Please see below for LBB editorial contacts, regular editorial features, our editorial calendar and upcoming features, and the interview series we've created for LBB members.

The LBB Editorial Team:

Laura Swinton (Editor in Chief, Brands & Global) laura@lbbonline.com

EMEA

Alex Reeves (EMEA Editor & Deputy Editor) alex@lbbonline.com

Nisna Mahtani (EMEA reporter: MEA & DACH)  nisna@lbbonline.com

Zoe Antonov (EMEA reporter: UK, CEE)  zoe@lbbonline.com 

Americas

Addison Capper (Americas Editor) addison@lbbonline.com

Ben Conway (Americas reporter)  ben@lbbonline.com

Josh Neufeldt (Canada reporter) josh@lbbonline.com

APAC & ANZ

Casey Martin (APAC/ANZ Reporter) casey@lbbonline.com

Tom Loudon (APAC/ANZ Reporter) toml@lbbonline.com

Please send all press releases to the content team at newsdesk@lbbonline.com 

If you are a managed package member, you can send all work for the archive to the library team at archive@lbbonline.com

REGULAR EDITORIAL FEATURES

These are features that LBB's Editorial Team run throughout the year. For the most part, there’s no hard and fast calendar, these are features that e run on an ongoing basis and editorially we’ll be trying to balance out international representation and industry sectors and overall diversity. It’s worth mentioning that particularly for features like 5 Minutes and The Directors we are keen to use the platform to showcase female and marginalised talent. We also spontaneously do plenty of off-the-cuff interviews and stories that don’t conform to any formula. Inclusion in these features is not guaranteed. See 'Members Interviews' for series with guaranteed coverage. Please download the specifications for pitches by clicking on the title of the feature.

High Five - Each Wednesday, LBB publishes a creative bundle made up of the five best works chosen by industry experts in different themes, categories and crafts. From clever comedy, to luxury car ads, to impressive VFX, it's a great way to celebrate the world's best work. If you would like to pitch yourself or someone you work with, please get in touch with hannahb@lbbonline.com and we’ll let you know more. 

5 Minutes with... Interviews with the top people in the international advertising, marketing and creative industries

Advertising 101 -  We’re going to be breaking down different roles and specialisms across the industry - from planning to compositing, UX design to colour grading. 

Behind the Work - Behind the scenes on some of the most exciting creative campaigns. These can be traditional film campaigns but also digital projects, experiences, and category-defying activations too. What we care about is the insight, creative and production stories.

Brand Insight - Stories and interviews with marketers about their brand’s recent direction and future plans. This tends to be broader than just one campaign. We are open to stories where we speak to both the marketer and agency about work they’ve done together but the marketer/client must be involved in the interview.

Dream Teams - Trust and teamwork are at the heart of creativity and the industry is bursting with incredible partnerships. We want to profile and showcase the tightest twosomes in the business – how you met, why you work together so well, and what you’ve learned from each other – and advice for people navigating their own working relationships. This can be art director/copywriter pairs, directors and editors; MDs and ECDs; experience designers and creatives; character designers and animators… ultimately it’s all about those enduring professional collaborations and friendships.

Making Music - Making music is a series where we talk to the composers, producers and supervisors of some of the best new and classic commercial soundtracks. 

Trends & Insight  - Stories with a bit more depth that don’t conform to any template.

Uprising - Spotlights on the up-and-coming junior and mid-level industry talent making amazing work and shaking up the future. One of the most popular features on the site when it comes to traffic!

MEMBERS INTERVIEW SERIES 

(Devised by the editorial team, filled out and sent in by you. For LBB members only. Click on the title to download

These features are designed to put the power in your hands. You can platform your talent and work whenever you like. And the great news is, we've devised the concept and format for these feature interviews already, so all you need to do is pick your talent, choose a relevant feature for their job role and get them to fill in their answers.

To take part, simply download the brief and questions by clicking on the titles below in bold. When you or your talent have answered, email the document and any images or videos you'd like included in the article to newsdesk@lbbonline.com for publishing.

There's no strict guidelines on schedule. We leave that down to you - but one hot tip to get more views and clicks is to spread the publishing out over regular intervals.

All Disciplines and Company Types

Essential List - A fun listicle piece about the kit, culture and cuisine that keeps the industry’s creative folk going!

