A publication’s development through innovation

By Chelsey Keith P. Ignacio, Special Features and Content Senior Writer

INNOVATING is a critical venture for businesses to take to develop along with the transforming market driven by the fast-paced emergence of digital developments. For ����ý, innovating involves leveraging the digital space to give the business community more convenient access to economic and industry happenings from an award-winning source of credible business intelligence.

Growing from a newspaper publisher to a multimedia brand, ����ý continues to advance with the development of its digital innovations, which include the BWorldX, ����ý In-Depth, and the soon-to-launch Top 1000 Premium to further the reach of its content to a wider audience, especially those in the online space.

“As the media landscape continues to evolve and most companies embark on digital transformation journeys, ����ý also needs to adapt to be able to remain relevant and sustainable. While we value print as our core business, we believe that we also need to create a new community of readers in the digital space through these new digital platforms like BWorldX and Top 1000 Premium,” ����ý Sales and Marketing Director Jay R. Sarmiento said.

“With just a click of a button, more and more people can now have access to our multiplatform content offering, [and this] will provide a chance for brands and organizations to tap into our highly discerning audience,” she added.

Having an array of avenues to convey news, stories, and other information about different sectors and the economy, ����ý innovated to come up with a one-stop shop for its entire multimedia products, from print to digital content as well as access to conferences.

Last year, the company ventured into the e-commerce space with the launch of its subscription-based digital platform BWorldX.

“The multimedia company has been able to expand its offerings because it fully understands that ����ý’s audience needs a constant stream of timely, truthful, and substantial information that will further grow and nurture their learning. And they need to get these easily wherever they choose to,” ����ý Executive Vice-President Lucien C. Dy Tioco said on the launch of BWorldX during the ����ý Economic Forum last May.

Being collated on the BWorldX are the multimedia brand’s products including the print and e-paper versions of ����ý; print and digital copies of the Top 1000 Corporations in the Philippines; the ����ý In-Depth digital magazine; ����ý Insights webinars; live access and videos from ����ý One-on-One interviews and ����ý Economic Forum; episodes of the ����ý B-Side podcast; and access to ����ý’s Viber community through The Lounge.

“As we bring all these together, and add much more, into a single accessible space, BWorldX is more than your typical subscription-based website. We intend it to be the place you turn to whenever you need the business intelligence that ����ý excellently provides,” Mr. Dy Tioco said.

Whether one wants full access to ����ý’s multimedia content or a mere selection of products, BWorldX offers three plan options to subscribe to: Standard, Professional, and Premium.

Subscribers of the Premium plan get to have access to all of ����ý’s content product offerings, while Professional subscribers can also consume these products except for having live access and recordings from the Economic Forum and video of One-on-One interviews. Standard subscriptions provide ����ý in physical and digital copies as well as a printed copy of the Top 1000. Watching live the One-on-One interviews and Insights online fora, as well as accessing ����ý B-Side and The Lounge, are available for free.

����ý hopes for BWorldX to have more content and initiatives soon by working together with consulting and research firms as well as brands and companies.

Just like BWorldX, ����ý is also developing another digital platform that is focused on the country’s top 1,000 corporations.

����ý publishes the Top 1000 Corporations in the Philippines every year to present the best-performing corporations in the Philippines based on the latest financial information. With the upcoming Top 1000 Premium, subscribers will have an interactive and immersive digital platform comprising the Top 1000 data and information about the country’s leading corporations.

Apart from the information on the Top 1000 as well as print and online versions of stories from the publication, ����ý created another digital space for special reports and more features. In 2020, the multimedia company launched this on-demand digital magazine, ����ý In-Depth.

So far, ����ý has released 28 issues of In-Depth, among which are Quarterly Banking Reports prepared by ����ý’s Research Department. The magazine also released a special edition in November 2020, which featured the Top 200 Consolidated Corporations in the Philippines. In 2021, two In-Depth issues have gathered insights from the two ����ý Virtual Economic Forum held that year, which dealt with the digital economy and a recovery roadmap for the Philippines.

In-Depth has also provided an avenue for ����ý’s online readers to further delve into issues and developments in certain sectors. The digital magazine has covered stories on startups and MSMEs; the e-commerce industry; sustainability; and Web 3.0, among others.

For the current year, In-Depth is rolling out a series of issues that would revolve around emerging cities in the country, kicking off with an issue centered on Cebu that was published back in late July.

And aside from being a way to tell more stories, In-Depth now also becomes a platform that puts the spotlight on other organizations, particularly to utilize the publication to highlight their milestones or anniversaries. This year, ����ý has released two In-Depth issues for the Bankers Institute of the Philippines, Inc. (BAIPHIL) on their 32^nd National Convention and the recent induction of its new officers.

With the creation of the In-Depth digital magazine and the launch of digital platforms BWorldX, ����ý has shown how the publication innovates to keep pace with the accelerated rise of digital transformation.

“Reaching greater business heights has always been made possible by the strength of ����ý’s digital platforms, aside from print being its backbone,” said Adonis M. Toreno, former marketing and product development supervisor of ����ý, who has been hands-on in the initial months of BWorldX.

Such insights, trends, and information accessible on ����ý’s digital platforms, for Mr. Toreno, are “essential in empowering the brand’s readers and, in general, the business community to develop and prosper.”

����ý will continue to develop these innovative platforms moving forward.

“Looking to the future of ����ý, we recognize that long-term survival is likely to involve stronger and deeper connection with online audiences, which is why we need to continue developing these digital platforms,” Ms. Sarmiento said. “At the same time, we are keen on preserving the power of ����ý print as it continues to provide high-quality and credible business journalism.”