This session, from the 2025 PPA Independent Publisher Conference, offered practical lessons on technology to shift from reactive selling to proactively creating opportunities.

Speakers

• Charlotte Foord, Head of Commercial Partnerships, Future
• Julian Lloyd Evans, Chair, Engage Media Group
• Tom Gunter, Co-founder, Avid Collective
• Paul Phelps, Chief Executive, AMS Group

Listen to the audio from the session, and read the key takeaways below

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Key takeaways

Storytelling demands the right media partners
When brands want audiences to engage emotionally and take meaningful action, they need media partners capable of delivering depth and creativity. Partnerships that incorporate storytelling, not just reach, are becoming essential, and agencies are actively seeking genuinely innovative, ideas-led solutions.

Creative partnerships unlock unique possibilities
There is a power of creative collaborations, especially when working with niche or mission-driven media brands. Partnerships can go far beyond traditional advertising, and in the case of The Big Issue, strategic collaborations have the potential to genuinely change lives as well as deliver brand outcomes.

Niche at scale is a strategic advantage
Foord explained how Future operates as a “scale play made up of niche brands”, giving them the ability to reach highly targeted audiences at volume. With a new centralised partnerships team, they can now Independent Publisher Conference 2025 bring multiple specialist brands together under one unified approach, ensuring campaigns are led by audience insight and aligned across the portfolio.

Audience-led planning is reshaping commercial strategy
Across the panel, there was clear agreement that audience understanding now sits at the centre
of modern partnerships. Publishers who organise around audience needs, rather than channel or product, can deliver richer, more coherent, multi brand solutions that outperform siloed activations.

Collaboration across the sector can drive bigger outcomes
There is plenty of opportunity for publishers to think collectively. When media owners work together, they can offer agencies and clients greater scale, more joined-up storytelling, and bigger creative opportunities – the kind that individual brands may not achieve alone.