Podcast appearances and mentions of dennis publishing

In this 12 months overdue episode we investigate Gef a talking mongoose from the Isle of Mann, The 22 Billion dollar treasure and cursed Vault B Of Padmanabhaswamy Temple, A frozen foot found of Mt Everest that could change history and a French basement find that leads back to the Merovingian Dynasty!   Show Notes:  Have an Idea for a show? want to tell me how awesome I am and you just can contain yourself? You can call the show, 24/7 through Google Voice at 302-709-1209  leave a message and maybe I'll play it on the show!  Music provided by permission by Chasing zZz: check them out of Apple, Amazon, Spotify and Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/chasingzzz Bizarro Aficionado You Tube Channel : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYNWT92IsF6zlOUIvGurtoA Bizarro Facebook Group on US Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/387613341903379 Temple Balan, S. S., 2017. Why Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple's Mysterious Vault B should be Opened: Expert Explains. [Online] Available at: http://www.thenewsminute.com/article/why-sree-padmanabhaswamy-temple-s-mysterious-vault-b-should-be-opened-expert-explains-65521 Chen, M., 2017. The Mysterious Sealed Temple Door No One Can Open. [Online] Available at: https://www.beyondsciencetv.com/news/2017/6/15/the-mysterious-sealed-temple-door-no-one-can-open-last-door-of-padmanabhaswamy Devnath, V., 2016. 21 Facts About The Treasure Under The Padmanabhaswamy Temple That Will Make You Go WTF. [Online] Available at: http://www.storypick.com/padmanabhaswamy-temple/ Dobson, J., 2015. A One Trillion Dollar Hidden Treasure Chamber is Discovered at India's Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple. [Online] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimdobson/2015/11/13/a-one-trillion-dollar-hidden-treasure-chamber-is-discovered-at-indias-sree-padmanabhaswam-temple/#6a88e6201ba6 Editor, 2017. The Mysterious Sealed Door of the Ancient Padmanabhaswamy Temple. [Online] Available at: http://www.theeventchronicle.com/study/mysterious-sealed-door-ancient-padmanabhaswamy-temple/# Roth, M., 2017. What is the mystery behind the last door at Padmanabhaswamy temple?. [Online] Available at: http://www.speakingtree.in/allslides/the-mysterious-last-door-at-padmanabhaswamy-temple sreepadmanabhaswamytemple.org, 2010. Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple. [Online] Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20120310081828/http://sreepadmanabhaswamytemple.org:80/index.htm www.thehindu.com, 2017. In numbers: the story behind Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple vaults. [Online] Available at: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/in-numbers-the-story-behind-sree-padmanabhaswamy-temple-vaults/article19251538.ece GEF Josiffe, Christopher (December 2010). "Gef the Talking Mongoose". Fortean Times. Dennis Publishing. Retrieved 2 December 2016.  McGraw, Walter. (1970). Gef - the Talking Mongoose...30 Years Later Archived 2013-10-17 at the Wayback Machine. Fate (magazine). pp. 74-82  Raymond Buckland. (2009). The Weiser Field Guide to Ghosts. Weiser Books . p. 26. ISBN 978-1578634514 Harry Price (1936). Confessions of a ghost-hunter. Putnam. Retrieved 20 August 2013. Sandy Irvine https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/british-explorer-sandy-irvines-foot-discovered-100-years-after-he-vanished-on-everest French Basement https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/british-explorer-sandy-irvines-foot-discovered-100-years-after-he-vanished-on-everest  

Join us as media industry veteran John-Paul graces the Programmatic Digest podcast, sharing his wealth of experience from Mindshare, Dennis Publishing, and Gameloft. We start on a light note with a chat about England's whimsical weather before diving into the fascinating world of programmatic curation. John-Paul sheds light on the value of curated deals, emphasizing their role in saving time and incorporating expert knowledge to enhance media strategies.   We also reveal how our media strategies have outperformed traditional methods, with a notable case study involving an automotive brand that saw significant gains through our contextual targeting. This episode highlights our approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and how consolidating SSPs can create impactful campaigns. John-Paul also addresses common misconceptions in the industry, such as the fallacy that longer hours mean higher productivity, and stresses the importance of wellness, continuous learning, and mentorship in maintaining expertise.   Additionally, the conversation explores the evolving role of AI in media and the irreplaceable need for human oversight in optimizing and strategizing. Wrapping up, John-Paul and Eleni discuss their global reach and ongoing collaborations, with exciting plans to visit New York and Austin. Be sure to check the show notes or YouTube description for all the resources and insights shared in this episode.   Free Training Sponsored By Epom: How Not to Screw Up With DSP Setup: Top Mistakes to Avoid and Save a Fortune On the replay you'll find out how to: dodge programmatic pitfalls, boost your ads performance, and get the most out of your budget. streamline your ad processes, save money, and gain a competitive edge with expert tips and hands-on guidance. Perfect for: ad agencies, programmatic in-house teams Watch this free lesson Here: https://epom.com/webinars/dsp-setup-lifehacks?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=hpc   About Us: Our mission is to teach historically excluded people how to get started in programmatic media buying and find a dream job.  We do so by providing on-demand lessons via the Reach and Frequency®program, a dope community with like-minded programmatic experts, and live free and paid group coaching.  We can help 2 ways:  Customized a training roadmap for teams of programmatic traders, adops, customer success, AMs, etc focusing on campaigns performance increase, cross-departmental communication, and revenue growth overall 

Carl Fox is interviewed by Andrew Staton at Rise of The Dragon convention about his relaunch of the classic Kung Fu Monthly magazine. How did he relaunch Kung Fu Monthly? Why did one missing archive newsletter make the difference? How did he convince Dennis Publishing? How did lockdown help? How did he redesign the original into the new release? What is his design nod to OZ magazine? How was the response? Why did he do a colour version as well as a black and white version? Why did he release the Dutch version of the Wisdom of Bruce Lee? How did he translate it from the Dutch? How did he learn everything whilst working? How has Bruce Lee inspired him to do things he never thought he would? Filmed by Dean Meadows of Pentagram Pictures at the Rise of the Dragon event 2023 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

