing partner NG Presse.

Enzo features all things Ferrari, including road cars and race cars – past and present – and the designers, engineers and drivers involved with the Italian sports car manufacturer.

Carlotta Serantoni, Senior Licensing Manager at Dennis, said: “Ferrari is the world’s most powerful, luxury motoring marque, and a brand which consistently maintains positive consumer perceptions and high sales.

“The classic Ferrari market has continued to grow and flourish, and we are therefore confident that there is a gap in the market for such a high-end, beautifully produced magazine. In the spirit of this continued growth, we are delighted to have partnered with NG Presse to launch in France.”

Each issue of the magazine contains road tests of the latest models, drive stories, track tests of iconic racers, tales from the past and interviews with the leading figures in the Ferrari community.

Nicolas Gourdol, Director of NG Presse, said: “We are very pleased to partner with Dennis Publishing to launch the first Ferrari magazine in the French market. Including entertaining and informative features about cars, history and technological innovation, it will be a huge success with our French readers.”

NG Presse publishes evo, Octane France and Motorsport magazine. The launch of Enzo will further expand its presence in the supercar market.

Enzo France will also be on sale in Belgium, Switzerland and Luxembourg.

The issue launches on April 30 with 132 pages, a cover price of €7.90 and a print run of 30,000 copies.

This new edition coincides with Dennis’s launch of Enzo Thailand in November 2017.

Inside the issue, photographers including Chris Floyd, Perou, Scarlet Page, Rachael Wright, Austin Hargrave and Andrew Cotterill reveal the secret histories to some of rock’s most evocative photography, providing insight into the artists and the art of rock photography.

Artists featured include David Bowie, Radiohead, Jay-Z, Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, Björk, Oasis and Amy Winehouse, just to name a few.

The issue will contain four pages of interviews with legendary rock photographers Pennie Smith, Kevin Cummins, Tom Sheehan, Jill Furmanovsky and Ross Halfin, covering their lives in photography, and a Q&A with Terry O’Neill.

Commenting on the issue, Q Editor Ted Kessler said: “This month, we asked many of rock’s greatest photographers to tell the secret histories behind some of their most evocative shots. The self-deprecating, often indiscreet back stories to these photos of iconic musicians at work, rest and play add both revealing and comic shade to their moodiness. To help focus the choice, we limited the gallery to shots taken since Q’s launch in 1986.

“Additionally, we picked five photographers (Smith, Cummins, Sheehan, Furmanovsky and Halfin) whose work is so distinctive, and library so large, that they themselves became the story behind the photos. This month’s issue has been a particular joy to edit, a symphony of pictures and words.”

This month’s issue hits newsstands on February 13, with two collectable art prints featuring David Bowie and The Stone Roses available.

The prestigious recognition acknowledges the best covers worldwide. Media 10’s Icon is placed alongside titles including Vogue, The New Yorker and Forbes.

Icon’s Editor James McLachlan explained that the inspiration for the cover came from V&A Director Martin Roth’s final exhibition, Driven by German Design. It was held in Doha as part of the Qatar Germany Year of Culture, which “is perhaps the most significant display of modern German design ever assembled”, said McLachlan.

Icon’s Art Director Carlo Apostoli, Designer Morwena Smith and Photographer Felicity McCabe used a Dieter Rams-designed TP20 Radio for Braun as a symbol of German design prowess.

Rams is a German industrial designer who designed Braun's consumer products for many years.

McLachlan said, “The object is totemic, almost architectural in its appearance, but overlaid with the red, black and gold of the German flag.” Dark sand was then used to distort the black element of the flag.

The editorial concept and execution won the recognition of the SPD. Based in New York, the SPD is a global authority in promoting and encouraging excellence in editorial design.

“Often, the challenge we face on Icon is to convey complex ideas in a simple and eye-catching way. Here we achieved this by taking a very well-known Dieter Rams product and using it to construct a Bauhaus-inspired abstract art piece.

“It was a painstaking shoot with many permutations, but we really cracked it when we introduced the dark sand, which was not part of our original material palette. Carlo and I are delighted with the result," concluded McLachlan.

In 2017, Icon won global recognition from Coverjunkie with its Milano cover, illustrating IKEA’s presence at Salone Del Mobile, the Milan Furniture Fair, with an array of IKEA pencils.

Media 10 is an independent media and events company. It owns and runs events in the UK, China and South Africa, including the Ideal Home Show, Clerkenwell Design Week, Grand Designs Live and This Morning Live, as well as publications, including onoffice, Good Homes and Grand Designs magazines.

Jacquie Euwe (pictured left), Managing Director, Luxury, will add publisher responsibilities for Harper’s Bazaar and Town & Country to her Luxury sector remit in order to further drive the commercial development of Hearst’s leading brands in this genre.

Jacqui Cave, Managing Director, Beauty, will take on publisher responsibilities for Hearst’s leading beauty brands, ELLE and Cosmopolitan, with the remit to support these editorial teams. This is in addition to her role of driving effective commercial synergies for beauty advertisers across all of Hearst’s media brands.

Alun Williams, Managing Director, Health and Fitness, will take on additional publisher responsibilities for Esquire, supporting the Health and Men’s Lifestyle editorial teams and facilitating more integrated commercial opportunities.

