Cogora have received two award nominations at the 2017 PPA Awards. The Pulse Editorial team have been shortlisted for ‘Business Magazine of the Year’ and the Pulse LIVE Events team have been shortlisted for ‘Event of the Year’.

‘Business Magazine of the Year’

Pulse has extended its readership in 2016, despite considerable headwinds, and has become the go-to publication for what is happening in the NHS. Continually producing blockbuster exclusives and investigations that showcase our journalism to a wider audience, we have had 110 mentions of Pulse stories in the national media or television in 2016 (and ten of those were on the front page), an extraordinary total for a magazine of our size.

An exclusive story on how the NHS planned to kick healthy patients off practice lists if they haven’t seen GP for five years featured on the front pages of three national newspapers and the BBC and ITV in July. Another joint exclusive with the BBC - on how the NHS wanted smaller GP practices to ‘wither and fail’ - caused a massive upset after it featured on the News at Ten.

This has led to a surge in readers accessing us in print and online, with independent survey data showing that 60% of GPs are now reading Pulse online or in print (compared with 55% for BMJ).

‘Event of the Year’

Under the Pulse brand, Cogora produce market-leading magazines and events for GPs which include Pulse LIVE conferences. In 2016, we ran four Pulse LIVE events in London, Edinburgh, Liverpool and Birmingham, with each event exceeding its attendee target, and saw growth on 2015.

The team worked closely with Pulse magazine, ensuring there was continuity between the two elements of the brand. In 2016, the editorial team launched the Pulse War on Workload (WoW) campaign which was designed to encourage GPs to share their advice and tips for tackling huge workloads. We took the campaign on the road and included it at the Liverpool and Birmingham conferences. Onsite we had the “PulseWoW Wall” where delegates were able to add their ideas live, with many being shared on social media using #PulseWoW. We incorporated the WoW branding in our marketing campaigns, promoting this new interactive feature of the conferences.

We also welcomed a series of high profile speakers to our debates, and interviews which are a strong draw for delegate acquisition. In 2016 we welcomed Dr Robert Varnam, Head of General Practice Development at NHS England to both London and Liverpool, and Dr Gregor Smith, deputy chief medical officer, Scottish Government to Pulse LIVE Scotland.

Delegate feedback was positive across all Pulse LIVE events. 98% of attendees at London and Scotland would recommend the event to a colleague, and 99% would recommend Birmingham.