What is ‘branded journalism’ and how The 268 is leading the way

We’re delighted to announce that our news and thought leadership hub The 268 has been shortlisted for a major content award as part of the world’s biggest public relations awards.

The 268 is one of five finalists for the Branded Journalism Diamond SABRE Award as part of the Asia Pacific SABRE Awards.

Established by leading international public relations expert Paul Holmes, the SABRE Awards are the world’s largest PR awards programme and recognise superior achievement in branding and reputation across Asia-Pacific (including Australia), North America, Latin America, South Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Purple Managing Director Warrick Hazeldine said he was proud the vision of The 268 was being recognised by industry experts on the international stage.

“We launched The 268 last year with the aim of showcasing the best thought leadership from Purple and providing a credible news source for our valued clients and other stakeholders,” Mr Hazeldine said.

“To build credible content, you need a credible team of communications experts. The 268 is edited by Simon White and has strong contributions from the whole Purple team.

“We often give clients the advice that they should ‘own their own stories’ – and The 268 reflects the way we are also living by that mantra at Purple.

“The simple fact is that if you don’t tell your story, no one will tell it for you.

Mr Hazeldine said in the modern world of communications, credible content could not be taken for granted.

“Our goals with The 268 are simple: to provide our audience with engaging and thought-provoking content that keeps them up-to-date with relevant industry trends, highlights issues they should be aware of and challenges them to have conversations that truly matter,” he said.

“From The Bench – our exclusive video series that goes behind-the-scenes with WA’s leading politicians – to breaking political news, opinion pieces about diversity in the workplace, culture and Indigenous affairs, and advice on technology, investor relations trends, copyright issues and reputation management, I’m extremely proud of the breadth and quality of content published on The 268.

“I’d like to thank our audience for following us over the past 16 months. We look forward to continuing to grow that audience and expanding our suite of multimedia content offerings in the weeks, months and years to come.”

Named for the pantone code that correlates to the exact shade of purple in Purple’s logo, The 268 was established in April 2018 and since August 2018 has been managed by former thewest.com.au editor Simon White.

Content hubs have become increasingly valuable engagement tools for businesses – internally and externally – in an environment in which the average Australian spends more than five hours a day on the internet but now trusts the corporate voice more than traditional media. The 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer found 77 and 52 per cent of Australians trusted their own employers and business in general, while only 40 per cent said they trusted the media.

Purple is a previous winner of Australasian Consultancy of the Year at the 2015 SABRE Awards and was also a finalist in that category in 2016 and 2017 and in the Financial Agency of the Year category in 2015 and 2018.

Finalists for the various categories of the 2019 Asia Pacific SABRE Awards were selected from a total of 1600 entries.

Winners will be announced in Singapore on September 12.

Purple specialises in designing, building and managing content hubs for clients. If your business is considering developing branded journalism via a content hub and you need advice on how to make it happen, please contact Ruth Callaghan or Glenn Langridge.

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