My Biggest Lesson - This is where experienced ad folk and production people can share the pearls of wisdom that have shaped their career and can help those making their way to avoid the same pitfalls.

My Creative Hero - This piece explores the creative inspirations behind the industry’s talent. This usually means non-advertising creative heroes, allowing participants to explore their broader influences.

The Work That Made Me - The best way to understand a person’s career is to look at the work that made  them. Their first campaign. The campaign that someone else did that made them jealous. The campaign that taught them some painful but useful lessons. The work that they’re proudest of. This is also a great feature as it’s a chance to share older work and work from different markets that readers around the world may not have seen before.

Thought Leaders - This is our channel for opinion pieces. We find that pieces that are closely aligned with newsy or timely topics perform particularly well, whether it’s a big sporting event or a hit new Netflix show that everyone is talking about. We’ve mapped out a few events that we think will prove to be talking points to get you started.

Business & Leadership 

Bossing It - Leadership doesn’t come easy and everyone has their own views about what makes an effective leader. In this series of regular features we interview leaders, founders and entrepreneurs and creative management about their journey towards leadership and their own lessons and insights. Specifically for CEOs, COOs, MDs, Founders, EPs.

The New New Business - The creative industry wouldn’t be able to create without the people bringing in business and closing sales. As the industry evolves, so too is new business and sales. We want to speak to the people making the gears of the industry turn, whether they’re at agency, production, post, tech or media platform, to share their insights with those struggling to close the deal. 

DE&I: Accelerating Change - We want to interview the industry’s DE&I leads to find out about their perspective and how the wider industry can take responsibility for transforming the industry for the better.

Creative, Account Management, PR & Strategy

Creativity Squared - A creative profile with a difference – psychologists have distilled creativity down to four factors, and we’ll be exploring those with copywriters, art directors and creative directors to get a 360° view of who they are and how they work.

Magic Numbers - Data-driven creativity is something that brands and agencies all over the world are investing in and banking on - but what does that really mean, what are the best practices and potential blindspots? This feature is for brand and agency data experts.

Problem Solved  -  This is a new feature about agency projects that go beyond campaign work and use creativity to solve business problems. These can include digital transformation project, product development, employee engagement initiatives, ecommerce platforms and behaviour change initiatives.

Film & Content Production 

Camera Obscura: Production Obsessions - This is a piece for anyone involved in craft and production, from directors to animators, compositors to composers, cinematographers to sound designers. We want you to nerd out about an element of your craft that you are absolutely obsessed with. It could be a particular kind of camera lens or shooting format. It could be aspect ratios. It could be a particular tool that feels like it’s become your right hand. It could be a part of the process that you just always find incredibly fun. 

The Directors - This feature allows directors to go beyond their reel to talk about their thoughts about the business of directing and how they like to work, giving potential clients and collaborators a clearer idea about their problem solving and working styles.

Meet Your Makers - Interviews with producers specifically aimed at production, post and service companies all about the business of content and commercial production, insights into an evolving industry and some career advice for those making their way. 

Production & Technology - This is an interview series for producers with a passion for technology and innovation. Here we’re diving into the technological innovations that are changing production, or at least broadening the demands on and possibilities for production.

Producing Tomorrow’s Producers - This feature is for producers, particularly those in leadership roles (EPs, senior producers, heads of production) who are keen to develop the next generation of producers, make sure that skills and expertise are passed on, while also learning from the up-and-comers of the creator economy.

Production Line - Interviews with agency and brand in-house producers talking about the challenges making work that works while navigating and integrating new channels and technologies and helping brands to solve their problems.

Sustainable Production - This is an interview series for producers with a passion for sustainability and who have been working to reduce the carbon footprint and environmental impact of their productions. It is intended to highlight best practice, share helpful pointers and also discuss some of the challenges moving forward. It’s a feature that’s appropriate for producers working in agency, production, production service, or even in-house at brand.

Photography, Animation & Design 

Animate! - Animators are the magicians of filmmaking - to animate means, quite literally, to bring to life after all. So we want to celebrate the animators who fill our eyeballs with pure wizardry with this series of interviews.