My guest today is the former Director of Communications for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. After graduating from the University of Exeter, he joined Dennis Publishing where he worked as deputy editor of Your Sinclair, before becoming the games correspondent for News International's Today newspaper. In 1992 he left journalism for the world of PR, assuming the role of Head of European PR for Electronic Arts, where he promoted the launches of the earliest FIFA and Madden titles. Then, in April 2000 my guest joined Sony for the launch of the PlayStation 2. He remained at PlayStation for nineteen years, witnessing the launch of four major consoles, dealing with tabloid crises, before, in 2019, leaving to join NetEase Games where, among others, he looks after the legendary creators Suda51 and Toshihiro Nagoshi. Thank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a supporter; your small monthly donation will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, contributing toward the cost of equipment, editing, and hosting episodes. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A/B seeing ya! Is AI the end of split testing?This episode might just blow your mind. It's all about the future of marketing and how AI is going to revolutionise conversion rate optimisation (CRO). In the conversation, host Selbey Anderson's Dom Hawes meets Julian Thorne, Chief Operating Officer of Sub(x), an AI-enabled CRO business. Julian shares his journey in subscription marketing and how he became a Chief Commercial Officer in the UK's best-known publishing companies. Julian then introduces Sub(x), a start-up that uses AI and first-party data to deliver personalised messages on client websites. Dom and Julian discuss the evolution of marketing, the limitations of traditional split testing, and the accessibility of AI in CRO for smaller businesses. Julian emphasises the importance of AI in optimising conversion rates and delivering the right offers to the right people. He also highlights the integration of AI into existing marketing tools and the need for transparency and explainability in AI decision-making. About Julian ThorneJulian Thorne is the Chief Operations Officer of Sub(x), a marketing technology provider that uses AI automation to drive revenue, growth and customer acquisition for digital subscription businesses. Prior to joining Sub(x) Julian was the Chief Customer Officer of Future plc responsible for all direct customer revenues worldwide including subscription revenues. Julian has previously held various senior executive positions including, CCO of Dennis Publishing, CEO of Dovetail Services and Marketing Director at Saga. Julian also founded The Big Wheel Consultancy which specialised in providing marketing consultancy and data insight services to businesses seeking to maximise their membership and/or subscription revenues.He is a Fellow of the Institute of Direct and Digital Marketing.LinksFull show notes: Unicorny.co.ukLinkedIn: Julian Thorne | Dom HawesWebsites: Sub(x) | Selbey AndersonTimestamped summary of this episode:00:00:03 - Introduction to Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) 00:01:31 - Julian Thorne's Background in Subscriptions00:02:21 - Introduction to Sub(x)00:03:18 - Julian's Learning Journey and the Evolution of Marketing00:05:59 - The Evolution of Split Testing and the Role of AI 00:13:18 - Understanding AI and Data Points00:14:31 - Importance of Data Sets and Audience Size00:15:18 - Transitioning from A/B Testing to AI00:16:41 - Transparency in AI Decision-Making00:19:21 - Optimising Marketing Budgets with AI00:27:45 - Exploring Price Elasticity00:29:39 - Democratising AI for Smaller Businesses00:31:33 - Strengthening the Marketing-Finance Relationship00:33:59 - Focusing on Value Creation00:37:32 - Wrapping up with a Focus on Value CreationThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podder - https://www.podderapp.com/privacy-policyChartable - https://chartable.com/privacy

A/B seeing ya! Is AI the end of split testing?This episode might just blow your mind. It's all about the future of marketing and how AI is going to revolutionise conversion rate optimisation (CRO). In the conversation, host Selbey Anderson's Dom Hawes meets Julian Thorne, Chief Operating Officer of Sub(x), an AI-enabled CRO business. Julian shares his journey in subscription marketing and how he became a Chief Commercial Officer in the UK's best-known publishing companies. Julian then introduces Sub(x), a start-up that uses AI and first-party data to deliver personalised messages on client websites. Dom and Julian discuss the evolution of marketing, the limitations of traditional split testing, and the accessibility of AI in CRO for smaller businesses. Julian emphasises the importance of AI in optimising conversion rates and delivering the right offers to the right people. He also highlights the integration of AI into existing marketing tools and the need for transparency and explainability in AI decision-making. About Julian ThorneJulian Thorne is the Chief Operations Officer of Sub(x), a marketing technology provider that uses AI automation to drive revenue, growth and customer acquisition for digital subscription businesses. Prior to joining Sub(x) Julian was the Chief Customer Officer of Future plc responsible for all direct customer revenues worldwide including subscription revenues. Julian has previously held various senior executive positions including, CCO of Dennis Publishing, CEO of Dovetail Services and Marketing Director at Saga. Julian also founded The Big Wheel Consultancy which specialised in providing marketing consultancy and data insight services to businesses seeking to maximise their membership and/or subscription revenues.He is a Fellow of the Institute of Direct and Digital Marketing.LinksFull show notes: Unicorny.co.ukLinkedIn: Julian Thorne | Dom HawesWebsites: Sub(x) | Selbey AndersonTimestamped summary of this episode:00:00:03 - Introduction to Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) 00:01:31 - Julian Thorne's Background in Subscriptions00:02:21 - Introduction to Sub(x)00:03:18 - Julian's Learning Journey and the Evolution of Marketing00:05:59 - The Evolution of Split Testing and the Role of AI 00:13:18 - Understanding AI and Data Points00:14:31 - Importance of Data Sets and Audience Size00:15:18 - Transitioning from A/B Testing to AI00:16:41 - Transparency in AI Decision-Making00:19:21 - Optimising Marketing Budgets with AI00:27:45 - Exploring Price Elasticity00:29:39 - Democratising AI for Smaller Businesses00:31:33 - Strengthening the Marketing-Finance Relationship00:33:59 - Focusing on Value Creation00:37:32 - Wrapping up with a Focus on Value CreationThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podder - https://www.podderapp.com/privacy-policyChartable - https://chartable.com/privacy

Since beginning her career at Dennis Publishing, Julia Linehan has been at the heart of the changing digital media landscape. She's held major commercial roles, both agency and media side, and since 2012, she's poured her (considerable) energy into The Digital Voice, a PR agency with an incredible people first philosophy. Julia is also a co-founder of SPILL, an industry group of like-minded people who've said no to alcohol... or who are at least...sober curious. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Future is a collection of over 50 specialist titles that range from gaming and tech (Tech Radar) to homes (Homes & Garden) to beauty and fashion (Who What Wear) to B2B (SmartBrief), Future has established itself as one of the UK's most successful publishers. (Its current market capitalization puts it at 8x the value of BuzzFeed.) But for its future growth, Future is betting heavily on the U.S. market, which CEO Zillah Byng-Thorne noted to me is five times the size of the UK. The U.S. already represents 35% of Future's audience as well as 38% of its revenue. Byng-Thorne is something of a newcomer to the media business. An accountant by training, she joined Future in 2014 as its interim CFO and soon was appointed CEO, tasked with turning around a magazine publisher that, like its peers, was struggling to make a transition from print to digital. Her turnaround plan – she initially cut 40% of employees as the company was recording a £35 million loss in 2014 – has become something of legend, setting the stage for a remarkable financial turnaround as Future became an early adopter of using its niche focus in high-intent categories to drive transactions. The shift to commerce – it is now 34% percent of Future's revenue – was informed by her previous time at Auto Trader, which made the leap from car magazine to marketplace. Zillah recounted how her first year at Future, which was on what she describes as a decade-long decline, the key question to answer was: “What's our right to exist?” Her conclusion: Put the company on firmer financial footing, double down on the expertise embedded in the brands. Future was struggling with the transition from print to digital when Byng-Thorne took over. Beyond that, the diversification needed to be done on the digital side as well since many publishers were overly reliant on digital advertising. Commerce was a way to make money from audiences without the ups and downs inherent to the ad business. Future's revenue is now roughly split in thirds among advertising, commerce and direct revenue from the audience. Having an acquisitions playbook. Future has spent over £1 billion on acquiring companies since Byng-Thorne took charge. In the past year alone, it has acquired four companies, including Who What Wear and Dennis Publishing and MarieClaire.com. “We integrate fully. I know some of our competitors don't all integrate fully, but for us, it was really important that it's one Future, one tech system, one sales team, one way of working.” This episode was produced by Jay Sparks from Pod Help Us. If you have podcast production needs, get in touch with Jay.

Today's conversation is with twenty-year yoga practitioner Knight Kiplinger, an economic journalist who is Editor Emeritus of the Kiplinger financial media company in Washington, D.C., publishers of business forecasts and personal finance advice – known for the weekly Kiplinger Letter, monthly Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine and daily Kiplinger.com. Kiplinger was CEO and publisher until the sale of the company in 2019 to Dennis Publishing of London, England, and today he is CEO of Outlook, Inc., a family real estate investment company. He is one of America's most respected economic journalists and business forecasters. Over his long career, Knight was a guest on every major news network, including CNN, NPR, and C-SPAN, with appearances on The Today Show, Marketplace, CBS This Morning, Wall Street Week, and The Larry King Show. in his writings, speeches, and media appearances, he cuts through the complexity of financial subjects with clarity and foresight.

