Here’s to the next Quarter Century

So that was 2013 that was. As we set sail into a shiny new year, we thought we’d have a last look at the one just departed.

Like life itself, the past 12 months has had its ups and downs. We started on a high on January 1^st when CW celebrated exactly 25 years in business.

It certainly doesn’t seem a quarter of a century ago since my ex-boss from Cadbury, Harry Witcherley, and I rented two rooms above a Building Society in south Birmingham and launched CW Publications onto an unsuspecting corporate world.

Back then it was all about printed publications and although print still has a significant role to play in both internal and marketing communications, these days it’s just one tool in a dazzling array of channels available to us and our clients.

Sadly my old business partner and CW co-founder Harry passed away in February having enjoyed a fair innings of 83 years, and I was privileged to be asked by his family to share my memories of him at his funeral service. Harry was a dear friend and a true gentleman in every sense. We all miss him.

But life goes on and a great diversity of work projects kept us busy.

Probably our biggest challenge was rebranding one of the leading mental health charities in the West Midlands following its disaffiliation from Mind in April. The project, for newly named Kaleidoscope Plus Group, involved careful handling to ensure total buy-in from all stakeholders and we – and more importantly the client – were delighted with outcome. Read all about it.

We continued editing and designing First Voice, the magazine for 180,000 members of the Federation of Small Businesses. In addition to the regular issues, in March we were also asked to produce the special conference edition of the mag, turning it round within the tightest of deadlines….it was just like working on daily newspapers again!

We also launched an online-only, paperless news portal for employees of Leica Microsystems across Europe who access it via their company-issued iPads and laptops.

And in another sign of the times we produced our very last edition of The Kennel Gazette, the Kennel Club’s magazine which ceased publication after 133 years in December to be replaced by an online version, The Kennel Club Journal.

What hasn’t changed over the past 25 years, and in fact has grown in importance and relevance in the digital age, is the value of quality, original content.

Whether it’s for print, websites, blogs or social media, without great content you’ll struggle to tell your story effectively. And stories will help sell your brand, product or service.

So if one of your new year resolutions is to boost your content marketing activity, do get in touch. We’d love your business story to be one of our success stories for 2014.