Picture This - In which we ask a photographer to break down one of their favourite commercial photographs, revealing the story behind it. It doesn't have to be a recent project, in fact, famous/iconic advertising image would be most welcomed here!

Style Guide - This piece is for any sort of image-making artist working commercially. It could be illustrators, photographers, graphic designers or animators. It best suits those with a really distinctive flavour and style...

By Design - We want to talk to a range of the industry’s design experts about their careers and views on what ‘good’ design looks like. This series is open to everyone from UX designers, CX designers to product designers and graphic designers.

Production Service 

Location Spotlight - Interviews and guides with production service specialists from around the world about inspirational locations and practical production issues.

Editing & VFX

Finely Sliced - We speak to editors about the art of the cut and explore the knife edge between good editing… and great editing.

Making the Grade - The grade is one of the most fascinating parts of the post process so we want to talk to talented colour graders about how they practice their craft.

The VFX Factor - This feature is a place for the visual virtuosos of advertising, the VFX artists, to discuss the trends in their role: the technological advancements revolutionising the way they work, the beauty of ‘invisible’ post, and trends in craft.

Music & Sound

Sonic Boom - Sonic Boom is a series on creative and technological innovations in sound design.

Thinking in Sound - We want to delve into the minds of the industry’s fantastic music and sound specialists to show just how creative this part of the industry is. We want to really dig into what inspires you and how you approach your work, while also getting a taste of how the music and sound part of the industry is changing. 

Writing Your Own PR - Not everyone has the resources to justify a full-time PR person or agency. But that doesn’t mean you can’t reap the benefits of being a Little Black Book member. If you have a piece of creative work to share or someone new joining the company, check out our News Guide.

LBB Editorial Calendar

Welcome to 2023! Please check out the topics we’re planning to write features about in the coming year. These are outside of our regular features (please see above), which we write all year round. Moreover we do endeavour to respond to news developments in the industry and more broadly in our features. As the year progresses, this document will be updated and expanded throughout the year. As we assign writers and develop briefs we will contact LBB members. 

April

Ramadan 2023 MEA Feature

What trends and dynamics are driving this year's crop of Ramadan campaigns from the MENAT region? We're looking for strategists and creative leaders in the region to share their view of trends that have emerged and the standout work. 200 words per submission

Writer: nisna@lbbonline.com, Deadline: April 17

Ramadan Around the World

Ramadan has long been a staple part of the advertising calendar in the Middle East, and North Africa as well as Muslim majority countries across Asia. However, brands around the world are now recognising the importance of recognising the holy month as well as the challenges faced my Muslim consumers navigating the month of fasting when living in non-Muslim countries. We want to find out how Ramadan advertising is evolving around the world, for example in Europe, North America, Australasia, SE Asia etc

Writer: laura@lbbonline.com, Deadline: March 30

Media: how Adland is Tackling the Environmental Impact of Its Media Buy

Brands and advertising agencies know they need to get on top of their carbon emissions. The most progress has been made in the production space with initiatives like Ad Green helping measure emissions and helping companies to either reduce or offset them.But what progress is being made in the media space, where the emissions in the digital space can be hard to quantify and digital OOH billboards are raising eyebrows? How are agencies and brands tracking their media emissions and what schemes/programmes are helping to reduce them? This piece will run just ahead of Earth Day on Apr 22. Please get in touch with Ben well ahead of the deadline if you would like to participate and he can share questions or conduct short interview.

Writer: ben@lbbonline.com, Deadline: April 7

Is the Ad industry Going to Give Up Its Greenwashing Habit?

Regulations around greenwashing are getting tougher both across the EU and in the UK - but are brands and agencies really facing up to the extent of the problem, the damage its doing to the environment and the industry's reputation? What needs to happen to make sure greenwashing stays in the bin? We want to speak to agencies, regulatory bodies and climate crisis experts for their views. We're looking for your thoughts in a 200 word submission.

Writer: laura@lbbonline.com, Deadline: April 7

Creative: The New Creative Toolkit

From meditation and psychedelics to AI and cloud-based life-saving apps, we want to explore the tools and tricks that are helping creatives and strategists open their minds to new possibilities. We will be looking for commentary from people with actual hands on experience using any of the tools mentioned above, or if they have an alternative suggestion they'd like to float by us go for it, the wilder the better!