Adnan Ebrahim is the co-founder and CEO of health and mindfulness app, Mindlabs. Adnan can trace his entrepreneurial roots all the way back to the school playground where he would often be seen selling wristbands to his classmates. Adnan's love for business did not stop there however and after one successful venture in blogging Adnan decided to follow that up by launching Car Throttle, an online community for car enthusiasts. What started out as an idea born in his bedroom quickly grew into one of the most popular content platforms in the automotive space. The company's growth drew the attention of none other than Dennis Publishing, who in 2019 decided to acquire the company. Shortly after the acquisition Adnan decided to launch his latest venture, Mindlabs in the hope of bringing people some much needed peace of mind through accessible wellness classes. In this episode James and Hector start off by looking back at Adnan's time at CarThrottle, the challenges he faced growing the business and its subsequent acquisition by Dennis Publishing. Later into the episode the three discuss the motivation behind Adnan's new venture and explore what learnings he is taking from his first start-up experience. The episode closes with some helpful tips on fundraising and angel investing. Make sure to like and subscribe to the Riding Unicorns podcast to never miss an episode. Also don't forget to give Riding Unicorns a follow on Twitter and LinkedIn to keep on top of the latest developments.Small But Mighty Agency A podcast that uncovers how to go from solopreneur to seven figure agency with ease.Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

In the roughly two years since Jason Webby joined Future plc as chief revenue officer for North America, the U.K. publisher has acquired eight companies — including Marie Claire U.S., a portfolio of Dennis Publishing properties and data platform Waive — and the pace of acquisition is unlikely to slow in the short term given the company's ambitions. “The shopping spree we've been on is pretty prolific. And most of that is really geared towards being one of the dominant media players in the United States and North America,” Webby said in the latest episode of the Digiday Podcast. While the bulk of Future plc's buys have been purchases of publications, the strategies behind them have not solely been about adding like inventory and like audiences. That was the case with its deal for WhoWhatWear, announced in May, to bolster the publisher's portfolio of women's lifestyle publications. But its acquisition of entertainment publisher CinemaBlend last year opened the company up to entertainment advertisers that hadn't yet become part of its client base, Webby said. Meanwhile, the March acquisition of Waive will help the company to build on its first-party data platform Aperture as Future plc develops its own identifier, Future ID, which is designed to not only help the publisher prepare for the demise of the third-party cookie but also capitalize on its burgeoning U.S. business. “We feel really good about our ability to not have to rely on cookies at all. And we have that ability today. One of the benefits of having such a vast user base that's all on our same owned-and-operated platform is we're already reaching one out of every three U.S. online adults,” said Webby.

For two years running, The Week Unwrapped has scooped the ‘Best News Podcast', fending off competition from some of the biggest names in publishing. Judges for 2021's awards highlighted the superb audio quality, the skill with which the hosts presented a genuine and insightful conversation, and strong brand alignment. Peter spoke to The Week's Digital Editor and podcast host Holden Frith. He discussed how their signature three story format had to evolve during the pandemic, the importance of varied points of view within the episodes, and why the podcast is addressing an audience in its own right rather than just being the magazine in audio form. Note: This episode was recorded prior to Future PLC's acquisition of Dennis Publishing, owners of The Week. This year's Publisher Podcast Award winners will be revealed on April 27th at a live event in London, as well as streamed online. See our tickets page for more details. Entries for next year's Publisher Podcast Awards will open in September. Think you've got what it takes to win an award? Sign up to our mailing list at www.publisherpodcastawards.com

Jolyon ‘Jon' Connell is a journalist-turned-entrepreneur who founded the hugely successful global magazine The Week. His new venture ‘The Knowledge' monitors hundreds of news media and compiles the very best stories into one weekly, easy-to-digest newsletter. Jon started his career at The Sunday Times, later becoming deputy editor of The Sunday Telegraph, leaving in 1994 to launch The Week - which now has editions in the UK, US and Australia, and was sold to Dennis Publishing in 2018. In this in-depth interview, Jon shares his ambitious plans for his new venture, building on a major investment from Lord Rothermere, to deliver “all the wisdom of the week in one place;” talks about why his daughter Flora gave up her promising career as a popstar to become a partner in The Knowledge and ensure it appeals to readers of all ages; and reflects on the “rollercoaster” journey of founding The Week, which he “grew out of impatience and laziness” - and which went on to become a global phenomenon. 

A detailed analysis of Red Ventures. The media empire looks like the future of all companies. The boys discuss why. Future buys most of Dennis Publishing. Yes, the acquisition party continues. Is it time for you to get in on the action? And the New York Times finally release their Substack killer. But will it actually work? Robert raves about the T Brand launch of "Soul of Us" and rants about bad data. Joe raves about Hubspot co-founder Dharmesh Shah's interview on "My First Million". ------- This Week's Sponsor .Online Business Academy - FREE business courses. No prior business experience needed. Quick, actionable, under two-hour courses for those looking to start a business. Go through a step-by-step tutorial by business experts like Ryan Foland, Jason Falls, and Kim Garst. Available for absolutely FREE along with downloadable resources, bonus activities, tips & tools, and rewards that range from 1-on-1 mentoring to $1000 cash. Get the training now! ------- Catch past episodes show notes at ThisOldMarketing.site. Get your .site domain today.

A detailed analysis of Red Ventures. The media empire looks like the future of all companies. The boys discuss why. Future buys most of Dennis Publishing. Yes, the acquisition party continues. Is it time for you to get in on the action? And the New York Times finally release their Substack killer. But will it actually work? Robert raves about the T Brand launch of "Soul of Us" and rants about bad data. Joe raves about Hubspot co-founder Dharmesh Shah's interview on "My First Million". ------- This Week's Sponsor .Online Business Academy - FREE business courses. No prior business experience needed. Quick, actionable, under two-hour courses for those looking to start a business. Go through a step-by-step tutorial by business experts like Ryan Foland, Jason Falls, and Kim Garst. Available for absolutely FREE along with downloadable resources, bonus activities, tips & tools, and rewards that range from 1-on-1 mentoring to $1000 cash. Get the training now! ------- Catch past episodes show notes at ThisOldMarketing.site. Get your .site domain today.  

Our 42nd magazine related guest is Tim Ponting. Paul spoke to Tim about his career in games magazines and PR. Starting out on drumming magazine Rhythm, he soon joined Dennis Publishing on the much loved magazine Zero. He shares some memories of being editor and the challenges he faced against other magazines, coverdisks and more. From there we go onto his time on PC Zone and how the industry changed, the rivalry with PC Gamer, and what it was like to work with the late Felix Dennis. Finally we cover his time on Official Dreamcast mag, PR role at Activision which led to an amazing Call Of Duty 2 event plus much more. We hope you enjoy the interview and thanks to Tim for his time.

