Welcome to Axon Publishing. 11 Plough Yard, London EC2A 3LP Telephone: 020 7684 7111 Fax: 020 7684 7122 mail@axonpublish.com
The UK's most creative contract publishing agency - inspiring connections through customer magazines and catalogues

Welcome to Axon Publishing.

About Us:

A full-service publishing agency:

We publish customer magazines, catalogues, B2B communications and other client publications, for which we provide creative, editorial, advertising sales, print and distribution services, as our clients require. We extend that capability into online, direct mail and multilingual communications.

What makes us special:

Contract publishers always say they offer creative, effective communications, partnership with clients, understanding of brands, strategic ad sales, experienced management of print and distribution and the ability to ally magazines, catalogues and online. The difference is, we do it – we’ve done it since 1994, and we’ve got the portfolio to prove it. Special? Unique.

How we work:

Axon has a core staff of outstanding, experienced professionals at every level. For each individual project we then draw upon a network of writers, contracted free-lancers and creatives. It means that we employ the right people for any particular project – often from newspapers, newsstand magazines and other publications – and employ them only when a client’s publishing schedule requires them. The result is cost–effective, flexible, and means that the best possible people are dedicated to a client’s work.

Who we are: 

Axon is an independent publishing agency, neither part of a media conglomerate, nor a newsstand publisher doing contract work on the side. The agency is still run and owned by its founders, Ellen Brush and Paul Keers, who believed that by combining their respective publishing and editorial skills, they would achieve the ideal balance for a contract publisher. They retain day-to-day, hands-on involvement in all of the company’s work – because otherwise, there’s no point.

Services:

Editorial: 
Everything a publication says, and the way in which it says it, falls within the remit of our editorial service. The very concept of a publication – its purpose, and the format that will achieve it – will be proposed and developed by our editorial team. That team will then work to create the content for that publication. For some clients it is written in-house; for others, it is commissioned from named writers and experts, often from newspapers or magazines, whose bylines add credibility and authority to a client’s publication. Together, our editors and writers are able to research, create, commission and write content – that entertains, that informs and that sells.

Design:
What you see is what you get – and what you’ll see is great. Years of award-winning work for Conran, across magazines and catalogues, are just one demonstration of our design credentials. We have access not only to the best designers, but also to photographers, stylists, picture libraries and illustrators, to achieve the right visuals for a project. And we provide the same standards of innovation, creativity and quality for all of our clients, whether the design is for innovative, one-off communications, stylish magazines, effective catalogues, formal corporate or business publications.

Advertising sales: 
Third-party advertising is important to our publications. The revenue achieved from advertisements within a publication can reduce the costs of publication. Advertisements also help to create the environment of a magazine – as opposed to a brochure. They also, through the brand names displayed, reflect the market positioning of a client. Advertising is always selected carefully and vetted by clients before publication.

Beyond magazines  
On behalf of its clients, Axon has extended its capabilities into a wide range of leaflets, direct mail, brochures and small format publications. Using our understanding of our clients' brands and objectives, and calling upon a range of creatives not usually available to pure marketing agencies, Axon can deliver original, effective work across all print media.

All of the content that Axon creates – photography, editorial and promotional content – works as part of our multi-channel offering to clients. Our magazines are extended into email newsletters and website presence. Our catalogues work as fundamental elements in multi-channel marketing, inspiring and driving customers online to make their purchases. New media is a natural extension of the work we produce, and part of our partnership with clients.

Production / Distribution 
Axon has a roster of repro houses, paper merchants, printers and distributors with whom it has built up relationships over the years. It means that when it comes to the practicalities of producing publications, and getting them into the hands of their audiences, quality, schedules and budgets can always be maintained.

Research  
We like research – it proves that what we do, works. We can commission either quantitative or qualitative research on behalf of our clients, from agencies that understand the way in which readers respond in focus groups, telephone research and other response mechanisms. In partnership with the Royal Mail, which works to prove the effectiveness of mailed communications, a subsidy is available towards the cost of researching our posted publications. Our clients can also choose to participate in the Advantage study, the most comprehensive analysis of publication effectiveness.

Our green credentials 
Axon works with its clients to reduce the environmental impact of its publications. Clients can opt for publications on recycled paper, or on paper from sustainable forests; we can discuss the options in packaging and transporting publications; we propose proofing and presentation methods that are as environmentally friendly as possible. We also recycle the waste paper and other products from our own office.

Work:

Marks & Spencer: 
Axon is responsible for the complete creative production of M&S Home, a catalogue of 320+ pages published twice a year, featuring Marks & Spencer furniture and homeware. Around this core project Axon has been responsible for a number of M&S publications: Summer Home, an annual outdoor living brochure; Christmas at Home; Technology, promoting the range of home electronics sold by Marks & Spencer; and a number of leaflets, direct mail promotions and other projects.