Writer: zoe@lbbonline.com, Deadline: March 31

Balancing Brand Equity with Marketplaces

When it comes to e-commerce, how are brands balancing the desire to take advantage of the consumers offered up by marketplaces like Amazon and the need to build and maintain brand equity and retain the power to shape their customers' journey. We want to talk to ecomms experts to find out how they approach striking that balance and whether it's possible to protect and amplify brand identity in the world of the marketplace.

Writer: alex@lbbonline.com, Deadline: April 14

VFX: Tips for Marketers Navigating VFX-Heavy Projects So. You've got a big global campaign and the agency's idea has turned into a cavalcade of visual effects. And while it's exciting ... it's also pretty bewildering. This piece is aimed at marketers who are finding that the world of VFX is becoming harder to get their head around - and that's having an impact on their ability to make the right strategic decision at the right time. Or perhaps it's a young marketer who has never been involved in a VFX-heavy project before. We want to speak to VFX experts to find out their top tips for non-specialists, particularly brand marketers. They may want to make better, more strategic decisions or feel less bewildered by new pipelines and technologies... or they may simply worry about appearing ignorant if they're not up on the latest lingo.  

Writer: addison@lbbonline.com, Deadline: March 31

Why Sound Design Can be Strategic

When it comes to sound design, it’s so often the last things that marketers and agencies think about. But just as brands benefit from a strategic approach to their sound design too, particularly as their content and experiences can show up on more platforms and devices and as audio-first opportunities grow. We want to speak to experts about their views about how a more strategic approach to sound design can lead to a better creative product and create greater connection between listener and brand. We’re looking for 250 words on the topic, and if you would like to reference any particular project that you feel shows off strategic sound design?

Writer: laura@lbbonline.com, Deadline: April 14

Colour Grading: An Eye for Colour (how can non-experts like creatives and clients understand the architecture of a good grade - what should they be looking out for, and what impact does a great creative grade have on the impact of a film or ad?)

Writer: josh@lbbonline.com

World Book Day: Pleasing Book Ads

A round up of our favourite book-related ads from publishers, past and present. If your company has worked on a lovely book campaign - whether it's a spot, radio, print/outdoors or something social please feel free to send it in with files and credits. This can include ads for audiobook platforms too.

May

Design: Why UX Design and Accessibility are Intrinsically Interlinked

An accessibility-first mindset is crucial for any brand or organisation who want to ensure that their products and services are available for all of those who want or need them. It's a topic that's been causing buzz in the advertising and marketing world with one-off landmark projects - Xbox Adaptive Controller (McCann), Samsung Good Vibes App (Cheil India), Degree Inclusive (Wunderman Thompson). However accessibility in all its dimensions is becoming ever more central for UX designers and experience designers more broadly, particularly in the digital space. We want to speak to experts about the relationship between UX and accessibility, how it's developing , where progress is lacking and where we need to get to.

Writer: laura@lbbonline.com, Deadline May 17

Creative: Copywriters on Writing Dialogue that Connects

People in ads and social content don't usually speak life people in real life - neither do they speak like the characters in our favourite shows and movies. Writers walk a treacherous tightrope, balancing the need to be on brand and include cumbersome product points or calls to action with writing dialogue that's engaging and entertaining - whether it's realistic, comedic or dramatic. We want to speak to writers about the craft of dialogue and their tips for cracking conversation.

Writer: alex@lbbonline.com, Deadline: May 23

Tech Showcase: Creatives Creating Web3

We want to showcase the creatives breaking new ground and building the foundations of web3. This is a profile listicle. The creatives featured must have some impactful, creative web3-related work to share. Each entry should be 2-300 words, including a couple of sentences about their background and expertise in the web3 space. We'll ask the creatives to answer a couple of questions so they can be quoted and will also include a line or two about a significant web3 project. We'll need headshots for each and downloadable links to work/case study/image. Questions: 'where are the most exciting creative opportunities in the web3 space?' 'How do you navigate between hype and the real McCoy ?' 'What's your dream web3 project?'

Writer: nisna@lbbonline.com, Deadline:

VFX: The Changing Role of the VFX Supervisor in Virtual Production

The VFX Supervisor is a familiar part of a live action shoot, making sure that footage gives the VFX team the best possible chance to work its magic. But Virtual Production is changing the production pipeline, not least because much CG work is now done ahead of the live action shoot. What does this mean for the VFX supervisor, what new roles and responsibilities do they have?

