Two years after sharply downsizing its PR department, Australian magazine publisher ACP has come to the conclusion public relations efforts need to be increased and that they need to give themselves a public voice. They thus chose Deborah Thomas, one of their most successful former editors, to fulfill this position, appointing her General Manager: Media, Public Affairs and Brand Development.
Deborah Thomas has been working for the ACP for 23 years and is mostly known for the position as editor-in-chief of Asutralian Women’s Weekly, Australia biggest monthly title, which she held for a decade. In 2009 she was appointed General Manager – Editorial and Advertising Projects, Women’s Lifestyle and has now moved to handling ACP’s PR.
According to the ACP announcement: “Ms Thomas will oversee public relations and cross-promotions, implement integrated promotional strategies to help drive circulation and advertising revenues, and represent ACP at events and in the media to support magazine brand campaigns and sponsorships.”
ACP group publishing director Phil Scott, said: “As Australia’s largest publisher of magazines, with the majority read by women, it is important that ACP has strong relationships with its community and the media and Deborah is uniquely qualified for this role.”
The ACP move come in an Australian market where the magazine industry as a whole soars on coverage, with an incredible low profile. This is partly caused by the fact that Magazine Publishers of Australia who was covering the industry lost most of its funding and the MPA awards were canceled due to that fact. ACP is most surely planning to change its PR strategy of releasing an occasional press release through a PR agency and putting in proper effort to compete with Pacific Magazines and News Magazines which are currently those making most publications and being perceived as leaders of the magazine industry.
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