St Pancras International
After an £800 million restoration, St Pancras International reopened in November 2007 as the Eurostar terminal in London. Destination was first published in Spring 2008, to coincide with its In Bloom festival, celebrating its blossoming as a shopping, dining and leisure destination.

With its stunning architectural features, international passengers, over 40 shops, restaurants and services, and planned hotel and loft apartments, St Pancras has an edgy, upmarket identity. To reflect all this, and to achieve stand-out with an upmarket audience, Axon created a large format publication with striking visuals, a unique presence reflecting that of the destination itself.

35000 copies are distributed to upmarket residents, businesses and hotels within a 1.5 mile radius of the London terminus, with a further 5000 copies distributed within the station itself. Future issues of
Destination will be tied to further promotional events at the destination.

Conran:
To create Live It, the Conran magazine, Axon brought together creatives, subjects, personalities and advertisers all reflecting the Conran brand.

In Live It’s first year, Axon Publishing won both Launch of the Year and Customer Communication of the Year awards for the magazine. Conor Dignam, Chairman of the APA judges and then Editor of Marketing magazine, said that ‘Live It is a beautifully designed magazine that perfectly captures the essence of the Conran brand. Launching into a crowded lifestyle market, its mix of content around fashion, restaurants and design makes it an excellent vehicle for Conran's brand values and philosophy.’ Axon went on to produce catalogues for The Conran Shop in addition to their award-winning magazine.

BIDA (British Interior Design Association)
The BIDA Review is the magazine of the British Interior Design Association, which exists to promote and support the interior design and decoration professions in the UK.

Their magazine is dedicated to presenting the very latest industry innovations and trends, and operates as a design reference, supplier directory, educational resource and source of industry news.

Drawing upon their experience with interiors clients like Conran and M&S Home, Axon created a striking
new-look Review. Published three times a year, the magazine is distributed to members, both individual
and corporate, and to visitors at the leading design industry events.

Hildon: 
Distributed through hotels and restaurants that serve Hildon Natural Mineral Water, The Hildon Magazine positioned the brand within the market by placing it ‘in excellent company’, through both editorial and advertisers within an upmarket magazine. Following the success of the magazine, Axon has also created trade brochures and small print creatives for Hildon.

University of Bedfordshire
Prior to the UoB’s creation in 2006, Axon published a range of titles for the former University of Luton. Noteworthy is the alumni publication for the new University of Bedfordshire, published 3 times a year, and designed to engender a feeling of community and respect around the new University brand among graduates from its former component campuses. thexperience is an annual magazine, aimed at 17-year-old potential applicants. In the Times Higher Educational Supplement, designer Wayne Hemingway praised thexperience for addressing its audience ‘in a visual language and photographic style that wouldn't look amiss in youth-culture style mags Dazed and Confused or Sleaze.’ He concluded by offering the University congratulations, ‘on understanding that there is another way to address potential students rather than the formal tones
of an academic prospectus, and for looking to a publisher who understands the market.’

Poet in the City 
Specialising in high-profile poetry events with leading corporate sponsors, Poet in the City is an innovative venture philanthropy organisation. A suite of poems commissioned by Lloyd’s of London was published by Axon as Trees in the City, a unique limited-edition collection, the first in a planned series of poetry projects with high-profile partners.

Procter & Gamble  
On behalf of Procter & Gamble, Axon developed the international Eukanuba magazine, as part of an information and loyalty programme targeting customers of this premium dog food across Europe.

The magazine launched in seven territories – UK, Holland, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Spain and Portugal – and in eight languages (Belgium requires both French and Flemish editions). Axon generated the original editorial copy and photography in the UK, using leading canine experts to contribute features to the title, then co-ordinated an international network to produce local editions, within the UK design and international branding guidelines.

Really Useful Group 
theatregoer magazine was created for Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s Really Useful Group, for distribution to audiences in Really Useful theatres and others across London’s West End. For the first time, theatre audiences could enjoy the same calibre of news, personality interviews, previews and features as movie fans. Actors including Dame Judy Dench, Ralph Fiennes, Sir Ian McKellen, Marti Pellow and Matthew Perry have been cover profiled in the magazine, with over a million copies a year distributed across the West End.

NCT (National Childbirth Trust)
NewGen is the quarterly magazine for members of the NCT, the UK’s leading charity on pregnancy, birth and early parenthood.

Operating for over 50 years, the NCT is recognised as the voice of pregnant women and new parents throughout
the UK. It works continuously for improvements to maternity care, and better services and facilities for new
parents, and is an independent, influential and trusted advisor.

NewGen magazine is published quarterly, with a circulation of 45,000, and aims to keep NCT members
up-to-date on the latest pregnancy and parenthood topics, as well provide inspiring stories illustrating
the work they support.

Contact:

Axon Publishing
11 Plough Yard,
London EC2A 3LP
Telephone: 020 7684 7111
Fax: 020 7684 7122
mail@axonpublish.com

New Business
Stuart Charlton
Commercial Director
stuart_charlton@axonpublish.com

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