PWX Solutions, created as the outsource production and paper-procurement services firm PubWorX in a joint venture between the B2C magazine-media giants Hearst and Conde Nast, has evolved rapidly in 10 years. Through acquisitions, organic growth and an expansion of services, the New York City-based agency now offers a wide array of essential services to more than 70 media (and other) clients, both large and small, B2B and consumer. Its services run the gamut from consumer marketing, to paper procurement, magazine production, and distribution.
Across PWX Solutions’ 70-plus clients, it supports more than 300 individual brands. We recently spent time at a media conference with PWX CEO Michelle Korchinski-Ogden, and our conversation touched on a variety of media topics. For its part, PWX Solutions also touched on essential media business tools. Michelle was kind enough to agree to an interview. It was a fascinating conversation. Here’s a transcript.
Fox Tales: PWX Solutions is now 10 years old. Tell us how the organization formerly known as PubWorX has changed in that time.
Michelle Korchinski-Ogden: As you note PWX Solutions began as PubWorX, a joint-venture between Hearst and Condé Nast, focused on consumer marketing, production and distribution, and paper procurement. One year into its tenure, PubWorX acquired ProCirc, and with it a broad portfolio of clients. Many of those same clients are still with us today.
Michelle Korchinski-Ogden.
We rebranded to PWX Solutions in 2022 as the media landscape evolved and our work expanded beyond traditional publishing services. While media remains our core focus, we’ve also applied our operational and marketing expertise to adjacent industries. We have over 70 clients in both B2B and B2C outside of Condé and Hearst, and support over 300 individual brands.
What hasn’t changed is our focus on helping publishers, especially small and mid-sized media companies, operate more efficiently and build sustainable consumer businesses.
Fox Tales: Of course, the media industry has changed as well. How have you adapted to new market circumstances and conditions?
Korchinski-Odgen: Yes, the industry is in a persistent state of change today. So much is happening in the digital space with AI and changing consumer behavior. We have significantly expanded our digital offerings over the years. We can help our clients navigate the introduction of a paywall as well as optimize their newsletter strategy and engagement rates—all while continuing to innovate in traditional media. For instance, we are working with a partner to help build a web app for their brand while simultaneously expanding a programmatic direct-mail program, allowing brands to send direct mail to consumers who have visited a brand’s website.
In addition, we recognize that our media partners are using new technologies and have new partnerships. We are developing cross-platform solutions that help unify consumer data into a single view of the customer.
We’re also continuing to test aggressively across audience growth and engagement, because consumer behavior is constantly evolving.
Fox Tales: If memory serves, you started primarily as a magazine production-services company. Paper procurement, outsourced production and the like. Later you moved into audience marketing with the ProCirc acquisition. Tell us about your current lineup of products.
Korchinski-Ogden: Audience marketing has always been part of the business, but the ProCirc acquisition significantly expanded both our scale and our client base outside our parent companies.
Today, our offerings span audience marketing, paywall optimization, newsletter growth and engagement, production, distribution, newsstand strategy, paper procurement and more. This allows us to meet the needs of our clients in ways that are unique to them.
While brands may have similar pain points, each one has its own challenges. We can take our insights from anonymized collective data and provide perspective, data-driven recommendations, and the ability to execute effectively.
Fox Tales: Similarly, what’s the primary composition of your customer/client base? Magazines? Associations? Digital media?
Korchinski-Ogden: Our client base spans both B2C and B2B media brands, including consumer magazines, digital media partners, and specialty-media companies. While the audiences differ, many of the underlying business challenges are similar. Interestingly, all are now deeply entrenched in driving one-to-one engagement through email, events, personalized content, or new digital products.
For instance, as search behavior changes, particularly with the rise of AI-driven discovery, our publishers and media partners increasingly need direct audience relationships. We help them grow and maximize the utility of those relationships, without which it will be incredibly difficult to find new ways to drive consumer or advertising revenue.
Fox Tales: You started out as a venture by Conde Nast and Hearst. Has your focus shifted to B2B as much as B2C? Special interest? I know you sponsored the BIMS event in 2025, for example, which is more representative of the B2B side but includes both as well.
Korchinski-Ogden: The acquisition of ProCirc in 2017 started us down a path of supporting small to mid-sized publishers and that tradition has not only held, but expanded. We are an agency that can support B2B or B2C publishers effectively. On the B2B side, we just recently sponsored both the Media Growth Summit and OX9, Omeda’s conference, to engage and understand this audience more deeply.
Because we operate across a broad portfolio of publishers, we bring proven marketing strategies, operational efficiencies, and purchasing scale to smaller organizations that otherwise wouldn’t have access to them for consumer or business brands. We recently onboarded a small regional magazine and were able to help them find significant operational efficiencies in their production workflow.
Our insights across a variety of brands are a key differentiator for us. We’re also using AI internally to streamline workflows, surface insights faster, and develop new tools that help clients operate more efficiently and meet their objectives.