In January, we were cock-a-hoop to receive an award for our digital content strategy work for client RSPB from the Content Marketing Association.

The Content Marketing Association exists to champion the international content marketing industry. They support and celebrate excellence and share best practice across the content marketing community. Their annual awards set the gold standard for what great content looks like, rewarding brilliance and celebrating the passion that drives our industry.

So, we were delighted to be shortlisted for two of our projects in the Best Membership category in the 2024 International Content Marketing Awards: the magazine we produce for Boundless by CSMA and The RSPB magazine, which is in an exciting phase as members are offered a digital magazine for the first time.

Our Boundless and RSPB teams attended the glittering awards ceremony at London’s iconic Barbican - the first in-person CMA Awards since 2019, where the RSPB team came away with the bronze award for the work they've been doing on their digital membership offering.

An epic migration

The RSPB Magazine is the 5th highest circulating magazine in the UK. As a membership organisation, they rely heavily on their committed supporter base to carry out critical work for conservation. Membership is a crucial source of income but the production of a print magazine comes at a cost - both financial and environmental. With print, production and mailing costs increasing year-on-year, we needed to find a financially sustainable solution for the RSPB.

As part of a trial, we moved ~25,000 members over to a new digital offering, consisting of a monthly email that links to content on a newly developed website containing articles richly adapted from the print magazine, with the addition of new interactive features like audio of bird song, interactive migration maps and videos of birds in flight.

With a monthly email replacing the quarterly magazine for digital members, we also gave our client an additional 8 (!) opportunities a year to contact their members and have seen a higher retention rate for digital members compared with print, as well as high satisfaction rates in members who flocked to make the switch.

Check out the full list of winners here.

Find out more about the early digital transformation of the RSPB membership by reading our full case study.

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