You frequently hear us talking about being multi-faceted, multi passionate beings. Our guest this week is testament of this! Ariana Dunne is a career multi-hyphenate, for the past 3 years she has been working for herself with several different businesses and revenues streams under her belt ranging from coaching, recruitment, lecturing, training, consulting, selling and even acts as a celebrant performing weddings and baby naming ceremonies. With a background in media sales. Ariana has worked for some of the biggest publishing companies in the world including Daily Mail Group, Bauer Media, Telegraph Group, Dennis Publishing, Maximum Media, Joe Media and latterly Sheology. But after a particularly stressful year at the height of her career She suffered burn out. And so she decided it was time for a change, and retrained as a coach and has a Diploma in Life and Business Coaching and an accreditation with the IIOC as a Celebrant. To connect with Ariana: WEB - www.arianadunne.com LI - www.linkedin.com/in/ariana-dunne Insta - @ask_arianadunne To connect with us: contact@wearepeac.com

The Week Jr. was set to debut in the U.S. last spring but the day that the first run of the children's magazine went to the printer, much of the country went into lockdown. That threw a wrench not only in the magazine's editorial plans, but also in the marketing strategy for how the U.K.-based, Dennis Publishing-owned title was meant to enter the western hemisphere. Despite the initial hiccups, Andrea Barbalich, editor-in-chief of The Week Jr. U.S. and Kerin O'Connor, chief executive of The Week said on the most recent edition of the Digiday Podcast that the weekly news magazine for kids has already surpassed its initial run of 50,000 issues and now reaches 75,000 subscribers in the U.S. This is in part thanks to 2020 having one of the most intense news cycles on record, which Barbalich said her team was diligent about covering in a way that kids could easily digest and in a manner that parents might not be able to do on their own. Within about three or four issues we had The Week Jr. being read in every state in America," said O'Connor.

Zephr has raised $8 million in a new funding round led by Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments (owned by media giant Bertelsmann). The London-headquarted startup's customers already include publishers like McClatchy, News Corp Australia, Dennis Publishing and PEI Media. CEO James Henderson told me via email that rather than creating “a monolithic product that tries to […]

Zephr has raised $8 million in a new funding round led by Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments (owned by media giant Bertelsmann). The London-headquarted startup’s customers already include publishers like McClatchy, News Corp Australia, Dennis Publishing and PEI Media. CEO James Henderson told me via email that rather than creating “a monolithic product that tries to […]

The winner of the 2020 Publisher Podcast Awards News & Current Affairs category was the Week Unwrapped from Dennis Publishing. Former editor Arion McNicoll says there’s a small but critical difference between an OK podcast and a good podcast. Start with a worthwhile listener experience, then work on revenue and, if you bring real editorial rigour to your sponsored episodes, you might miss out on some sponsors, but you won’t insult your listeners.

Hi, my name is David Wetton and welcome to the Conscious Leadership Now Video Podcast The intent of this Podcast is to encourage you as a leader to embrace Conscious Leadership, by giving you access to some of the world’s leaders in the field of Conscious Leadership, both in practice and in thought. Today my guest is Helena Clayton Helena is researching 'Leading from love': What might be possible if we put more love at the heart of our organisations? Could love – whatever that might look like – be the difference? Why is love such a difficult concept to explore for leadership and organisations? You can read a Pdf copy of her report 'Leading with Love' - award winning research report with Roffey Park Institute here: https://helenaclayton.co.uk/leading-from-love/ More details on her 'Leading from Love' programme, putting love at the heart of your leadership, can be found here: https://helenaclayton.co.uk/love-at-the-heart-of-your-leadership/ Helena Clayton is a leadership and organisational development consultant, and a coach, with over 25 years of experience across all UK sectors. She began her career in operational and strategic HR with Dennis Publishing, Aon and Touche Ross.  She regularly returns to Roffey Park as part of their Faculty for the MSc in People and Organisational Development. She also works with London Business School as a Programme Director and with Mayvin Consulting. https://helenaclayton.co.uk/ Helena holds a Masters in Leadership and Learning from Lancaster University and a Post Graduate Diploma in Career Consulting from Birkbeck. She has trained as a teacher of the Hoffman Process and holds an ICF accredited coaching qualification. You can also connect with Helena via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helena-clayton-b245553/ The people and resources Helena mentions as being an inspiration for her conscious leadership journey are: - Marcus Rashford, using his voice in football to bring change with the poverty and food waste charity FareShare - Jack Monroe, British food writer, journalist and activist known for campaigning on poverty issues - Gail Bradbrook, a co-founder of Extinction Rebellion Valarie Kaur's TED talk on Revolutionary Love https://www.ted.com/talks/valarie_kaur_3_lessons_of_revolutionary_love_in_a_time_of_rage?language=en David Richo's books: 'How to be an adult in relationships' 'When the past is present' If you’ve enjoyed this Podcast and my approach to Conscious Leadership, then please know that I Help Aspiring Conscious Leaders develop Purpose-Led, High Performing Leadership Teams through 1:1 Coaching & Tailored Leadership Programmes.  If you sense I can help you, then please look me up, David Wetton, on LinkedIn and let’s jump on a conversation together. https://www.linkedin.com/in/dwetton/ I truly believe that Now is the Time for Conscious Leadership; and with all the inspiring, heartfelt work you, as viewers, are doing, I have no doubt that Conscious Leadership will become a thriving reality.  …Making a difference for the greater good of All. So until next time, I’ll leave you with a blessing from John O’Donohue: ‘May the light of your soul  bless the work you do  with the secret love  and warmth of your heart’  …And so it is

Anna Bassi is the Editor-in-Chief of The Week Junior: a digestible current affairs magazine for children published by Dennis Publishing.Having gained a weekly readership of 93,000 despite launching a mere five years ago, The Week Junior has quickly become ‘Britain’s fastest growing children’s magazine,’ Junior’s aim is to empower children to be more informed, curious and engaged through their curation of safe and accessibly presented facts, information and stories. This year, The Week Junior launched in the U.S and has already captured the attention of 43,000 subscribers, demonstrating that not even a pandemic can slow them down.Anna Bassi is the Editor-in-Chief for The Week Junior. After completing her postgrad in publishing, Anna serendipitously found herself in the world of children’s publishing, working for the likes of Redan Publishing, The BBC, Eaglemoss and Egmont thereafter. From her time in the industry, Anna has developed a laser focus on the interests, trends and developments of young people.Topics of discussion include: Anna’s journey and inspiration, The Week Junior’s business model, Junior’s demographic, relating to youth, Junior’s USPs, and the do’s and don’ts of writing for a young audience.This is Anna Bassi’s Rocket Fuel.———————Follow James @JamesErskine (twitter.com/jameserskine)Connect with James on LinkedIn (linkedin.com/in/jameserskine)Follow Rocket @WeAreRocketHQ (twitter.com/wearerockethq)Follow Rocket on LinkedIn (linkedin.com/company/thebigshot)wearerocket.co.uk/Follow Anna on Twitter twitter.com/mrsb_ddaConnect with Anna on LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/anna-bassi-6799548theweekjunior.co.uk/Twitter twitter.com/theweekjuniorFacebook facebook.com/Theweekjunior/Instagram instagram.com/theweekjunior/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Michael works as an eCommerce Data Analyst within the central data team of Dennis Publishing, the largest automotive publisher in the UK. Michael predominantly use SQL, BigQuery, Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager to better understand customer behaviour with an aim to optimise website experiences and functionality within all areas of the company. His focus on the award-winning BuyaCar.co.uk and collaborate with a much wider variety of brands. Michael has a strong interest in the automotive market with particular interest in EVs. Michael has excellent presentation skills and is as comfortable in a highly technical environment as presenting to 500+ people as a keynote speaker at high level conferences across the UK and ROI. Michael is also an author and illustrator with two books published and contributed to a number of others. He has given over 100 talks at conferences, workshops, AGMs, schools and colleges about my experiences of being at the high functioning end of the autism spectrum across the UK. Michael focuses on the positive aspects of being autistic, relating these traits to those scientists display, which gives people a more optimistic view of the future. He has educated and inspired thousands of people in the process. Michael is an accomplished semi-professional musician playing with a variety of bands. Michael has a black belt (1st DAN) in Judo and was very involved with the University of Surrey Judo club, from founding it to becoming president. He is a keen rock climber and enjoy both skiing and snowboarding.  https://www.michaelbarton.org.uk/ https://twitter.com/MichaelBarton22 https://www.linkedin.com/in/MichaelBarton22/

B2B marketers from client-side, agency, and consultancy discuss how they are responding to the cover crisis and where to focus next.  This week B2B marketer Dave Stevens hears from Lisa Daniels (Head of Enterprise Marketing at BT), from John Webb (Demand Generation MD at Dennis Publishing), from Charlie Whyman (B2B Marketing Consultant), and from Vernon Riley (Consultant with Smart Marketing Reports).

