Our vision
Our vision is to be the most dynamic international media group. We are dedicated to growing Britain’s best loved media brands, restlessly innovating across different platforms to bring our audience new sources of inspiration, information and entertainment.
Our vision and values come from all of us. They existed already, unwritten, in the way we work, how we communicate and how we think. What we have done is express those beliefs in words, focusing on what makes Dennis truly unique and Brilliantly different to other organisations.
To be the most dynamic media company in the UK, you need the most agile brands.
- Brands that stand the test of time and build their influence across every emerging platform and technology.
- Brands that continually reach out to new customers with their ever-changing interests and passions.
- Brands with innovation, challenge and ambition at the core of their DNA.
With this singular focus, Dennis has been able to create multi-award-winning brands today to inspire, inform and entertain the audiences of tomorrow.
That’s what makes us Brilliantly Different; creative to our fingertips and professional to the core.
The proof
Brilliantly Different means coming first wherever you innovate.
In automotive, we’re on course to become the number one UK content provider, not only in terms of our reach and reputation but the revenue that goes with it.
In current affairs, our premium publishing brands are the fastest growing in the UK.
In the lifestyle sector, our specialist brands lead the field from cycling to fitness.
In technology, our brands are pioneering the migration from print to online and social.
Our Values
A lot of companies talk about their values, but at Dennis we simply live by them.
It’s certainly true that in a modern media company you can’t just be strong in one area, but that to truly thrive as a media company you need to be capable in a wide range of disciplines.
INNOVATION AND EFFICIENCY
We place innovation at our very core. We are always looking at new ways to engage customers or further our business.
When we innovate, we consider how we can create or adapt a brand to meet an emerging need? How will it fit into our customer’s day? How can we inspire, entertain or inform them? We answer this before we think about the platform or business model.
We are always striving to do more, for less. We run our businesses as efficiently as possible, creating more time and cash to innovate. It is a virtuous circle that has fuelled the company for many years. It has allowed us to grow strongly (every year for the last decade) at a time when many media owners are shrinking.
LONG TERM AND AGILE
At Dennis, our profits go to creating and planting the Heart of England of Forest. This is an ambitious, charitable project to plant a 30,000 acre native broadleaf Forest in Warwickshire. The Charity has a very long term goal – oak trees are not fast growing.
So as a company we are imbued with an incredibly long- term and meaningful purpose. Yet at Dennis we value agility above almost all else. We realise that to be still be relevant in the 21st century we need to be fleeter of foot than our competitors. To do this we adopt an agile approach not just to our digital products but to our print adventures too.
COLLABORATIVE AND INDIVIDUALLY BOLD
We realise that being agile means working tightly together. Some of the projects we work on as a company involve over 50 people at any one time, often spread throughout various parts of the country.
To balance this we also celebrate being bold. This stems from our roots where our founder Felix Dennis always stated ‘that is was far easier to just do it and apologise later”. This ethos, that encourages all Dennis staffers to make bold decisions, often ones that swim against the tide, is something we celebrate.
PROFESSIONAL AND FUN
We pride ourselves on feedback from all our customers and most importantly our staff. We do simple things like call back when we say we will, answer an email and solve problems as often as they crop up. And we listen, we like our staff to tell us what they think. We want all our output – be it our brands or our communications to look and feel professional.
But we always retain our sense of fun. We still like to play as hard as anyone else and we pride ourselves on our vibrant and healthy social culture. Again, it is no accident that these are rules that Felix Dennis lived his life by and are now as much part of our DNA as our other values.
Our history
Dennis was started by publishing mogul and entrepreneur Felix Dennis in London’s Fitzrovia in 1973, with its first magazine: Kung Fu Monthly. Dennis used the success of its first title to find the next big thing: computers. Under Felix’s guidance, Dennis launched and acquired a series of computer titles including Hi-fi Choice, PC Pro and Personal Computer World magazines. These titles quickly cemented Dennis as the leading technology publisher in the UK.
In 1995, Dennis launched Maxim, a title that began on the back of a beer mat and became the world’s biggest selling men’s lifestyle magazine and global brand. In 1996, Dennis acquired what is now Dennis’ flagship brand The Week. Over the following years the company published some of the biggest titles on the newsstand from all sectors – from Mac User, Stuff and Metal Hammer, to Viz, Bizarre and Poker Player.
Today, Dennis is one of the most dynamic media companies in the UK. As the 6th largest consumer magazine publisher, Dennis has transformed its business from its traditional print publishing roots to a true multi-platform, award-winning media company, with a group turnover of over £130m.
The company’s portfolio of over 30 brands operates in four areas of excellence: Current Affairs, Technology, Automotive and Lifestyle, reaching over 50million unique users and selling over 2.5million magazines every month.
Felix Dennis
1947 – 2014 Poet, Publisher, Planter of Trees.
Felix was a publishing legend, famed for his maverick, entrepreneurial style and, more lately, a successful and much loved poet.
He dedicated his legacy to The Heart of England Forest which will, one day, be the largest deciduous, broadleaf woodland habitat in England.
