Custom Publishing | Custom Content | Imagination Publishing

The Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI) wanted to inform members about macro issues important to the metals supply chain. A committee of member volunteers searched for a custom publisher and chose Imagination to publish Forward—a bi-monthly, 44-page, custom magazine supported by advertising.

With a circulation of close to 15,000, Forward features robust Q&As with industry experts, roundtable discussions with economists and executives, and original custom content about the economy, policy and business strategy among other topics. Forward is a thought leadership magazine in the truest sense of the term.

In addition to the bimonthly magazine, Imagination publishes program guides six times a year that are distributed at MSCI’s conferences across the country.

With a pass-along readership of 33,000, MSCI uses Forward to reach two distinct audiences: senior executives of the metals industry, including those from association member companies and government officials in the United States and Canada. Part of the purpose was to position MSCI and its magazine differently than the shop-floor trade magazines already covering the industry and provide a publication for C-suite executives and metals company owners.

In a 2008 readership survey, Forward magazine was voted the No. 1 metals-industry magazine for providing articles on business strategy, expert insight and business practices. And during its six years of publication, the custom publication has received numerous awards including several EXCEL Awards from Association Media & Publishing (formerly SNAP) and a Silver Award for Best All-Around Association Publication in the Magnum Opus Awards Competition dedicated to custom publishing. In addition, the International Academy of the Visual Arts selected Forward’s “Links in the Long Chain” 100th-anniversary supplement as its 2009 Davey Silver Award winner in the “not-for-profit” category.