After conducting extensive studies into the effects of workers returning after long absences, executive coach Lisa Carver has become one of the foremost authorities on managing returners effectively. This Episode: Managing Returners Masterclass – with Lisa Carver In this week's show, Lisa joins Lucinda to deliver a masterclass on how to best reintegrate workers who have been away from business for some time. They discuss the effects on both worker and company. Furthermore, it is a conversation that'll ensure you'll be better equipped to deal with the return of furloughed workers in the wake of the COVID-19 quarantine period. Indeed, managing returners for any period of absence.   KEY TAKEAWAYS Studies have shown that over 50% of workers who leave a company within two years of taking maternity leave. Interestingly they did so because of the lack of support they were shown during their leave. Certainly, the psychological implications of going on leave are very rarely considered. We go from spending half our lives in a working environment, and then having that social factor removed entirely for a length of time. Identity is a crucial factor in re-integrating staff. Often, the roles we once considered vital can become redundant when left empty for a time. We need to ensure we separate the person from the role. Without a doubt, communication is key through prolonged absence. Furthermore, we need to make sure we do not create a void where the sense of routine and the feeling of an open channel slowly disintegrates. The quarantine has highlighted many areas in which our companies have failed, but also how they can operate more efficiently. Certainly, flexible working will be widely adopted, going forwards.   BEST MOMENTS ‘It's like suddenly transitioning to a long-distance relationship' ‘Absence can lead to a loss of identity' ‘Communication gives them something to hold on to' ‘Be mindful of what your employees are going through'   VALUABLE RESOURCES The HR Uprising Podcast | Apple | Spotify | Stitcher   The HR Uprising LinkedIn Group How to Prioritise Self-Care (The HR Uprising) How To Be A Change Superhero - by Lucinda Carney HR Uprising Mastermind - https://hruprising.com/mastermind/   Lisa Carver LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-carver/?originalSubdomain=uk Carver Coaching - www.carvercoaching.co.uk Carver Resources - https://www.carvercoaching.co.uk/resources   ABOUT THE GUEST   Lisa Carver is a leadership coach who supports people to excel at work, whilst they navigate change and turbulence. Skilled in coaching individuals and teams, Lisa has a passion for people. Indeed, she has a talent for understanding what motivates and drives them to be happy and successful. Certainly, Lisa is driven to help organisations to support employees through personal or professional change. Whether that might be supporting returners, or those in highly pressured leadership roles during organisational change. Furthermore, she conducted research to establish ‘best practice for maternity returners' between 2018 and 2020. This helps organisations' develop their support, ensuring success and retainment of staff. Her last ‘employed' role was the UK MD of a Bertlesmann company (Gruner & Jahr UK). Prior to this she was at H.Bauer, BBC Worldwide and Dennis Publishing. She launched Carver Coaching in 2017. Lisa has 3 children and lives in West Byfleet, Surrey. She splits her time between her clients in Surrey and the rest of the UK.     ABOUT THE HOST   Lucinda Carney is a Business Psychologist with 15 years in Senior Corporate L&D roles and a further 10 as CEO of Actus Software where she worked closely with HR colleagues helping them to solve the same challenges across a huge range of industries. It was this breadth of experience that inspired Lucinda to set up the HR Uprising community to facilitate greater collaboration across HR professionals in different sectors, helping them to ‘rise up' together. “If you look up, you rise up” CONTACT METHOD Join the LinkedIn community - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/13714397/ Email: Lucinda@advancechange.co.uk Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucindacarney/ Twitter: @lucindacarney Instagram: @hruprising Facebook: @hruprising See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Tony and I are joined by Car Throttle founder, Adnan Ebrahim. Whilst most of you might know Alex & Ethan as the 'face' of Car Throttle, Adnan was the brains behind the scenes, building an empire out of nothing and recently selling the business to Dennis Publishing.Adnan's story is fascinating and provides a great insight in to one of the ways you can make money from social media.06:17 - Who Is Adnan Ebrahim08:45 - How Did Car Throttle Start11:40 - How Did Car Throttle Grow18:45 - Are Entrepreneurs Born or Made?21:30 - How Did Car Throttle Secure Investment27:30 - Growing the Car Throttle Empire30:00 - How Did STG & Car Throttle Meet?32:00 - STG Was Part of the Car Throttle Family38:00 - Alex Loves Sh*tboxes43:00 - What Next For Adnan45:00 - The Pressure of YouTube51:00 - Should We Be Scared of TikTok59:30 - Adnan's Nissan GTREnjoy! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Adnan Ebrahim is the founder and CEO of Car Throttle, a motoring brand that distributes content online.Dubbed “Top Gear for the Facebook generation,” Adnan founded Car Throttle a decade ago, when he was still a student living with his parents. Since then, the brand has gone on to work with the likes of McLaren, Nisan, Mercedes and Red Bull, and has recently been acquired by Dennis Publishing.Having built websites and online communities from just 15-years-old - selling his first website before his 18th birthday - we explore how Adnan’s ingenuity and precocity paved the way for Car Throttle’s success. Throughout this episode, we discuss: brand focus, “switching off,” demographics and competitors, and why you should be like Nike and Just Do It.This is Adnan Ebrahim’s Rocket Fuel.———————Follow James @JamesErskine (twitter.com/jameserskine)Follow Rocket @WeAreRocketHQ (twitter.com/wearerockethq)Follow Rocket on LinkedIn (linkedin.com/company/thebigshot)wearerocket.co.uk/Follow Adnan Ebrahim @adnanebrahim (twitter.com/adnanebrahim)Follow Adnan on LinkedIn (linkedin.com/in/adnanebrahim)Follow Adnan on Instagram @adnanr35 (instagram.com/adnanr35)carthrottle.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week's podcast includes a deep dive into the Pepsi fiasco and what might have happened, followed closely by Dennis Publishing and how they've unlocked the only content business model that matters. Rants and raves include advertising blinders and smartphone addiction.  This week's This Old Marketing: Stockman Insurance. This week's story links: Second By Second Breakdown of the Kendall Jenner Pepsi Adhttps://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/2017/04/05/second-second-breakdown-kendall-jenner-tone-deaf-pepsi/enmTb8lhbvNBp37REu8HtK/story.html How Dennis Publishing’s Willingness To Pivot Underpins Its Profitabilityhttps://www.themediabriefing.com/article/james-tye-dennis-bmas-2017 Zazzle Produces Research On The State of Content Marketing In The UK - 2017https://www.zazzlemedia.co.uk/the-state-of-content-marketing-survey/ EPISODE SPONSORS PowerPost and the Five Pillars of Brand Publishing.  Download here: http://cmi.media/pnr178b   Parse.ly and the State of Content Analytics.  Download here: http://cmi.media/pnr178 RANTS AND RAVEShttp://adage.com/article/special-report-4as-conference/ipg-s-roth-industry-appropriately-concerned-google-ads/308537/ http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hooked-on-phones/ TOM - Stockman Insurance http://www.spokesman.com/stories/1996/apr/23/chicago-firm-to-buy-farmer-stockman-magazines/ https://www.farmerstockmaninsurance.com  

