On 25 June, the PPA Awards 2025 brought together the best of the publishing industry to celebrate bold ideas, brilliant content, and the people driving it all forward.
We’re absolutely thrilled to celebrate Colin Marrs from Construction News, part of the emap family, who was named Editor of the Year (Business Media). Colin wowed the judges with his extensive knowledge of the market, relentless pursuit of exclusive content, and bold leadership in digital innovation across his department. It’s always a joy to see brilliant editorial vision recognised – and this one couldn’t be more deserved. Massive congratulations from all of us at ESco.
And the celebrations didn’t stop there. Construction News also earned a Highly Commended mention in the brand-new Best Digital Product or Service category for their premium subscription product, CN Intelligence. Judges applauded the smart, innovative solutions that have enhanced customer experience and driven revenue growth. Naturally, we’re extra proud of this one – because we helped bring it to life.
Back when CN Intelligence launched in October 2024, emap’s Marketing Director Steven Barkess told us:
Thank you to the team at ESco for helping us launch our first premium subscription product. This is another level for our subscribers to benefit from in this increasing data driven environment. Not only were ESco highly efficient in creating this new product, they also completed some complicated development so our existing subscribers could easily upgrade in one-click, a massive user benefit.
Steven Barkess, Marketing Director, emap
And our own Federica Rainaldi, Project Manager here at ESco, reflected on the partnership:
We created a brand new functionality that enables emap to offer automatic upgrades through our e-commerce platform. This feature incorporates a dynamic pricing structure tailored to subscribers’ tenure, optimising the campaign’s success. Steven’s proactive engagement throughout the process – from initial planning to execution – was key in ensuring that ESco delivered the best solution for CN intelligence and I am proud to have been part of bringing this project to life.
Federica Rainaldi, Project Manager, ESco
The whole project was a brilliant example of what can happen when good tech, good people and great content come together with a shared goal. We loved being part of it.
Elsewhere in the room, there was more success for our client New Scientist, of Harmsworth Media. The brand picked up a silver in Cover of the Year for their special issue on anxiety, took home Event of the Year (Consumer Media) for New Scientist Live, and were named outright winner of Newsletter of the Year for the New Scientist Book Club. The judges were full of praise for their powerful content, brand extensions and ability to grow audiences through trusted, community-led communication. Huge kudos to the team!
We were also delighted to see our brilliant mailings client, Creature & Co., scoop up Subscriptions/Marketing Initiative of the Year for their work on Nat Geo Kids and Nat Geo Little Kids Magazine. Their Customer‑First Subscriptions Strategy stood out to the judges for its holistic, creative and data‑driven approach – combining clever targeting with beautifully integrated teamwork to deliver a seamless subscriber experience and impressive commercial results.
A huge well done to all the winners and highly commended finalists from all of us here at ESco. You can browse the full list of winners on the PPA Awards 2025 website, here.
All in all, a brilliant night for business and consumer media, and a proud moment for us as long-term collaborators and supporters of emap’s digital journey. From all of us at ESco – congratulations again to Colin Marrs, the Construction News team, and everyone at emap and New Scientist. Here’s to even more innovation and impact in the year ahead.