Writer: ben@lbbonline.com, Deadline:

Production: Diversity Behind the Camera

There are numerous initiatives and groups in the production industry created to make it more inclusive and accessible, however considerable barriers remain and when it comes to the crunch jobs are still going to the same people. So why isn't change happening fast enough, are there any areas we're seeing meaningful progress and what role can clients play?

Music: The Key to the Perfect Commercial Cover Song

The right cover song can be commercial gold - a track that the audience connects with instantly, usually cheaper than the original recording and with a creative twist that keeps us intrigued and allows the brand to sing. So what's the key to tracking down - or creating - that perfect cover? And what pitfalls or cliches should be avoided? We'd like music experts to share 2-250 words on their views. If they can share any examples that they've worked on that illustrate the point, we'll be happy to include one or two but we will need the film's file and credits.

Writer: josh@lbbonline.com, Deadline: May 19

Editing: Close Cuts (the director-editor partnership)

Are there any relationships so enduring as that between a director and editor? We want to speak to the commercials directors and editors that have worked together closely for years about how they first met and how their creative partnership works. Ideally we'd like to showcase 4 partnerships, each with a 2-300 word write up and a photo of the pair together.

Writer: zoe@lbbonline.com, Deadline: May 12

June 

Cannes Contenders - Networks and Indies

Cannes Jury Interviews 

Pride Month US

E3 - Gaming Trends and Highlights from E3

VFX: Let There Be Life - the key to lifelike CG animation

Production: Questions Marketers Should Ask About Their Treatments

Sound: Sound Design Meets Experience Design

Colour Grading: Vintage Vibes

July

Women’s World Cup 2023 - Global Sports Marketing andWomen’s Sports

How Australia & New Zealand’s Marketing Communities are Celebrating the Women’s World Cup

Media:Up-and-coming Media Planners Showcase

Creative: Creative Inspiration: Adland’s Favourite Album Covers

VFX: VFX Supervisor Showcase

Production: Changing Production Business Models (agency and Prod co)

Music: Music that Resonates

Editing: Cutting for Music Videos

August

Indian Independence Day Showcase/Feature - August 15th

Creative: Street Art not Wallpaper - The Key to Designing Beautiful OOH Ads

ECommerce - Time to Drop the ‘e’?

Strategy: Advertising Strategy’s Most Enduring Debates

VFX: How Games Engines Have Transformed VFX

Production: Producing Content in a Web 3 Future

Sound: In the Studio with Adland’s Leading Sound Designers

Colour Grading: Female Colourists Showcase

September 

Creative: Copywriting feature

Creative/art: Illustration Trends 

UX Design and Creativity

Sustainability: How brands and agencies can factor sustainability into pop up experiences

Q3 LBB Industry Index - Sept 25

VFX: How the Role of VFX Supervisor Has Evolved

Production: Animation Advice for Marketers

Music: What Are Adland’s Music Supervisors Listening To?

Editing: Sharp New Talent Showcase

October

Black History Month UK

Halloween

Creative: Art Direction Inspiration in the Spooky Season

Strategy: Why Brands Need to Understand the Psychology of Fear

Cricket World Cup - Sports Marketing, Sponsorship and Cricket

VFX: Creating Perfectly Imperfect VFX

Production: Cinematography All Stars - who are the DPs everyone wants to work with right now?

Sound: 

Colour Grading: 

November

Diwali (Nov 12) - How the Diwali Advertising Has Become a Global Affair

Singles Day - China

Sustainability: Ad Net Zero Global Conference// Cop 28

Commerce: Commerce and Christmas

Creative/ Data: Creatives Who Have Embraced Data and AI

VFX:

Production: 

Music: Big American Music Tour (showcase of music companies around the States’ musical heartlands)

Editing: The Craft of Editing in the Social Media Age

December

Q4 LBB Industry Index - 18th December

2021 ‘All Stars’ - regional ‘who’s who’ heroes of the year across production, agency and client

Annual trend pieces

Look Ahead to 2024

VFX

Production

Sound

Colour Grading