Ink (company)


Ink, or Ink Global, is a multinational travel media publishing and technology company founded in 1994. Based in London, Ink publishes 33 inflight magazines for 24 airlines worldwide. The company's magazines and other media products reach over 802 million consumers annually.

History

Ink was founded in London, in 1994, by Simon Leslie and Michael KeatingInk " \l "cite note-mrmag-2| to service two small airlines in the Middle East and Africa.
Initially based in Shoreditch, London, the company's headquarters moved to West Hampstead where it has grown to work with more than 31 travel clients. As of 2019, Ink employs approximately 300 people across six offices worldwide.
Ink's content business model involves producing print magazines, digital and video content and experiential marketing opportunities, in order to sell media and advertising. This reaches passengers at multiple stages of their journey: through print, travel documents, inflight entertainment and targeted advertising.
The company now works with some of the world's leading airlines, including: American Airlines, United Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Virgin Atlantic Airways, easyJet, Norwegian and several others.
In 2018, Ink won 40 international awards for content, editorial, design and business success. Titles included Magazine of the Year, Editor of the Year and Designer of the Year.

Products

Ink's products include:
In a recent article Ink was described as “the publisher bucking the print trend”. Latest figures in June 2017 put revenue at £58 million with £10.6 million gross profit.

Magazines

Ink publishes 33 magazines produced in nine languages across Europe, the United States and Central, Africa, Asia, Asia Pacific and the Middle East.Ink " \l "cite note-5|Ink is responsible for many publications both online and offline such as Hemispheres magazine,Ink " \l "cite note-6|  American Way,Ink " \l "cite note-8| Smile Ink " \l "cite note-9|, SilverKris and more.

Video

Ink creates bespoke video content for a number of airlines and travel partners, including: American Airlines, easyJet, Etihad Airlines, Silkair, United and Norwegian. In 2019, Ink took a controlling share in ReachTV in Los Angeles.

Targeted Advertising platform

Ink's Targeted Advertising technology enables advertising to be customised to specific types of passengers based on origin, destination, gender, nationality, age, language, cabin class, fare type and frequent flyer status.

Advertising

In addition to its magazine business, Ink produces personalised advertising on print-at-home boarding passes and confirmation emails,Ink " \l "cite note-10| and tailored inflight eMagazines. It sells advertising in more than 100 countries in the form of magazines, retail catalogues, entertainment guides, and websites, print-at-home boarding passes, itineraries and confirmation emails as well as mobile apps. Ink also sells media space on headrest covers, table trays, menus, timetables and seat-backs for airlines.

Travel documents

Ink offers advertising space on travel documents using their highly targeted advertising platform. Their range of travel documents includes print-at-home boarding passes, itineraries and booking confirmations.

Technology and mobile

Ink creates travel apps for iOS and Android platforms that allow airline passengers to book future travel, check-in and obtain mobile boarding passes among other key functions. To date, Ink has launched mobile apps for Jetstar and Cebu Pacific.

Joint CEO Simon Leslie

In Autumn 2019, Simon Leslie’s book There is no F in Sales launched. The book has been described as an "autobiographical journey into the world of sales, with a deep insight into the values and hard lessons he encountered, as well as the hindsight he has gained over the last few decades".

Partners list

Ink's client list includes: