Trust, collaboration and the craft of journalism were hot topics at the Memcom Conference 2025, says editor, Louise Parfitt.

Change or die? That was the title of one of the sessions at this year’s Memcom Conference, at which CPL One was a sponsor, exhibitor, and host of a panel discussion.

The day was also an opportunity for us to take a wider view of what the future of membership associations and their supporting communications will look like – and how societal and technological changes are already impacting the sector. 

Adam Sampson, CEO of the Association of Optometrists, who hosted the ‘Change or die’ session, likened the current period in which we find ourselves to a new industrial revolution. He asked what membership associations need to be doing differently and how we can prepare them for change – or even to no longer exist. The discussion wove in challenges around membership numbers, the potential to evolve the transactional model of membership and what that could look like, and audience engagement in an increasingly digital-focused world of work. 

Understanding member needs

My colleague Lucy Oakshott, business development director at CPL One, took a deeper dive into this topic when she moderated a session titled ‘Print v digital: finding the sweet spot for member engagement’. The discussion highlighted that this isn’t a simple ‘either/or’ conversation. It’s about understanding your members – what they need, what they value, and how best to reach them in a world of endless formats and platforms.

During the session, we heard from Christian Walsh, content and digital director of the Market Research Society, whose organisation has moved to solely using a digital space for its magazine; John Mark Williams, CEO of the Institute of Leadership, which is moving to a hybrid print and digital model for its communications; and Sajeeda Merali, CEO of the PPA, who emphasised that the commodity of trust cannot be underestimated. 

“The craft of journalism overlaid with an established brand creates a trusted environment, and from a membership perspective that’s really important,” she said. “As a member of an organisation, I want to know that the information I get from that organisation can be relied upon.”

Williams said one of the most important things is making sure you take your audience with you if you decide to change or use a different format. “In the end, it’s all about expectations, and I sometimes think that’s the most important word in the world. What are the expectations of our target audience for how we will engage with them and present content?”

Collaborative approach

What is clear is that no matter which path membership organisations take, trust and collaboration remain at the heart of the journey. A content marketing agency such as CPL One can help guide you on the way, to think about what you want to achieve with your membership content, what its role is in that member-benefits sphere, and how it helps your community belong and feel part of the organisation. 

And that is what the day was about – a community coming together to take a long look at the challenges it faces, to embrace the opportunities that may arise and prepare for some hard choices. Most of all, it was a reminder that there is power in being bold, being curious, and making strategic, insight-driven choices. 

Want to know more about how we can meet the expectations of your membership? Get in touch.

The power of personalised care in occupational therapy is highlighted in our latest film, as one therapist goes beyond expectations…

An occupational therapist can have a profound impact on someone’s life – the kind of impact that is showcased in the most recent video CPL One has filmed and produced for NHS England. 

Making the first move tells the story of a young person with mental health challenges and an occupational therapist who is willing to go the extra mile to connect with him, by learning chess in her own time.

The therapist’s dedication creates an opportunity for the service user to engage with her and begin to open up. 

It is a story that beautifully illustrates the emotional depth that personalised care in occupational therapy can achieve. 

Therapists often have to work hard to make a connection – and change may not happen overnight – but when breakthroughs are made, no matter how small, the job is rewarding beyond words.

Much like film-makers, occupational therapists are masters of making people feel something and can truly inspire positive change.

“We know that occupational therapists do incredibly important work and we really enjoy working with them,” says Alex Lamb, CPL One senior account manager and producer of the film. “We’re delighted that CPL One’s film-making team has been able to capture the very real impact they  have on people’s lives.”

Poonam Hyland, NHS England’s deputy regional chief allied health professional in the East of England, said:“We’re really pleased with the work that CPL One has produced for us again. This film beautifully captures the dedication and empathy that occupational therapists demonstrate every single day. Their commitment to improving the lives of their patients is truly inspiring, and this film is a testament to the profound impact they have.”

Watch our previous OT film here:

To find out how CPL One can help you with video or animation, get in touch with [email protected]

Senior account director Stewart Dymock reports from the CMA conference with some useful marketing takeaways to help get your brand seen and heard.

The recent Content Marketing Association (CMA) conference brought together industry leaders, creative minds, and marketing professionals to discuss the biggest trends shaping content marketing today.

The overarching theme? Content saturation. We all know that audiences are bombarded with messaging 24/7 across multiple platforms and devices. But how do we help our clients cut through all that noise with authenticity and creativity? Here are a few ideas from the conference that might help you get started:

Get to the point with video storytelling
When it comes to video, the first 5-15 seconds are crucial. Audiences like to feel an immediate emotional connection with what they’re watching. At the conference, the BBC shared invaluable insights on why pacing, curiosity, and authenticity can all help keep viewers engaged and invested. 

Print can still power success
Is print still relevant in the digital age? At CPL One we strongly believe it is, and we were glad to find that view shared widely at the conference. We heard how even digitally native Gen Z values print, especially in premium and specialist publications. Plus, print offers an escape from digital overload, making it a uniquely powerful tool for brands and organisations.

Craft content for younger audiences
Brand safety and creative storytelling are non-negotiable when targeting younger audiences. Interestingly, print is still a strong player in this space, as many parents seek alternatives to excessive screen time for their children. Thoughtful, engaging, and safe content is key.

Recognise our changing habits
Consumer behaviour is always shifting. At the CMA conference we had a taster session from the world of food retail, hearing how bespoke menus, the avoidance of ultra-processed foods (UPFs), and the continued rise of vegetarianism are reshaping the way brands are engaging with their audiences. The lesson? Understanding the evolving tastes and habits of our audiences is crucial for content marketers looking to stay ahead.

Creativity and originality come first
It was good to hear that, in an age of increasingly automated processes, the originality of human creativity still takes precedence. While data is a vital tool, human thought should remain at the centre of content strategy, rather than letting algorithms dictate its direction. Brands that embrace originality stand out in an increasingly homogenised digital world.

Make it meaningful
Cold metrics alone won’t build a lasting brand. Today’s consumers (and members of organisations are consumers too) crave meaningful relationships with brands. Making an authentic connection with your customers should be your priority – and if you need more data to understand your audience, it’s a sign you may not be close enough to them. The focus, we were advised at the conference, should shift from short-term KPIs to long-term impact.

We can summarise these points in four key touchstones for successful content marketing:

1. Keep it quality
   Audiences are overwhelmed by constant marketing messages. Quality over quantity is the new rule.
   
2. Make it authentic
   Whether it’s storytelling, branding, or longer-term engagement, genuine connections resonate more than gimmicks or slick-sounding platitudes.
   
3. Balance data with human-first marketing
   Metrics matter, but creativity and emotional connections drive long-term success.
   
4. Stand out
   The more data-driven marketing becomes, the more homogeneous it risks being. The brands that thrive will be those that dare to be different.

Here at CPL One these four touchstones are all part of our mission to help people belong. If you need a little help to embrace creative originality, prioritise emotional connections with your audience, and tell real stories that matter, let’s be in touch.

What insights can we gain from the latest marketing trends round-ups? CPL One’s senior content strategist, Martin Bewick, distils some useful advice from the predictions for 2025.

At the start of every year, our inboxes here at CPL One are inundated with press releases about the latest trends and marketing predictions. And with so many apparently crucial recommendations, it can be difficult to cut through the noise to find what’s really useful.

Here, I’ve picked out 10 trends, stats and pieces of advice that feel pertinent to our work and clients. In no particular order, it’s a little pick’n’mix of predictions for the year ahead. Which could we help you with?

1. Create a whole world for your audience
Trend forecasters WGSN say that successful brands are now ‘world-building’ for their audiences – creating wide-ranging engagement to reinforce their messaging and brand identity on a broad scale. Could world-building help you develop more compelling storylines about your business?

2. Conversations build trust
TikTok reminds us, via its ‘Trust Fund’ trend, that content sparks conversations. It’s a way to allow your audience to participate in a story and feel part of the narrative – which helps to build trust. How could we help you start those conversations?

3. Customer experience is key
Cloud software expert NICE reminds us that customer experience (CX) is no longer just part of the business; it is the business. So, how is your CX working at the moment? Could it be improved?

4. Creativity over consistency
Hootsuite advises us that, for many brands, nearly all content is entertainment driven. That means it’s not just about creating consistent content, it’s about pushing boundaries and breaking out from what’s normal to deliver the unexpected. Could we help you get a little more creative with your content?

5. People are bored with social media ads
So says market research company Kantar. How do we get people to engage with ads on social, then? To up your social media game, bring some humour, it says – which works for Gen Z just as well as for Boomers. Is it time to up your social media game?

6. AI for life
Ad giant Dentsu acknowledges that we’ve reached a tipping point: AI is here to stay, and it’s already crossed over into mainstream use. Don’t fight it, feel it, seems to be the advice. But how are you going to use it? And do you have a policy for it?

7. We all search, but where do we search?
Global news-folk Reuters inform us that when it comes to online search for info, consumers go here, there and everywhere. Google (despite predictions of its demise) is still going strong, but Facebook is having a bit of a dip. What are your priorities?

8. Listen up!
Podcasts. Even Gen Alpha (that’s schoolkids!) likes podcasts. Audience research group GWI notes they only trail behind playlists and the charts in terms of preferred audio content for pretty much everyone. Have you got a podcast? Would you like one?

9. YouTube is bigger than ever
…says global culture and sports business IMG. And whether it’s TikTok, Instagram Reels or showcasing video on LinkedIn or Threads, video is a priority across platforms. So, what’s your audience watching?

10. Print’s not dead (again) – but is it a luxury?
Here’s a nice little write-up from a printer in London of what’s in store for print magazines over the year ahead. Could we help you create printed publications that really get your audience talking?

If you’d like to know more about how we can help you plan and create successful content for the year ahead, get in touch.

As CPL One managing director Mike Sewell explains, we’ll be making extra donations to three charities this year.

First it was the Christmas cards. Now it’s the Christmas chocolates.

Not so long ago, our team members spent hours during the build-up to Christmas signing hundreds of cards for our clients, suppliers and other stakeholders.

We stopped posting physical Christmas cards a few years ago, but have continued to send chocolates and other gifts in recent years.

They were both a lovely thing to do; a chance to say thank you to the many people with whom we work and to acknowledge that it takes a true team effort to create and deliver some consistently great work during the year.

But, in recent years, we have increasingly questioned whether sending physical gifts to our clients and stakeholders was always the right thing to do. So, for Christmas 2024, we have decided to give more money to the three charities we support as a company. 

We’re sure you will understand why we’re doing this.

These charities do some fantastic work – and I trust you’ll allow me a quick plug for each of them here.

1. Mesothelioma UK

The charity supports people with this horrible form of asbestos cancer. It’s a charity that is particularly close to the hearts of the team at CPL One as Martin (pictured below left), the husband of our colleague Janette Millan (below right), is currently living with mesothelioma. 

Soon after we heard about Martin’s diagnosis, it was brilliant to see Janette’s fellow media sales expert Caroline Harland (below centre) rise to the occasion and go full-on in raising funds for Martin, Janette and the charity. Caroline ran a brilliant coffee morning at our office in August, followed soon after by a crowdfunding campaign that would enable Martin and Janette to set off on a holiday of a lifetime to make some precious memories.

Between them, these raised more than £7,650 and CPL One is pleased to be making a further contribution to Mesothelioma UK this Christmas. 

2. Abbey People 

With its universities, science parks and fast-growing biomedical campus, Cambridge is an affluent city. But it also has sections of extreme poverty including in and around the Barnwell area, where our Cambridge office is located. Abbey People runs targeted local community projects, including running a food hub, supporting access to education and employment, and developing a culture of volunteering in the community. We support employees to volunteer at the food hub, and hope that more will do so in 2025 when we’ll also be carrying out some pro bono work for Abbey People, including creating newsletters and an annual report.

For this Christmas, our Wellbeing team have liaised with Abbey People to arrange for our employees (a few of whom are pictured below) to put together two special hampers for families who are struggling with extra financial pressures at this time of year. It has been brilliant to see our team’s response – and the company will be making a financial contribution to further support Abbey People’s work.

3. Batemans Trust

This one, I have to admit, is particularly close to my heart. My wife and I volunteered for the Batemans Trust in Chennai, India, back in 2006-7, supporting the fantastic work this small charity does to deliver education, secure accommodation and welfare for disadvantaged children. 

Over the years since then, the charity has changed the life chances of dozens of young people and it has ambitious plans to build its own school in the future.

CPL One sponsors seven-year-old Roshini (pictured below), who had a particularly challenging childhood before joining the girls’ hostel run by Batemans’ sister charity the Satkaarya Trust. We also carry out pro bono work for the charity, writing and designing an annual printed newsletter, as well as regular enewsletters and other material. And we’ll be topping up our donations to the charity this Christmas.

Of course, we all have individual charities that we support, but if you feel able to make a donation to one or more of these charities this year it would be hugely appreciated. And it might even make up for not receiving a box of chocolates from CPL One this year!

Donate to Mesothelioma UK here.

Donate to Abbey People here.

Donate to Batemans Trust here.

CPL One managing director Mike Sewell on maximising your content and other lessons learned at a recent industry conference.

As a full-service content marketing agency, you’d expect us to work hard to keep up to speed on trends and developments in our various sectors.

That’s why, during 2024, our team members have attended flagship industry events, conferences and festivals run by organisations including the Content Marketing Association, the Internet Advertising Bureau, the Periodical Publishers’ Association (PPA) and two membership organisations, the Association of Association Executives and Memcom.

At last month’s Independent Publishers Network Conference, organised by the PPA, I had the chance to learn about the challenges and opportunities facing commercial magazine publishing organisations – and consider how they apply to our clients.

Perhaps the most encouraging point for me was that all the publishers present were striving to do something that our membership clients have, by their very nature, already achieved – that is, build communities. 

They have spent years, decades and, in some cases, more than a century creating communities with their members.

So, in many ways, when working on membership publishing projects, our teams at CPL One are in a strong position. We just need to ensure we continue to create must-read, must-watch and must-listen to content, and take advantage of the revenue opportunities that come from having an engaged audience that is part of a community of people and organisations with shared interests.  

Much of the focus of the PPA conference was on how to make the most of these revenue opportunities.

In his keynote address, Juan Señor, author of a major 2024 media report, advocated the ‘freemium’ model as fundamental for commercial publishers. 

As the image below shows, Freemium involves organising your digital content in three ways:

1.  Free

2. Behind a data wall

3. Behind a paywall.

Señor argued that all three need to be combined to help drive engagement, subscriptions and revenue: “Your data wall is just as important as your paywall,” he stressed.

He also picked out a few other key priorities for publishers that are highlighted in the report. These include:

• Maximising AI-powered media to streamline workflows and processes: “You should embrace AI,” he said, but emphasised that editorial experts need to stay closely involved in all content production –  ‘human first and human last’ should be the guiding principle. “Listen to your editors; they will make you the money,” he added.
• Valuing print: “Print is your flagship, premium proposition; cancelling it is a big mistake,” he said. People like reading magazines, he added, because: “Humans love to say they have finished something – a Netflix series, for example. You never finish a website, but you can finish a magazine.”

It’s a good report – I thoroughly recommend investing in it.

CPL One’s publishing clients have varying requirements for their digital and print strategies. But as we develop and evolve a range of multichannel solutions on their behalf, we will continue to take into account the lessons and insights from our peers in the commercial publishing world.

If you would like to talk to me or a colleague about how best to combine and transition your print and digital content strategy, do get in touch.

CPL One’s managing director reflects on how agencies such as CPL One, and our clients, can learn from the way successful theatre companies manage to blend the best of the old and the new.

How can brands and organisations strike the best balance between a) sticking to their core quality-based principles, and b) evolving and innovating to meet the needs of their audiences?

It’s a question we debate regularly with our clients. We want to ensure the content marketing we create on their behalf reflects the quality of their brands while also remaining relevant for the people who engage with, and act on, the stories we tell.

During a couple of visits to London’s West End last week, it struck me that Theatreland manages to do this rather well.

First, a meeting with our client Delfont Mackintosh Theatres (DMT) reminded me how they manage to strike the right balance between being rooted in quality and heritage while also focusing on constant evolution and innovation.

In the introduction to the many programmes our sister company, Cabbells, creates on behalf of DMT, legendary producer Cameron Mackintosh waxes lyrical about some of the long-running shows in the West End.

These include Les Misérables, “storming into its 40^th year at the Sondheim Theatre”, and those “timeless dancing queens looking younger than ever” after their 25^th anniversary in MAMMA MIA! at the Novello.

Yet, at the same time as hosting these classic shows, DMT consistently encourages innovation in two obvious ways.

First, by providing a home for existing shows in brand-new productions.

Shows in DMT theatres this autumn include a fresh interpretation of the Irish classic Juno and the Paycock, starring Mark Rylance and Succession’s J. Smith-Cameron, and a new production of Stanley Kubrick’s Dr Strangelove, with Steve Coogan.

Second, by creating completely new shows.

For example, Opening Night was a brand-new musical starring Sheridan Smith that premiered this year, while Inside No 9 will see the cult TV show adapted for the West End from next January.

Here at CPL One, we always look to strike a similar balance between quality and innovation. After winning a new contract for the Institute of Leadership earlier this year, we are now shaping a content strategy that blends a high-quality printed magazine with a range of new digital solutions.

For our client Darley, we are creating great advertising and promotional material in a range of traditional channels, such as print and outdoor, while also maximising our teams’ skills in animation to create engaging ads on their own websites and other relevant digital channels. 

Other clever solutions in recent months include marking clients’ anniversaries through engaging and creative approaches – for example, this animation and this digital brochure.

Apart from my DMT meeting, my other Theatreland visit last week (see picture above) was to see Samuel Beckett’s classic play Waiting for Godot, starring Ben Whishaw, of Paddington voiceover fame, and featuring (name-drop warning) my brilliant brother-in-law Tom Edden.

