Case Studies | American City Business Journals

American City Business Journals launches entire portfolio of 40 apps on Pugpig

The US business publisher is investing in apps to build a better user experience for their most loyal readers. Using our brand new Pugpig App Manager tool, we were able to build and submit all 40 apps in record time.

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About American City Business Journals (ACBJ)

ACBJ is the largest publisher of metropolitan business newsweeklies in the US, reaching over 1.3 million readers across the nation each week. It provides in-depth coverage of local business news as well as breaking news and a range of insightful topics for business leaders.

The main objectives

  • A fast, responsive publishing platform that’s in-tune with and paving the way for new technologies and integrations.
  • A more valuable digital product for their most loyal subscribers to sit alongside their regular print distribution and in-person and virtual events.
  • An engaging way of showcasing their newsletter content, which they see high levels of engagement on across their user base.

What we did

Migrated 40 titles onto Pugpig Bolt seamlessly

We migrated all titles from their previous app platform (MAZ), focusing on building out styles for one publication which were then signed off by the ACBJ team. Our teams then collaborated to gather the information for the other 39 app builds.

Built and submitted in record time

We built and submitted all apps in just four months thanks to our brand new Pugpig Multi App Management tool. This allows us to drastically reduce build and submission times for multiple apps using the same layout and integrations and automatically submit them. 

Created a dedicated newsletters hub to drive sign ups

The app features ‘newsletter’ menu item which was built specifically to drive sign ups and eventually host all newsletter content in-app. Newsletter content is one of their most engaged-with content formats across all publications.

Brand new, engaging content timelines

The apps feature out-of-the-box timelines which sit alongside the newsletter section and digital editions. These surface the latest news as well as upcoming in-person and virtual events for business leaders.

Integration with Pushly

All 40 apps use Pushly for their push notifications, which integrates seamlessly with Bolt. Through the Pushly plugin, ACBJ can use push notifications effortlessly alongside the rest of their marketing.

Powerful search

The apps now have brand new search ability to improve discoverability on content within the apps. The search was built using Bolt’s powerful off-the-shelf search functionality which is powered by AWS.

“The Pugpig team worked with us to accomplish our goals and achieve launch KPIs. I’m excited to say we did just that.”

Testimonial Author Image

“As with any transition, we faced quite a challenge managing the rebuild of 40 Local Market Apps. The Pugpig team and their leadership worked with us each week to accomplish our goals and achieve launch KPIs. I’m excited to say we did just that. We met all goals and have outlined a roadmap for the next few months to take our apps to even greater heights.”

Josh Roten
Senior Director of Commerce & On-Site Marketing, American City Business Journals
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