They will report to Hearst UK’s CEO, James Wildman. The changes will become effective in March when Duncan Chater, Chief Brand Officer, joins Hearst Magazines Digital Media as Global Vice President.

Alun Williams

Commenting on the changes, Wildman said: “We are confident these organisational changes will deliver increased benefit generally and, in Jacquie, Alun and Jacqui, we have three of the very best publishers in the business to drive our multiple and extraordinary Luxury, Beauty and Health brands for our commercial partners.”

Jacqui Cave

Nicki Shields, FIA Formula E and pit-lane presenter, hosted the event, which awarded accolades in 13 categories.

The winners were as follows:

BEST INTERIOR (AND POSSIBLY EXTERIOR)

Bentley Continental GT

“Bentley’s challenge was to locate the sweet spot where high-tech intersects with fabulous luxury. Challenge met: the leather that swathes so much of the GT’s cabin has 310,675 stitches…Bentley has created a stunning environment.”

BEST SUPERNATURAL DRIVING EXPERIENCE

Rolls-Royce Phantom

“Rolls-Royce’s millennial reboot, the company airily declared back in 2003, was ‘the last great automotive adventure’. The all-new Phantom doubles down on that and then some – simply put, this beautiful machine does nothing less than reinvent the concept of car travel.”

BEST FLIGHTLESS PRIVATE JET

Marchi Mobile Elemment

“What do you get if you cross the design features and aerodynamics of a racing car, the opulence and comfort of a superyacht and the aeronautical beauty of a luxury aircraft? The answer will probably be the Marchi Mobile’s stunning Elemment range.”

THE TAKING THE LIMO TO THE NEXT LEVEL AWARD

Audi A8

“Not only is the A8 a luxury technological marvel, it’s also the first production car to feature ‘Level 3’ autonomy, which means it can take over the driving duties up to 37mph.”

THE CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN IN LUXURY AWARD

Range Rover Velar

“That it can cruise effortlessly through any urban landscape is a given, but when called upon, it can also conquer where mountain goats fear to tread. We love the new Velar. There, we said it.”

BEST WAY TO MAKE THE JUMP TO LIGHT SPEED (AND STOP JUST AS QUICKLY)

Bugatti Chiron

“When Andy Wallace, Bugatti’s chief test driver, told GQ that, ‘It really comes alive above 150mph,’ we wondered how many clients had their own private runway to test that. Paradoxically, the Chiron is so magnificently designed, engineered and made that it’s just as impressive at 0mph.”

THE TECHNOLOGICAL HEDONISM AWARD

McLaren 570S Spider

“The 570S Spider nails one simple but surprisingly elusive thing: that the nanosecond you climb out of the car, you want to get straight back in and do whatever you were doing all over again.”

THE MOST SUPER SUPERFAST SUPERCAR AWARD

Ferrari 812 Superfast

“There are no turbos here to interrupt the combustion process and the 812’s 6.5-litre engine, even from these Italian legends, really is a masterpiece.”

BEST USE OF ELECTRICITY SINCE THE LIGHTBULB

Jaguar E-Type Zero

“The E-Type is not only gorgeous to look at, but also good for the planet, after being retro-fitted with a zero-emissions, all-electric powertrain.”

THE VISION OF THE FUTURE AWARD

Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6 Cabriolet

“This all-electric, hyper-modern and stunning concept car not only shows design at its most ambitious, but also that it can be purposefully playful, with the interior featuring a pulsating, fibre-cabled ‘flux capacitor.’”

THE SCREAM IF YOU WANT TO GO FASTER AWARD

Volkswagen Up! GTI

“VW’s tiny city car was designed by the man now in charge of colouring-in at Ferrari and its transition from spirited to sportiness is deftly managed. The Up! is almost Apple-like in its minimalist surfacing and detail.”

LIFE AND SEOUL OF THE PARTY AWARD

Hyundai i30N

“This ferociously fun five-door rocket ship has been developed on the Namyang proving ground and the Nürburgring Nordschleife and, as a result, is giving the Focus RS, the Golf GTI and the Honda Civic Type-R a serious run for their money.”

BEST CUSTOM MOTORBIKE WE BUILT (OK, COMMISSIONED) OURSELVES

The GQ-Barbour International Triumph Thruxton R by Untitled Motorcycles

“The big question on GQ’s mind was: how do we decide on the best motorcycle of the year? Then we had an idea: why not build our own? A collaboration was born between GQ, Barbour International and Triumph Motorcycles. With the GQ man in mind, we wanted style, sophistication and a hint of rebellion in our bike design. But, of course, we couldn’t do that ourselves, so we gave the job to custom bike builder Adam Kay, the man behind Hampstead-based Untitled Motorcycles.”

Dylan Jones, Editor of British GQ, commented: “People in the car industry kept telling me that they found car awards boring – long, tedious, uninspiring. So, we thought we’d have a crack at producing one that wasn’t any of those things at all.

We’ve been running our car awards in GQ for over a decade, both in the magazine and online, with reviews, pictures, video, and scintillating text. This year we moved to a physical event and we are all very excited about it. Let’s hope no one thought it was boring, long, tedious or uninspiring.”

The winners of the GQ Car Awards 2018 were decided by the editorial team of British GQ. See the full feature, shot in the old printworks in London’s Wapping, in the March issue of British GQ, on sale February 8.