In September, INMA awarded 30 young professionals around the world with its fifth “30 Under 30” award as part of its Young Professionals Initiative. This is the 11th in a series of 30 features about the impressive rising media stars who are shaping our industry.

Combining his expertise in digital engagement with a passion for journalism, Adam Frank is on a mission to reduce subscriber churn at The Washington Post: “I’ve spent the past year and a half evolving our engagement work to be laser-focused on growing habits that prevent subscriber churn,” he said.

And, thanks to his ability to create personalised messages with clear calls to action, The Washington Post has seen click rates increase by 30% year-over-year. Adam also collaborated with product and engineering teams to develop innovative marketing tools for automating and personalising messaging; those efforts have been rewarded with the subscription marketing team’s Quarterly Value award and recognition at INMA’s 2024 Global Media Awards.

Adam’s peers value his collaborative nature, strategic approach, and project management skills — all of which will also help him reach his goals of becoming a leader in the news media industry. He excels in working with diverse teams, including product, analytics, design, engineering, and finance, to align projects with organisational goals.

“I believe strongly that maintaining open lines of communication helps all of us do better work. I make a point of fostering relationships with colleagues in the newsroom, as their journalism is at the heart of everything we do,” Adam said. “I’m excited to build on what I’ve accomplished so far and continue tackling more.”

One of Adam’s most significant initiatives was coordinating the 2023 promotional campaign for Newsprint, The Washington Post’s personalised year-end recap experience. By expanding eligibility and adding custom videos from journalists, he fostered brand affinity and increased habitual engagement.

The campaign was incredibly successful, with 15% of subscribers engaging with Newsprint: “Ultimately, 15 out of every 100 subscribers engaged with Newsprint and we saw significant impact to habit adoption and long-term engagement,” Adam said. Newsprint was also named Best Idea to Encourage Reader Engagement at INMA’s 2024 Global Media Awards.

Adam’s method for automating personalised engagement e-mails based on behavioural triggers has also boosted engagement, leading to a 14% increase in article gifting among subscribers. “Automating these messages not only increases their effectiveness but also allows us to quickly and sustainably scale up our engagement marketing efforts,” he said.

Looking to the future, Adam is eager to take on more leadership responsibilities and explore how AI technologies can be leveraged in marketing to automate messaging further and expand analytical capabilities.

He is also eager to connect with peers across the industry: “We’re all facing a rapidly developing market, and I think fostering collaborative relationships with peers at other publications helps us all do smarter work.”

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