Lloyd’s Register & Building Blocks Digital Publishing Case Study 8th May 2014

Building Blocks

Introductions ""

Background

Wez Blake Brand Manager, Lloyd’s Register

Jonathan Whiteside Principal Consultant, Building Blocks

Lloyd’s Register (LR) ""

Background

§  Global engineering, technical and business services

§  Founded in 1760 as a marine classification society

§  9,000 employees based in 78 countries

§  £1bn in annual revenue

§  Working together for a safer world

§  Innovation at the heart of what LR do

§  Owned by Lloyd's Register Foundation, a UK Charity

Insight Magazine ""

Background

§  Periodical published by LR

§  Print based magazine

§  For business leaders and industry experts

§  Trends, opinions and thought leadership

§  Distributed globally

Digital First ""

Background

§  Lloyd’s Register aiming for Digital First

§  Faster time to market

§  Reduced costs (especially print related)

§  Demonstrate innovation

§  Taking publications digital a key goal

§  Bring essential, but sometimes flat, subjects to life

Making Insight Magazine Digital

What was the solution?"

What it needed to do""

Solution

§  Magazine in digital format

§  Add convenience for key audience

§  Bring the print version to life

§  Automatically distribute to subscribers

§  Utilise investments made in digital by LR

§  Not require dedicated resource

§  Demonstrate innovation

Work offline"

Hybrid mobile app""

Solution

Power of a native mobile app §  Rich, fast, smooth and stable §  Installed on audience’s mobile device Flexibility of HTML5 §  Allow for interactivity, readability, accessibility,

searchability, personalization and fast downloads §  Reuse content across channels

News edition features"

Analytics

Automatic & regular content updates

Basic page builds and animation

Customise and branded iOS / Android app

CMS connector

Social & video integration

Link to live content

Reduce costs"No print and distribution overheads.

Push updates"Audience subscribe and automatically receive new editions.

Existing skills"New issues only require content editor, HTML5, CSS 3 and JavaScript.

Perceived benefits""

Solution

Content reuse"Reuse and repurpose content created for other channels.

Rich media"Embed audio, video and interactive features to bring content to life.

Analytics"Capture insights through app usage stats.

Perceived benefits""

Solution

Subscriptions"Generate revenue streams from subscriptions.

Reinforce brand"Supports brand values of technological innovation.

Personalisation"Deliver personalised editions to each subscriber.

Perceived benefits""

Solution

Used existing framework""

Solution

§  Chose PugPig framework (commercial)

§  Everything required for a basic digital publication

§  iOS and Android (now Win 8 and Blackberry too)

§  Documentation on how to customise

§  Access to CMS connectors

Which mobile platforms?""

Solution

§  Corporate IT standardising on Android tablets

§  Board members use iPads

§  Web analytics show Android is surprisingly high

§  So both iOS and Android

§  Windows 8 and Blackberry not used

Insight magazine - iPad"Solution

Insight magazine - iPad"Solution

Insight magazine - iPad"Solution

Insight magazine - iPad""

Solution

Insight magazine - iPad""

Solution

Insight magazine - iPad""

Solution

Insight magazine - iPad""

Solution

Making Insight Magazine Digital

How does it work?"

Process?""

Solution

1. Download and install App

2. Publish new editions to server

3. App checks for new editions and prompts to

download

1. Setup"App customisation, CMS templates and CMS connectors.

2. Publishing"The process of creating a new edition and publishing to newsstand.

3. Consuming"How the end users install the app and get new editions of the publication

Effort?""

Solution

1. Setup""

Solution

Cutomise the App §  Add branding, logos and new features

§  Configure subscription locations

§  Submit to app store(s)

Create CMS templates §  Create a new setup of responsive HTML5 templates

§  Optimised for magazine layouts

Implement CMS connector •  Workflow for publishing and packaging

2. Publishing""

Solution

Create pages in CMS §  Create or reuse content in CMS

§  Upload images and multimedia assets

§  Apply new magazine templates

§  Preview and test with “staging” app

§  Publish and package the edition

3. Consuming""

Solution

Download the App from App Store §  Locate and install app

§  Open insight app in Newsstand

§  Read latest editions and download previous editions

§  Wait for notification of new editions

Making Insight Magazine Digital

What did we learn?"

Learnings"What did we learn?

ü  Little on-going technical effort

ü  Publishing requires no platform knowledge

ü  Subscription process works

ü  Integrates well with CMS

ü  Experience is well suited for tablets

ü  Share content across web and app

Good" To watch out for"

x  Responsive HTML templates take time – particularly for Android

x  iOS is smooth – Android is clunky

x  Interactive elements require planning and dedicated effort

x  Newsstand Apps don’t promote themselves

x  App store process for iOS

Use cases"

§  Magazines

§  Newsletters

§  Brochures

§  Sales team tools

§  Guides

§  Reports

Thank you

Building Blocks