An investigation by BBC's Panorama into alleged VIP Paedophile rings has questioned whether there was in fact any reliable evidence to support claims. It questioned the methods of investigative website Exaro News - who have led the way in covering this story. Mark Watts, Editor in Chief of Exaro News, gives his response to Steve Hewlett.BBC journalist and presenter Robert Peston is to join rival broadcaster ITV as its new political editor. The BBC's economics editor has been lured to switch networks with a reported salary of around £350,000 and the promise of a Sunday morning chatshow. Steve Hewlett talks to former Editor-in-Chief and CEO of ITN news Stewart Purvis about the reasons why ITV is so keen to hire him.Express Newspapers, the newspaper arm of Desmond's Northern & Shell, has cut the cost of the weekday Daily Star, and the Saturday and Sunday editions. The move, which the company has described as a "very bold move to inject some overdue sales and excitement to the category", will challenge rivals including Trinity Mirror's Mirror and Sunday People and News UK's Sun. Douglas McCabe from Enders Analysis explains the thinking behind the decision.Dennis Publishing today makes its first foray into the freemium magazine market with Coach, a title aimed at 'ABC1 men in the 24-55 age range.' Founded in 1974, Dennis Publishing's magazine portfolio includes the paid-for titles The Week, Viz and Men's Fitness. Coach comes less than 3 weeks after the re-launch of The NME as a free title. The CEO of Dennis Publishing in the UK, James Tye, joins Steve to examine the strategy behind the freemium model for Dennis. Producer: Katy Takatsuki.

Julian Lloyd-Evans, Managing Director at Dennis Publishing, and consultant Jimmy Leach, formerly Head of Digital Comms at 10 Downing Street, join Paul Blanchard to discuss the latest media headlines. This edition: how can broadcasters report offensive views responsibly? Will the increase in digital ad spending keep newspapers in business? And is CNN's withdrawal from Russia the start of a worrying trend?

