FIPP World Media Congress: Meet the speakers – Colin Morrison
The countdown to the hugely anticipated 46th FIPP World Media Congress has begun in earnest. Next week, from 4-6 June, top speakers, media decision-makers, tech partners and other service providers will come together in the beguiling Portuguese town of Cascais for a jam-packed programme of keynote speeches, panel discussions and case studies.
Ahead of Congress, we have asked those talking at the event to sit down for a quick interview to introduce themselves to delegates. This week we catch up with Colin Morrison, Director, Consultant & Investor and Editor-Publisher of the award-winning Flashes & Flames: The Global Media Weekly.
On 6 June Morrison will join Claire Léost, President of Prisma Media and member of the Management Board at Vivendi, on stage to talk about the ingredients for magazine success when history and trends are stacked against you.
He will also sit down with Mark Allen, Founder and Executive Chairman of the Mark Allen Group, to discuss how Allen quietly built one of the UK’s most successful B2B media groups, before joining an expert panel to look forward to what the media landscape might look like in 2025.
Could you please introduce yourself and tell us more about your role in the media industry?
I am the founder of Flashes & Flames: The Global Media Weekly.
What have been your career highlights so far?
I was a journalist in newspapers and magazines in London, Dublin and New York. I became CEO of media, information and events companies for Reed Elsevier, EMAP, ACP Magazines Axel Springer, Future and Hearst. I have lived and worked variously in the UK, Europe, Australia and the US.
What is the key behind running a successful website like Flashes & Flames? How do you manage to get so many industry leaders to sit down for interviews and why is it so important that they share their insights?
Flashes & Flames is a longform, analytical weekly newsletter for subscribers. It seeks to offer insights into the performance of media companies large and small, old and new, for CEOs, entrepreneurs and executives. Many of the industry’s leaders on both sides of the Atlantic give exclusive interviews to Flashes & Flames because they read it every week. Recent in-depth interviews have included the CEOs of: Hearst Corp, Vivendi, Axel Springer, Financial Times, Informa, Dotdash Meredith, Condé Nast, Ziff Davis, Future, Bauer, The Ankler, New York Times, Her Campus, Burda, Mark Allen Group, The Independent, Morning Brew, Prisma Media, IDG, Penske, and RELX.
What would you say are the key trends in the media in 2024?
Increased emphasis on:
Targeting: Proven value, efficiency and fulfillment for readers-users-viewers
Authority: Content enriched with data
Exclusivity: Information and insights not available anywhere else
Versatility: Text, video, audio, events
AI can help you do it all.
What is the best business advice you have ever received?
Some of the most successful businesses were once wild ideas.
Connect with an unparalleled global network of industry colleagues and join 500 decision-makers from more than 40 countries at the 46th FIPP World Media Congress. See the list of speakers here and the agenda here.
