3/2/12

“I wanted to go to this artist and I wanted to make this film, the full film BB King ‘The Life Of Riley’ that’s not like a documentary. What is it? It’s BB King’s life and we should be acknowledging this man not only as musical fans but as people.” Jon Brewer, BB King: ‘The Life Of Riley’ Director

Guitarist Magazine has just released a special edition fanpack on the Mississippi Delta Blues legend that is Mr BB King, featuring a 132 page magazine and an exclusive one-hour documentary DVD by renowned director and ‘Mr Rock & Roll’ himself Jon Brewer, a prelude to his forthcoming feature film on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame blues icon ‘BB King: ‘The Life Of Riley’.

With special inside access to BB himself, the DVD includes in depth interview extracts, video footage from his sell-out concert at the Royal Albert Hall last year plus additional film and images from the archives, highlighting his career from the 1950’s through to the present day.

Featuring exclusive guest contributions from the world of music including Carlos Santana, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Robert Cray, Slash and many more, plus record producer Bill Szymczyk (BB King\The Eagles) and the record company legend that is Joe Bihari, the fanpack gives a truly informative and inspiring insight into BB the man, the legend, the influence upon successive generations of guitar players across all music genres.

Under the Guitarist Presents banner, BB King: King of the Blues, the magazine and DVD pack focus on King’s life and career to date. Released today at the retail price of £14.99, the pack is available to buy in UK and US editions via MyFavouriteMagazines Guitarist Presents BB King: King of the Blues.

In partnership with Jon Brewer, the Guitarist Presents documentary was filmed alongside a separate, full feature-length film about BB King’s life, entitled BB King: ‘The Life Of Riley’, due for release later in 2012.

ENDS

For more information: contact Amy Bullen, Communications Executive at Future Publishing on 01225 732269 or amy.bullen@futurenet.com.

About Guitarist: Guitarist, The Guitar Magazine, launched in 1984 and is the world’s most respected guitar magazine. Each issue contains features about the world’s leading players, industry leading equipment reviews and expert tuition. Guitar Magazine is published by Future Publishing.

About Future: Future plc is an international special-interest media group, listed on the London Stock Exchange (symbol FUTR).  Founded in 1985 with one magazine, today we have operations in the UK, US and Australia creating 200 special-interest publications, apps, websites and events. We hold market-leading positions in games, film, music, technology, cycling, automotive and crafts.  Our biggest-selling magazines include T3, Total Film, Classic Rock, Guitar World and Official Xbox Magazine.  Our websites include gamesradar.com, bikeradar.com, musicradar.com and techradar.com (the UK’s no. 1 consumer technology website).  Future sells 2.9 million magazines each month; we attract more than 34 million unique visitors to our websites; and we deliver over 100 digital editions and bespoke apps on tablet. Future exports or syndicates publications to 89 countries, making us the UK’s number one exporter and licensor of magazine content.  We have just launched an online image library, Future MediaStore, providing rights managed photographs to licence from across our specialist magazine portfolios; www.futuremediastore.com. Future was named consumer digital publisher of the year at the Association of Online Publishers Awards 2011.

03/02/12 Future Publishing, the special interest media group and leading publisher of craft content, has just unveiled a new bookazine designed to be the go-to-guide for crafters looking to unlock the potential of the internet.

The 132 page bookazine, titled Craft & Click: The Essential Guide to Crafting Online, is on sale now priced at £7.99 and covers everything from how to get started to the most exciting websites around.

Published under The Making Spot brand, Future’s complete online resource for crafters, the bookazine features some exciting ideas about how to turn your craft idea into a business reality.

With the economy still looking gloomy, readers will find useful advice on how to make money from craft hobbies and use websites such as Etsy and Folksy to buy and sell products. There’s also advice on how to manage secure payments, legal issues to consider and ideas about using social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Flickr to promote products.

Other hot topics include the top picks of the best craft blogs and websites for each craft discipline, plus profiles of how successful crafters have established their careers online.

Future’s market leading craft portfolio includes titles such as Mollie Makes and Simply Knitting, whilst its flagship craft website The Making Spot is a hub for online crafting community.

Zoe Williams, Editor of Craft & Click and The Making Spot, says: “The internet has revolutionised the way in which crafters communicate and find inspiration, so we wanted to provide a useful resource for crafters looking to make the most of the online sites available. In this bookazine we’ve combined our digital expertise with the best content from the web to make a one-stop-shop for everyone from beginners through to experienced internet crafters.”

Stuart Anderton, Group Publishing Director of Future’s craft portfolio, says: “Future has been a leader in the craft market for over 20 years and we’re always devising new ways for consumers to access our expert content. With the launch of The Making Spot and Mollie Makes in 2011, our content is now a core focal point for the online crafting community and people seeking inspiration online.”