"The Snowmen" is the sixth episode and a Christmas special of the of the British series . It was written by and was first broadcast on 2012 at 5.15pm on in the UK. It stars as the and as , his new . The episode also features a redesigned , revised opening and theme music, and sees major changes to the Doctor's costume. The episode is set in the and sees the Doctor brooding with the assistance of Madame Vastra, her wife Jenny Flint and Strax, after the loss of companions and in the previous episode, "." He is forced out of hiding to investigate mysterious, sentient snowmen that are building themselves and meets Clara, a governess also investigating the snowmen. It guest stars and as the villains. McKellen provides the voice of the , a disembodied alien previously featured in Doctor Who in the serials and . From the Great Intelligence's perspective, this episode occurs before those serials and several elements from "The Snowmen" reference and lead into them. The episode received mostly positive reviews from critics, most of whom received the and character of Clara well, but some felt that Grant and McKellen were underused as villains. Contents Plot Prequels To promote the special, two prequels were released. The first was broadcast during the 2012 telethon on 16 November 2012, titled "The Great Detective". A for the special was also broadcast during this programme. In the prequel, the Madame Vastra, her human wife Jenny Flint, and the Strax (all returning from "", with Strax's apparently revival after being killed off in the earlier episode explained in the special) describe a number of strange phenomena to a shadowed fourth detective. The fourth detective reveals himself to be the Doctor, and tells the group that he has retired. A second prequel, titled "Vastra Investigates", was released online on 17 December 2012. At the end of a case, Vastra and Jenny converse with an officer from , apologising for Strax's violent wishes for the culprit's punishment. Vastra explains Strax's alien origin as well as her own to the officer, much to his astonishment. She was awoken by an extension to the and initially disliked humans, though that changed when she fell in love with Jenny, which leaves the officer flabbergasted. On the carriage ride home, during a discussion about the Doctor's , Jenny notices it is beginning to snow. Vastra voices that the snow is impossible due to the fact that there are no clouds in the sky. Synopsis In 1840s England, a young boy builds a snowman but refuses to play with the other children. The snowman starts speaking to the boy, repeating his assertions that the other children are "silly". Fifty years later, the boy has grown up to be Dr Simeon, proprietor of "The Great Intelligence Institute". He hires men to collect samples of snow, which he places in a large snow-filled globe in his laboratory, before feeding the men to a group of animated snowmen. Meanwhile, the Doctor, still despondent after losing his former companions and , has parked his TARDIS above Victorian London among the clouds, descending to the surface via a long circular staircase, and instructed his allies - the Silurian Madame Vastra, her human wife Jenny, and the Sontaran Strax - to scout the city, through which he learns of Dr Simeon's interest in the snow. Elsewhere, Clara, a barmaid, investigates a disturbance outside her tavern to find the Doctor walking by. She accuses him of building a snowman, but the Doctor realises that the snowman is made of snow with a memory. The Doctor attempts to leave discreetly, but Clara follows him to a coach. The Doctor, hesitant about gaining a new companion, instructs Strax to bring a "memory worm", with the intent to use the creature's touch to wipe away the last hour of Clara's memory, in particular her knowledge of him. As more snowmen form and try to harm them, the Doctor tells Clara that her thoughts are creating the snowmen, and to think of them melting; after she concentrates, the snowmen melt. Clara cautions the Doctor that if he wipes her memory, she will forget how to deal with the snowmen. The Doctor relents, letting her go, and returning to the TARDIS. Clara follows; she finds it locked and knocks, but hides and flees down the staircase when the Doctor answers. Clara returns to her other job as governess for the children of Captain Latimer. She learns that Latimer's daughter has been having horrible dreams about the old governess, who had been frozen a year prior in Latimer's pond - returning from the dead and killing them all. Clara attempts to contact the Doctor but instead attracts the attention of Jenny, who takes her to see Vastra. Vastra tells Clara she gets only one word to impress the Doctor with if she wants his help; she chooses "pond", which arouses the Doctor's interest. The Doctor visits Dr Simeon's laboratory, dressed as , and finds that the giant snow-filled globe contains the , the entity that has been speaking to Dr Simeon since childhood. The Doctor learns that the Great Intelligence has been controlling the snowmen and has taken interest in Latimer's pond, deducing that it contains the DNA to create a new snow creature. The Doctor visits the pond, where an ice creature in the form of the former governess rises out of the pond and enters the mansion. Vastra, Jenny and Strax arrive and trap the creature behind a barrier. Leaving Latimer and the children with his allies, the Doctor flees with Clara to the roof of the mansion followed by the ice creature. They ascend to the TARDIS and the Doctor gives Clara a key, explaining that he now considers her a companion, though he does not understand why. However, the ice creature grabs Clara and pulls her over the edge of the clouds. The Doctor recovers Clara from the snowmen and returns to the mansion. He collects the ice fragments from the creature, ensuring they remain dormant but finding they contain ice-based DNA, the material that the Great Intelligence is looking for, and apparently places them in a souvenir . He travels to Dr Simeon's lab, where the Doctor reveals the Great Intelligence's plan to replace humanity with ice creatures, and holds up the tin, stating that it contains the ice DNA that is necessary for the plan. Dr Simeon grabs the tin, but opens it to find it contains the memory worm. It bites Simeon; the Doctor states that the Great Intelligence, which has been existing as a mirror of Dr Simeon's thoughts, will vanish with the erasure of Dr Simeon's memories. Instead, the Intelligence reveals that it existed long enough that it can now control Dr Simeon's body, which it uses to attack the Doctor. However, the influence of the Great Intelligence quickly wanes, and Dr Simeon falls dead. Outside, a salt-water rain has started, and the Doctor realises that some other, more powerful psychic ability has taken control of the snow from the Great Intelligence. The Doctor deduces that it must be the Latimer family, crying for Clara. Strax informs the Doctor upon his return to the Latimer mansion that Clara only has moments left, and she passes away as the Doctor returns the TARDIS key to her. At her funeral, the Doctor reads Clara's full name, Clara Oswin Oswald, on her tombstone and realises she is the woman he met in "" who became a Dalek. He gleefully announces that a person dying twice is an impossibility he must investigate, says his goodbyes to his allies. In times, a young woman resembling Clara walks through the graveyard. Meanwhile, the Doctor dashes around the TARDIS console, echoing Clara's dying words: "watch me run!" Continuity The previously encountered the in the serials , set in the 1930s, and , set in the 1960s. In these stories, the Great Intelligence uses as its physical presence. The events of The Web of Fear are alluded to by the Doctor in "The Snowmen" when he presents the London Underground biscuit tin to the Great Intelligence in Dr. Simeon's laboratory; the Intelligence states, "I do not understand these markings", in reference to the design on the tin, an in 1892. The Doctor remarks that the Underground is a "key strategic weakness in metropolitan living", referring to (and possibly setting in motion) the future Yeti attack on London via the Underground. In this respect, "The Snowmen" may be considered as a prequel to the Second Doctor Yeti serials, establishing an origin for the Intelligence and explaining its penchant for "Snowmen" and knowledge of the London Underground. Vastra, Jenny and Strax first appeared in "". Vastra and Jenny were considered popular characters from the previous episode with some fans hoping for a spinoff series, but while Moffat stated then he had no time to work on such a show, he would consider reusing the characters within Doctor Who. Strax had died in that episode; the Doctor states that his death has been reversed ("He gave his life for a friend once. Another friend brought him back"), but the circumstances of how this occurred are not explained in full. Clara is given a test by Vastra to ask the Doctor why he should help in one word. She chooses "pond", which is the surname of former companion . In order to convey the emotional effect this word has on the Doctor, during the scene in which he hears it he is wearing the reading glasses Amy left him with at the close of "". Clara is played by the same actress, Coleman, as Oswin Oswald from "Asylum of the Daleks", though the connectivity of these characters is not established until the Doctor takes Clara into the TARDIS. There, the Doctor finds her to have an interest in , a trait that Oswin's character also had; the show uses scenes from "Asylum" to show the Doctor's recollection of this. The final scenes at the graveyard establish that Clara shares the same name as Oswin, leading the Doctor to surmise they are the same person. As seen on her gravestone, Clara's birthdate is 23 November, the date Doctor Who was first transmitted in 1963. Cultural references Doctor Simeon posits that is basing his stories in on the exploits of Vastra, a reference to 's stories of . The Doctor later uses the alias 'Sherlock Holmes' to gain entrance to Simeon's house, bearing the deerstalker and magnifying glass associated with the character. Doctor Who lead writer Steven Moffat, who wrote this episode, is also the co-creator of the BBC series , a contemporary update of Doyle's works, for which Matt Smith auditioned for the part of Doctor Watson. The Doctor Who novel features the sharing an adventure with Holmes himself. Production Promotional poster for The Snowmen Writing and design changes Writer stated that he wanted an "epic" quality to the Christmas special. He compared the withdrawn Doctor seen at the onset of the episode to the first appearances of the () in 1963 and the () in 2005. He also attributed the idea of a retired Doctor to a plot proposed by in the 1970s, but rejected by the production team at the time. As with the first half of series 7, "The Snowmen" was written like a movie. A movie poster was released in the , showing the Doctor and Clara ascending the ladder to the TARDIS. According to producer Caroline Skinner, the concept of introducing the new companion as Oswin in "Asylum of the Daleks" occurred to Moffat during casting auditions for Clara. The production team requested that the press and fans who attended advanced screenings keep Coleman's appearance a secret until "Asylum" was broadcast; the effort was ultimately successful. The episode saw several major design changes for the series. "The Snowmen" is the debut of a redesigned TARDIS interior, as well as a new title sequence and variation of (although the closing credits