What has this got to do with content marketing, you ask? It’s a fair question, particularly when you bear in mind the Wikipedia summary that describes the play’s exploration of “absurdity, nihilism and friendship” and how it is considered a landmark of the Theatre of the Absurd movement, which portrayed the “futility of human existence in a senseless world”.

But there is a link, because the play provided another reminder of how talented directors, producers and actors can take a tried-and-tested story and bring it to life in a new, different and better way.

That’s exactly what we’re doing for our clients every day.So, if you think we can help you or your organisation bring your story to life in a new, different and better way, then please get in touch.

We trialled posting on TikTok every day for 30 days; what we learned will benefit us and our clients, say CPL One’s Maia Parratt and Chessie Cronk.

Everyone knows TikTok is huge – it boasts an incredible one billion monthly active users globally and has launched influencers, pop stars, chefs (you name it) on a fast track to fame. But what resources does it take for an organisation to make an impact there? And what kind of results can you expect? 

At CPL One we set ourselves the challenge to post to TikTok every day for 30+ days. This journey was challenging, and rewarding (especially when one of our videos went viral). It also provided us with valuable insights into the platform and how to effectively engage with audiences.

Here are a few things to remember:

1. Frequency is key

Posting daily on TikTok is widely advised. The TikTok algorithm favours active accounts and it improves your visibility and reach. It helps you stay relevant and front-of-mind with audiences, and establishes a reliable presence to grow your following. 

2. Don’t bank on virality

When you first scroll through TikTok it looks as if everyone left, right, and centre is going viral, but that is definitely not the case. Virality is almost impossible to predict, so don’t focus on it or feel deflated when it doesn’t happen. Usually, it’s the ones you least expect that will get picked up by the algorithm. 

Instead, keep posting, and trialling new content ideas and see what resonates with your audience the most. 

3. Don’t always be a trend copycat 

On TikTok, trends come and go quickly, so it’s important to jump on what’s trending fast. However, we learned not to rely solely on trends, and to post original content too, such as asking our colleagues interesting questions and sparking debate in the office and comments section. You can also take a trend and flip it on its head to make your own version that stands out from the crowd.

4. Test, learn, try again 

Experimentation is crucial, particularly in the early stages of growing your following, as you don’t yet know what sort of content your target audience will engage with. We tried various formats (images and videos), longer vs short- form content, trending and silly content vs more serious work-related content, and different times of posting. What works for one profile may not work for another.

5. Let your personality loose

‘Authenticity’ is an overused term in marketing, but TikTok really does thrive on it. Make sure you have fun with it and show off your personality. TikTok audiences watch at leisure to enjoy funny, relatable content, or to learn something in an easy-to-consume way. Our most viewed pieces of content so far have been the lighthearted posts we created.

6. Followers are not your key KPI 

Nearly all the traffic to our content (around 93%) came via the For You Page (FYP), rather than directly from our followers. For our top-viewed video, which went viral with 2.3 million views, almost all views came from non-followers. It shows that, with TikTok, engagement metrics such as total views, likes and comments are more indicative of performance (and how the platform works) than acquisition of followers. 

7. It’s all about engagement 

The more people who engage with your content, the more TikTok registers that the content is something people are enjoying, and the algorithm will push it out to even more viewers. Our most successful post asked who was the youngest colleague in our Cambridge office, based on a series of fun clues. Encouraging people to engage in this way generated a lot of comments, and the more who commented, the more TikTok pushed the content out, creating a snowball effect.

8. Stand out with original content

Trends may drive quick wins, but original content helped us build a unique brand voice and identity, and allowed us to show off our wider team by getting more people involved. Balancing trend content with our own creative ideas ensured long-term interest and loyalty from our audience. 

9. Reuse content on other channels 

We’ve also started to test how TikTok content works on other channels, including Instagram, which usually lags slightly behind the TikTok trend cycle. Publishing content across social channels brings a little more bang for your buck and, while not all content works as well on every channel, it adds some welcome brand synergy. Just don’t forget to remove the TikTok watermark before posting elsewhere.

10. Engage with your audience

Actively engaging with our audience’s comments showed that we valued their input and encouraged more interaction. Doing so helps to build relationships and a sense of community. Plus, comments can provide inspiration for future content.

So there it is… our 30-day TikTok experiment taught us the importance of consistency, creativity, and engagement when creating content for the platform. It’s helped us to increase brand awareness and demonstrate the fun side of working at CPL One. 

If you’re considering a similar challenge, remember to be flexible, stay true to your brand and, most importantly, have fun with it! 

If you think your business could benefit from TikTok and would like some help from our social media team, get in touch.