Craft & Click: The Essential Guide to Crafting Online is available in stores now priced at £7.99 or can be downloaded as a digital edition on Newsstand for the reduced price of £4.99.

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For more information please contact Amy Bullen, Communications Executive on 01225 732269 or amy.bullen@futurenet.com.

About Future’s Craft portfolio:

Future has been publishing craft magazines for 20 years and currently holds number one positions in both the cross stitching and knitting markets.  The Hobbies & Craft group has almost 70,000 loyal subscribers across the portfolio and we’re the only UK publisher to have two knitting titles. Every year, we distribute in excess of a million copies of our Hobbies and Crafts magazines to more than 40 countries as far afield as Sri Lanka, Lebanon and Chile. Our leading craft portfolio includes titles such as Simply Knitting, The Knitter, Cross Stitcher, PaperCraft Inspirations and the brand new Mollie Makes as well as leading genealogy title Your Family Tree.

About Future:

Future plc is an international special-interest media group and leading digital publisher, listed on the London Stock Exchange (symbol: FUTR).  Founded in 1985 with one magazine, today we have operations in the UK, US and Australia creating 200 special-interest publications, apps, websites and events.  We hold market-leading positions in Games, Film, Music, Technology, Cycling, Automotive and Crafts. Our biggest-selling products include T3, Total Film, Classic Rock and Official Xbox Magazine. Our websites include gamesradar.com, bikeradar.com, musicradar.com and techradar.com (the UK’s number one consumer technology website). Future sells 2.5 million magazines each month; we attract more than 36 million monthly unique visitors to our websites; and we deliver over 100 digital editions and bespoke apps on tablet. Future exports or syndicates publications to 89 countries, making us the UK’s number one exporter and licensor of magazine content. Future was named Consumer Digital Publisher of the Year at the Association of Online Publishers Awards 2011.

1/2/12 FuturePlus, the award-winning customer publishing agency of Future Publishing, has today announced the appointment of Fiona McDaniel to the position of Director of Client Services and Marketing.

With over 15 years of publishing and marketing experience, Fiona joins FuturePlus from Sky where she led the editorial and marketing teams as Head of Publishing and Marketing as well as Head of Digital and Direct.

Whilst at Sky, Fiona worked across the entertainment division where she was responsible for a portfolio including Sky Magazine, Sky Sports Magazine, Sky Kids Magazine and Sky Movies Magazine, which she worked on in partnership with FuturePlus.

Following a year of strong growth with 12 new wins, this is a new position within FuturePlus. Fiona will work closely with the agency’s valued client base on communications activities and strategic planning, to ensure relationships are open and productive.

A strong addition to FuturePlus, Fiona brings with her a raft of marketing expertise and will head up the Accounts division, leading a team of six others. Scheduled to start her new position at the beginning of February, Fiona will report directly in to Jayne Caple, Managing Director of Future Plus.

On her new appointment, Fiona says: “I have worked alongside FuturePlus for a number of years and am delighted to be joining such a dynamic and successful team. FuturePlus has a fantastic portfolio of clients and I’m looking forward to working closely with all parts of the team.”

Jayne says: “Fiona is a fantastic addition to the team and I’m really excited that she’s on board. We have experienced strong growth over the past 12 months and we’re hoping to continue this into 2012 so Fiona will be key in driving this forward.”

Clare Jonik has also been promoted to Commercial Director from her role as Senior Account Director in recognition of her work over the last 12 months.

Jayne Caple says: “Clare has had a stellar year; she is a relationship builder and is hugely tenacious so this role is perfect for her. Strong commercial salespeople at this level are hard to come by, so I’m delighted we have been able to promote from within.”

ENDS

For more information please contact Amy Bullen, Communications Executive on 01225 732269 or amy.bullen@futurenet.com.

About FuturePlus:

FuturePlus, the multiple award-winning customer publishing agency of Future Publishing, provides compelling, engaging and measurably effective content and communication solutions across multiple channels, including magazines, catalogues, websites, e-newsletters, podcasts, mobile devices and TV.
FuturePlus’s consistently forward-thinking approach sees the agency partner with some of the world’s biggest retailers, service providers and member organisations. The wide range of high profile partners who currently enjoy the passion and expertise shown by FuturePlus include O2, Tesco, ODEON, Jessops, the Musicians’ Union, GMB, docrafts, Asda, Madison and The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy.

Keith will join from IPC Media where he is currently editor of nuts.co.uk and mousebreaker.com, with key responsibility for bringing together the editorial, commercial and marketing functions in conjunction with the publishing teams to develop and deliver strategy, driving both online traffic and revenue. During his time at IPC, Keith has taken Nuts.co.uk from number three to number one in the men’s lifestyle market.