still use the previous version of the tune). The new title sequence features a brief glimpse of the Eleventh Doctor's face, the first time since the end of the original series in 1989 that the Doctor's face has been seen in the title sequence. Moffat had noticed that the TARDIS' design was getting "progressively whimsical" and resembled more of a "magical place" rather than a machine. The Doctor also wears a new costume, tying in to the purple colour scheme, which Smith described as "a bit meets the Doctor". Moffat described the new outfit as a "progression" as the Doctor was in "a different phase of his life now" and felt more "grown-up" and fatherlike. The costume was designed by Howard Burden for this episode. Casting This episode marks the return of , who previously appeared in the series 7 opener, "". Coleman was cast because of her chemistry with Matt Smith, and especially because she was able to talk faster than him. She auditioned for the role of Clara, not Oswin from "Asylum", as the concept of the two characters being the same only occurred to Moffat whilst casting for Clara. Smith said that Clara was different from her predecessor (), which allowed the audience to see a different side of the Doctor. Moffat felt that the introduction of a new companion made "the show feel different" and brought the story to "a new beginning" with a different person meeting the Doctor. Also returning are as Madame Vastra, as Strax and Catrin Stewart as Jenny. All three previously appeared in "" and reprised their roles both in this episode and in the prequels. They returned due to the popularity of Vastra and Jenny; Moffat considered a spin-off featuring them, though he did not have the time to do it. Instead, he decided to bring them back in the main series. Richard E. Grant had previously played the Doctor on two occasions, as an alternative in the spoof charity special , which was written by Moffat and as an in the animated story which had been intended to be a continuation of the series before it was revived in 2005. Smith commented that Grant was "born to be a Who villain. He pitches it on that perfect level and tone". Grant's appearance in Doctor Who was teased by the BC via , announcing his appearance at midnight August 5 2012. Tom Ward was drawn to his role because of the quality of the script, and also stated his young children were pleased that he appeared in the programme. The Great Intelligence was voiced by . The two children Clara is governess to, Digby and Francesca, were played by real-life brother and sister Joseph and Ellie Darcey-Alden. Filming and effects "The Snowmen" was originally intended to be produced in the fourth production block of the series and be the first episode Coleman shot as her character; however it did not begin filming until the week of 6 August 2012 after Coleman had worked on later episodes while Moffat was writing the Christmas special. The had taken place on 2 August 2012. This was the first Christmas special to be filmed in ' new studios. Scenes featuring Coleman and several guest stars in a Victorian setting were filmed in , while Coleman and Smith were also spotted filming in Bristol two weeks later on 21 August. Some scenes which used snow props were filmed in , where filming took place overnight on 21–22 August 2012. Director Saul Metzstein explained that it was difficult to achieve the desired look for the snowmen; the first ones he likened to from which was too "cute" of an appearance, and so the effects team created more menacing CGI faces. Clara's introduction to the TARDIS introduced two novel effects for the show. The first was a single-shot camera tracking from Clara's point of view, from a few feet away from the TARDIS to its interior, with the implication of the TARDIS's trans-dimenional nature shown to the audience. This was a shot that has been postulated throughout Doctor Who's production history, as documented in the special, but only first to be realized in The Snowmen. In the following shot, the camera does a complete circle of the TARDIS console, an effect not seen since the early days of the show. Metzstein wanted to include this shot to further emphasize the "bigger on the inside than the outside" nature of the time machine. Broadcast and reception "The Snowmen" aired on on 25 December 2012 at 5:15 p.m., the same day on in the US and in Canada and the next day on in Australia. UK overnight ratings showed that the special had been watched by 7.6 million viewers, coming in sixth for the night. Final consolidated figures (not including viewers) showed that the episode was watched by 9.87 million viewers, coming in fourth for the night. It also received an figure of 87, higher than most of the Doctor Who Christmas specials. The iPlayer version had 1,467,220 views, making it the most popular TV show on iPlayer over Christmas. The US airing was seen by 1.43 million viewers, with a 0.6 rating in the demographic of adults aged 18–49. Critical reception The episode received mostly positive reviews. Dan Martin of called it "actually the best since ''" and the first to be "actually scary", with "everything we like" about Doctor Who and Christmas. He praised Coleman's introduction as Clara and the gang of Vastra, Jenny, and Strax. 's Matt Risley gave "The Snowman" a score of 9.4 out of 10, describing it as "a rollicking, riveting masterclass in storytelling" which "refreshingly" lacked traditional Christmas references "in favour of some sparkling dialogue, gorgeous set design and fascinating characterisation". While he felt that Grant and McKellan were underused, he was very positive towards Coleman's "unpredictable" Clara. reviewer Patrick Mulkern was pleased with the return of the Great Intelligence despite an inconsistency in the timeline he found, and praised the "lovely images" and direction of the special, though he felt the variation of the theme music "lacks the menace" of the original. While he was positive towards Clara, he was "unmoved by her death" as it was "plainly silly" that she did not look injured. Nick Setchfield of gave the special four and a half out of five stars, writing that the "the power of emotion saves the day again" was appropriate in light of the festivities and many fairytales referenced in the story. Setchfield was positive towards the "terrific" comedy with Strax, Coleman and the "surprisingly underused" Grant, as well as the new title sequence and TARDIS. While he wrote that the subtle callback of the Great Intelligence was "a tad more interesting than the usual 'So, we meet again!' schtick", he ultimately felt their threat "never quite comes into sharp relief". Neela Debnath of wrote that "The Snowmen" was stronger than the previous year's "" as it was connected to the overall story of the series, but "still has a way to go if it is to live up to ''". Despite feeling that it was "enjoyable", she noted that "the story feels truncated and rushed" 's Jon Cooper also praised Coleman and the new side of the Doctor that was shown, comparing it to () challenging the (). However, he felt the character-heavy story was to the detriment of the plot, which was "a classic Who set-up that ultimately suffers from a lack of explanation [and] more set-pieces than a coherent whole". He felt that the episode may not have been accessible for casual viewers, but offered much for fans in time for the programme's fiftieth anniversary. Dominic Cavendish of gave "The Snowmen" three out of five stars, disappointed that it was not as scary as it had been hyped to be. While he was positive towards Smith and the TARDIS on the cloud, he criticised Strax and the "-like complexity" of the script. References ^ Jeffery, Morgan (19 December 2012). . . Retrieved 27 December 2012. . BBC News. 21 March 2012. Retrieved 1 September 2012. . BBC. 8 December 2012. Retrieved 8 December 2012. ^ . BBC. Retrieved 27 December 2012. Hogan, Michael (14 August 2012). . . Retrieved 1 September 2012. . BBC. 26 October 2012. Retrieved 28 October 2012. ^ Martin, Dan (29 September 2012). . . Retrieved 26 December 2012. ^ Risley, Matt (25 December 2012). . . Retrieved 26 December 2012. ^ Setchfield, Nick (25 December 2012). . . Retrieved 26 December 2012. . SFX. 16 November 2012. Retrieved 17 November 2012. Their marriage is not revealed until the main special itself. (Video). BBC. 20 November 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2012. ^ (Video). BBC. 17 December 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2012. Wilkins, Alasdair (25 December 2012). . . Retrieved 25 December 2012. . SFX. 10 June 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2011. Setchfield, Nick (22 July 2011). . SFX. Retrieved 29 December 2012. Sagers, Aaron (18 December 2012). . . Retrieved 7 January 2013. French, Dan (4 February 2010). . Digital Spy. Retrieved 4 February 2010. . Doctor Who Reviews. Retrieved 4 January 2013. ^ . BBC. 8 December 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2012. Moffat, Steven (December 2012). "Mr presents – Past & Future". Radio Times. Goodacre, Kate (27 November 2012). . Digital Spy. Retrieved 31 December 2012. ^ . YouTube. 1 September 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2013. Martinovic, Paul (1 September 2012). . . Retrieved 30 December 2012. Mulkern, Patrick (8 December 2012). . . Retrieved 18 December 2012. . BBC. 8 December 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2012. . BBC. 17 December 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2012. Jones, Paul (4 December 2012). . . Retrieved 18 December 2012. Setchfield, Nick (20 December 2012). . . Retrieved 27 December 2012. Collins, Clark (28 November 2012). . . Retrieved 28 December 2012. Jeffery, Morgan (21 March 2012). . . Retrieved 25 June 2012. ^ . SFX. 30 May 2012. Retrieved 2 September 2012. Setchfield, Nick (22 July 2012). . SFX. Retrieved 17 November 2012. Walker-Arnott, Ellie (18 December 2012). . . Retrieved 18 December 2012. . Twitter @bbcdoctorwho. 5 August 2012. Retrieved 31 December 2012. . BBC. 6 August 2012. Retrieved 31 December 2012. Brew, Simon. . Den of Geek. Dennis Publishing. Retrieved 8 December 2012. (: ) (446). 5 April 2012. . BBC. 6 August 2012. Retrieved 2 September 2012. Saunders, Louise (9 August 2012). . . Retrieved 2 September 2012. Edwards, Richard (21 August 2012). . SFX. Retrieved 2 September 2012. . This is Bristol. 21 August 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2012. ^ Synnot, Siobhan (23 December 2013). . . Retrieved 4 January 2013. Who, Dale (28 December 2012). . Doctor Who Online. Retrieved 4 January 2013. Jeffery, Morgan (4 December 2012). . . Retrieved 27 December 2012. (Press release). . Retrieved 27 December 2012. . . 24 December 2012. Retrieved 31 December 2012. . . Retrieved 31 December 2012. . . 26 December 2012. Retrieved 27 December 2012. (Press release). BBC. 2 January 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2013. . . 27 December 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2012. ^ Laughlin, Andrew (2 January 2013). . Digital Spy. Retrieved 2 January 2013. Bibel, Sara (27 December 2012). . TV by the Numbers. Retrieved 30 December 2012. Mulkern, Patrick (25 December 2012). . . Retrieved 26 December 2012. Cooper, Jon (25 December 2012). . . Retrieved 26 December 2012. Cavendish, Dominic (25 December 2012). . . Retrieved 26 December 2012.

The whole show comes from the offices of Dennis Publishing and we meet Nik Rawlinson, Editor of Mac User; Gareth Ogden, Editor of Custom PC and regular Paul Trotter, News & Features Editor of PC-Pro. They discuss the year gone and the year to come in computing.