Dialogue Bitesize – January 25

It has been a busy and exciting start to 2025 for all at Dialogue, which began with a fantastic industry event thanks to the Content Marketing Association’s International Content Marketing Awards at the Barbican in London. A plethora of awards brought smiles to many faces, but a new year also brings fresh thinking and our team has been musing on the power of storytelling and the sustainability and longevity of print. Read on to discover our insights and see some of the incredible work for luxury brands that we are proud to see in the hands of customers around the world.

The power of a good story

Compelling storytelling is absolutely crucial to allow luxury brands to tell their stories in their own terms and in our blog Storytelling for Luxury Brands we explore the power behind this method of marketing. Storytelling is increasingly used to build brand and customer loyalty as stories are illustrative and easy to remember, lighting up the language parts of our brain to help a message stick and tap into customer emotions. Our article dives into how content marketing empowers luxury brands to connect with their audience on a deeper, emotional level, building stronger brand loyalty and driving engagement. We also provide plenty of examples of brands doing it well, embracing collaborations, gamification, podcasts, print, social media and experiential marketing to tell compelling stories that resonate with an audience hungry for stories that capture their attention.

Are printed magazines sustainable?

As sustainability becomes increasingly important to consumers, many brands are questioning the role of print in content marketing. Is a printed magazine truly sustainable in today’s world? From packaging to production, we explored the surprising realities about the carbon footprint of a brand magazine.

Our insights include:

??Use paper from a sustainable source - look for paper bearing the Forest Stewardship Council??(FSC?) or Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification? (PEFC?) marks.

??Ensure easy recycling - avoid using materials such as glitter, mixed plastics and glue-dots, which cannot be recycled and choose inks that contain vegetable oil instead of mineral oil.

??Invest in longevity - when it comes to value for money, a printed product read multiple times by multiple people can be more effective than a single click and ten second skim.

??Consider how it is packaged - look at potato starch wrap, naked mailing or paper wrap.

Read on to find out more about this commonly asked question.

Celebrating agency success

We are still buzzing from our success at the International Content Marketing Awards, where we picked up five awards across a range of categories. What an incredible night for our agency! Team Dialogue won five awards, taking home silver for Rising Star and bronze in Best Automotive, Best Use of Imagery, Best Consumer and Best Specialist Campaign. This wonderful achievement was made even better spending the night together, celebrating in London.

Here's what our CEO and Chair of The Content Marketing Association , Zoe Francis-Cox, had to say about this year’s awards: "It’s always humbling to receive shortlistings for these prestigious awards, so to walk away with trophies where our work has been recognised by our peers is such testament to the dedication and hard work of the team. I’m really proud of the agency and also grateful to our clients for giving us the opportunities to produce incredible content for them."

If you want to find out more about our CMA wins, you can learn more on our blog.

Elevating creativity for a premium brand

The latest issue of Bentley Magazine for Bentley Motors allowed us to embrace creativity in the studio. In this edition, the lead feature encapsulates power, poise and performance, showcasing the duality between the all-new Flying Spur and 18-year-old world championship fencer, David Sosnov. The vibrant shoot, photographed by Sam Chick at Calvert Studios UK & Spain and coordinated and art directed by Dialogue, resulted in an array of striking visuals. The thrill of seeing this shoot come together, working with the absolute pros involved and bringing it to life in a beautiful print product, is why we love producing premium magazines.

Seeking adventure

Dialogue has been indulging in our January wanderlust with the latest issue of Tower Revue magazine for Badrutt's Palace Hotel St. Moritz in Switzerland. Nestled in the Engadin valley, Badrutt’s Palace has welcomed guests to their iconic hotel in St. Moritz for the past 129 years. We have once again collaborated with the Palace, writing, designing, printing and distributing their bespoke publication, Tower Revue. Blending tradition and history with sophisticated contemporary luxury, Tower Revue is an opportunity for guests both new and returning to lose themselves in the wonderful world of Badrutt's Palace.

Read more about how we collaborated with the luxury hotel and fully immersed ourselves in the brand in this blog.

Championing thought leadership

This month also saw Dialogue's Alan Dykes host a fascinating conversation at the annual Content Marketing Association summit, which took place in London prior to the awards. Alan chaired a discussion on the importance of engaging brand communities in 2025 and beyond, gleaning some fascinating insights. Also sharing the Dialogue knowledge was Digital Production Lead Vicki Sherman, who featured in as an expert discussing content marketing trends for 2025. Vicki used her expertise in email marketing to emphasise the need for personalisation in email to increase engagement as well as how email can act as a bridge to encourage cross-platform engagement.

You can see more of what we love doing on our website or follow us on instagram to get a snapshot of some of the incredible work we do for our clients.