With over 13 years digital experience, Keith will be responsible for devising and executing a strategy to grow Future’s digital Entertainment portfolio, which comprises multi-media brands such as CVG, Games Radar, Total Film, Edge and PC Gamer. Working closely with the site editors across all aspects of audience development, including product development, marketing, SEO, social media marketing, affiliate partnerships, data analysis and user research, Keith will build on the Entertainment divisions rapid growth in order to drive forward the digital business. Keith will also work closely with Rob Worley in the US – who recently took up a similar role – to drive both UK and global traffic across all of the entertainment properties.

Keith says: “This is a fantastic opportunity to work on some of the most exciting international young men’s brands around. I have a clear vision of where Future can expand and grow its already really impressive audience reach of games and film enthusiasts. I can’t wait to get started!”

Simon Maxwell, group publishing director says: “Keith’s experience in driving site performance, coupled with his deep understanding of the young male audience make him an ideal appointment as we look to continue to build our brands on a global scale. This move highlights our focus on driving further significant growth of our digital brands alongside our extensive offering of print, tablet and on console business.”

Keith will take up his new position on 1st April and will report directly to Simon Maxwell.

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For more information: please contact Ben Bolton, Senior Communications Executive on 020 7042 4034.

About Future: Future plc is an international special-interest media group, listed on the London Stock Exchange (symbol FUTR).  Founded in 1985 with one magazine, today we have operations in the UK, US and Australia creating 200 special-interest publications, apps, websites and events. We hold market-leading positions in games, film, music, technology, cycling, automotive and crafts.  Our biggest-selling magazines include T3, Total Film, Classic Rock, Guitar World and Official Xbox Magazine.  Our websites include gamesradar.com, bikeradar.com, musicradar.com and techradar.com (the UK’s no. 1 consumer technology website).  Future sells 2.9 million magazines each month; we attract more than 34 million unique visitors to our websites; and we deliver over 100 digital editions and bespoke apps on tablet. Future exports or syndicates publications to 89 countries, making us the UK’s number one exporter and licensor of magazine content.  We have just launched an online image library, Future MediaStore, providing rights managed photographs to licence from across our specialist magazine portfolios; www.futuremediastore.com. Future was named consumer digital publisher of the year at the Association of Online Publishers Awards 2011.

26/01/12 Future Publishing has today announced the appointment of Nick King to the position of Digital Commercial Director.

Joining Future from his position as Senior Digital Trader at News International, Nick has over a decade of experience working in digital roles in a media environment. Whilst at News International, Nick was responsible for managing The Times and The Sunday Times digital sales teams.

A strong addition to Future, Nick will begin his role on 6^th February and will be heading up the Digital Sales Team and Ad Operations Team across Future’s Bath and London offices.

Reporting in to Malcolm Stoodley, Future’s London Sales Director, Nick brings with him a raft of expertise and will be responsible for driving forward Future’s digital sales ambitions.

With special expertise working with iPad technology, Nick will work closely with Richard Foster, Future’s Digital Director, to maximise digital revenue on Future’s products.

Malcolm Stoodley, London Sales Director, says: “Nick has a proven track record and has worked with some of the biggest brands in media. There are so many exciting digital opportunities for Future’s market-leading brands and Nick will help us capitalise on these. I’m delighted to welcome Nick to the team and am positive he will prove a great asset to the company.”

On his new role, Nick King commented: “Future has a fantastic product portfolio and is rapidly growing its digital capabilities. I’m looking forward joining what is already a very strong team, and working with the different parts of the business to develop and grow the digital proposition on the variety of platforms on which clients and agencies want to reach their audience.”

ENDS

For more information, please contact Amy Bullen, Communications Executive on 01225 732269 or amy.bullen@futurenet.com.

About Future:

Future is a leader in the field of digital publishing and was named Consumer Digital Publisher of the Year at the annual Association of Online Publishers Awards – becoming the first magazine publisher to win the Award. Future also won the Grand Prix Award at the event in June. Its web and mobile sites deliver 160 million page impressions every month to over 34 million unique users*. Future delivers more than 100 digital editions and bespoke apps through the rapidly growing iPad platform and is developing product for new tablet devices coming on stream. Digital now accounts for a third of all Future’s commercial revenues. And its development of video on demand and apps is rightly regarded as market leading. Technology brand T3 is leading the way on iPad, becoming one of the top grossing apps in the UK and one of the very few five star apps in the world. The Future digital portfolio includes award winning and hugely respected brands including: www.techradar.com, www.cyclingnews.com, www.gamesradar.com, www.computerandvideogames.com, www.musicradar.com and www.bikeradar.com.

* source: comScore Digital Analytix, October 2011