Attitude wins Consumer Event of the Year at PPA 2026 Awards for the Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards, powered by Jaguar
"Attitude is a brand the world needs to survive and thrive," writes the publication's head of marketing Vincent Jaskowski-Prowse
“Nobody buys magazines anymore.” “I can’t remember the last time I bought a magazine.” “Do you even still print Attitude?”
As head of marketing for two magazine brands, I hear these comments a lot. Sometimes they’re innocent and well-meaning. Sometimes they’re not. Sometimes it’s shade thrown by a jealous queen wanting to rearrange my pegs for sport. It’s fine. I see you, and I do hope you’re okay.
Last night (17 June), at the PPA Awards 2026, hosted at City Central at the HAC in London, the Attitude team minced onto the stage in giddy excitement to collect the award for Consumer Event of the Year for the Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards 2025, powered by Jaguar.
The PPA Awards celebrate the UK’s most influential brands and publishers: those that create compelling content and connect with audiences year after year. Having made the shortlist in no fewer than six categories (five for Attitude, one for Rolling Stone UK), we were already on a high. But securing the pink metal for one of them was truly delicious for all involved. Although some of us are paying the price today in Ibuprofen and Liquid I.V.
It is true that, in 2026, retail space for magazines has shrunk. They used to occupy walls and fill aisles; today they are but an anorexic sliver of their former shelf presence. It is also true that we increasingly consume pixels rather than glossy print, compared with when Attitude first came into existence in 1994. Maybe the social media ban for teen tots will bolster print sales – who knows.
But this is where I must pay tribute to our managing director, Darren Styles OBE, and former managing director, now head of partnerships, Mike Buckley. They have always understood something fundamental: Attitude is a brand the world needs to survive and thrive.
These mature gentlemen (I can hear my P45 being prepared as I write) have transformed the business model, capturing the brand equity and essence of Attitude and translating it, year after year, into one of the most prestigious and celebrated LGBTQ+ nights in the world, reaching on average half a billion people globally.
You want to know what it’s like in the room on the night of the Attitude Awards? It’s electric.
Seamless. Premium. Glamorous. Camp.
A bit like sitting in Upper Class on a Virgin Atlantic A350, and tasting something a lot like M&S Chablis. Light bounces off sequins. Indulgent, expensive scents meld as guests embrace. The bass of exclusive live performances reverberates around the Camden Roundhouse. It’s an intimate, scandalous dance of A-listers and “friends of Attitude”.
The after-party. The celebrity DJ set. The smoking area and its forcefield of discretion (what you hear there must never be repeated to the outside world). It’s a unique brand universe.
@attitudemag We loved hosting @joebxggs and his buns on the red carpet last week 👀 Take a look at what went down! @virginatlantic ♬ original sound – Attitude Magazine
As a marketer, that makes me rather happy.
The Attitude brand is something you feel. Building that and sustaining it is an art. It really isn’t easy. To sustain a partnership such as that with Virgin Atlantic for 15 years and counting is nothing short of astonishing. It is testament to a brand that sees us, respects us, and puts us first when others retreat for fear of the culture war.
Picking up a trophy for the Attitude Awards IP is symbolic for us. It is proof that we have done something right in an industry facing significant headwinds, even before considering the sexuality element.
Some brands are all about the magazine, pushing subscriptions for tuppence and dragging down value perception for everyone else – a mad scramble for data, direct revenue and retention. That’s okay. We want people to buy our magazine too.
But we sit on a brand equity that is far more powerful than a sale in WHSmith at Terminal 5.
Ours is that feeling once you’ve boarded and settled into your seat: gliding through the gloss, pulse racing, eyebrows raising, smile forming, acceptance for who you are, incoming.
Drinks trolley, also incoming.
It’s a very special brand.
And to everyone at Stream Publishing who continues to make the brand I have always deeply loved thrive, I say many, many congratulations on the award win.