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Chapter 1

The community

Partners that work with LGC access a vibrant community of top decision-makers within and around local government.

49%

of LGC subscribers hold the most senior management roles on councils

(chief executive, director/strategic director, assistant director or head of service)

Our suite of sponsorship products is designed to create informative, engaging, inquisitive content for this community, in line with our editorial code. By supporting these products, with LGC’s expert guidance, sponsors can help to extend knowledge, lead thinking and aid discussion within the sector.

20%

Of LGC subscribers are chief executives

Each product is designed to produce a different type of content and provides tailored benefits to the partners that support them. LGC commercial project manager Lucy McPhail can help you to select the best products for your campaign.

Chapter 2

Thought leadership

Channel partnerships

We have heavily invested in LGCplus.com so that it is now fully responsive; it can be accessed as easily by our growing mobile and tablet audience as it is by those using desktop devices. The site is the most authoritative source of breaking news, opinion, analysis and best practice information for the local government sector.

LGCplus.com is structured to reflect the issues that matter most to our readers. We offer our partners the chance to support a channel dedicated to a specific topic, where their expertise can help us to explore a subject in forensic detail. Our partners can use their channel, clearly marked with their branding, as a platform for their views and analysis of local government issues, as well as profiles of the work they do and their top contacts.

Special reports

For 160 years, LGC has prided itself on its in-depth, intelligent analysis. Today, our special reports, exploring the most pressing issues facing local government, are presented online through cutting-edge ‘Longform’ technology and in classic print supplements.

We offer the opportunity to sponsor a special report in its entirety on an agreed topic. LGC helps sponsors to decide and refine a topic for investigation. The reports combine expert comment from the sponsor with specialist analysis written or commissioned by LGC to present readers with a definitive guide to a topic.

Research

From our council control and interactive devolution maps to our chief executives’ confidence survey, LGC is the home of vital, news-driven sector research.

Sponsors are invited to choose and refine a topic for research in agreement with LGC’s expert editorial team. Our work could take the form of a survey, in which LGC uses its access to the most senior sector leaders to give a unique insight into their views. It could also entail the sponsorship of LGC data research or into a specific issue. Sponsors are then invited to give a commentary into the findings of the research which will be presented alongside LGC’s work.

Thought leadership columns

LGC counts some of the sector’s biggest names among its regular columnists. Thought-provoking, sometimes controversial and always packed with sector knowledge, LGC’s columns command attention.

The 400-word thought leadership columns provide our partners with the opportunity to join this stable of opinion-shapers. These pieces, published in the opinion section of our print edition and website, and clearly marked with the sponsors’ branding, are more than just a space to push products; here sponsors can demonstrate their capacity for critical, strategic thinking on the issues that affect councils most.

Chapter 3

Engage

Roundtables

LGC’s high-level readers are curious, creative and collegiate, and relish the chance to spend time together discussing the issues that matter to them most. Our roundtables are exclusive gatherings of top council officers, selected using LGC’s knowledge of the most relevant people within the sector. Sponsors are invited to suggest a topic for debate, to be agreed with the editor. LGC chairs the discussions, in which two representatives for the sponsor are invited to participate. The discussions are covered by an LGC journalist and photographer. A summary of the debate is then published in LGC and alongside a commentary from the sponsor. Our improved website now allows us to offer an enhanced online feature including video footage of the discussion.

Webcasts

LGC’s webcasts, broadcast live via the website, provide a key platform for sponsors. We bring together key sector spokespeople to join a slick video panel discussion supported by our partners. The webcasts are interactive, allowing for viewers to submit questions online live to the panel. The live broadcasts help to create a ‘buzz’ around a topic and the associated sponsor, but we make each broadcast available to watch on demand afterwards, creating a valuable resource for readers and our partners.

Powerlists

LGC’s powerlists are the definitive guides to the movers and shakers within local government as a whole, such as the annual LGC100, and within distinct parts of the sector. The highly anticipated powerlists, published online and in print, recognise the sector’s most influential and spark debate about the changing nature of the sector. From the public calls for nominations, through the selection process utilising groups of high-profile judges, to the publication of the list and subsequent online debate, the impact of the powerlists reaches far and wide. Sponsors are invited to support our powerlists and an accompanying launch event to align their brand with local government’s most influential people.

Chapter 4

Debate and celebrate

Awards

The LGC Awards are the sector’s premier celebration of achievement and good practice. Hundreds of councils enter the awards each year, to have the opportunity to have their work assessed by a panel of expert judges and the chance to win an award: the gold standard in the sector. Sponsors supporting the awards, benefit from the chance to meet people that need their services and advice and to position themselves as a partner that supports local government to achieve to the highest standards.

Events

LGC’s well-respected, fully engaging conferences educate, influence and inform the local government community. At events such as our flagship LGC Summit, exclusively for local government chief executives, we bring together key audiences in areas including integration, transformation and finance to benefit from critical debate and valuable networking in these rapidly changing sectors.

Sponsors of our events are seen as key stakeholders and influencers in the local government agenda and they demonstrate how they can help councils with their particular challenges. Opportunities to participate vary from event to event but can include participation in plenary sessions, educational workshops, one-to-one networking and discussion sessions. We can also offer a range of bespoke events focusing on particular issues, including dinner engagements and keynote lectures.

Chapter 5

How our products work

LGC’s business is to provide clarity on the biggest issues affecting local government. We pride ourselves on extending that clarity to everything we do – including our work with partners.

Our primary purpose is to produce content that satisfies the needs of readers. We welcome the insight that partners can bring and we will work with you to define, by mutual agreement, the topics and angles that present the greatest value to our readers.

In order to do this, we use the process below for every sponsored project we undertake.

Before we start: We ensure in an initial discussion that the project satisfies the needs of readers, LGC editorial and sponsors.

In dialogue: LGC’s editorial team provides advice to partners on projects to ensure readers’ needs are met. The sponsor may suggest angles, information for inclusion and interviewees or participants for consideration.

Agreeing the boundaries: Based on the preliminary discussions, LGC’s commissioning editor or events contact provides a clear brief for the project that meets the needs of all parties.

Creating the content: LGC produces sponsored content that is engaging, credible and balanced, adhering to the normal editorial standards, which may include recognising dissenting opinions.

Checking for accuracy: In the cases of written or recorded video content, the sponsor receives a proof or draft version before we publish to check for factual inaccuracies and to ensure the brief has been followed.

Keeping readers informed: Commercial projects are clearly marked so readers know who sponsored the project, how they were involved, and how the copy was produced.

Chapter 6

Contact

Andrew Porter, sales director, tel: 020 3953 2723
andrew.porter@emap.com

Andrew Leggatt, account director, tel: 0771 769 8640
andrew.leggatt@emap.com

Connecting with the LGC community

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