Media chiefs star in regional press ad drive

Walker Media managing partner Christine Walker is among a number of leading figures from the media industry to star in The Newspaper Society’s latest campaign, which aims to increase the regional press’ share of the national advertising cake.

Other faces to appear in the trade advertising campaign are David Clayton Smith, director of consumer marketing at Boots; John Bartle, joint chief executive at Bartle Bogle Hegarty; Robert Ray, joint managing partner at MediaVest; Andrew Robertson, managing director of Abbott Mead Vickers.BBDO; Rupert Howell, chairman of HHCL & Partners; and Dominic Owens, managing director of The Bridge Works.

Created by BDH TBWA, the ads form part of a 3m NS marketing campaign, called Creating New Perspectives.

The Society is also sending out a questionnaire to more than 20,000 people working in agencies and client companies. It asks for their views on regional press and what issues need to be addressed in order to increase NS members’ share of the national advertising market.

The responses will be used to draw up a manifesto of commitments for regional press, to be launched next January.

The ad featuring Walker challenges her opinion that regional press is suited to retail clients but not to a branded, high profile national campaign. It claims that nearly one in four of the British adult population reads a local newspaper and not a national one.

But the ad admits that regional newspapers need to overcome a production process which “can be complex, time consuming and cost prohibitive” in order to attract national advertisers.

Regional press has about four per cent – or 240m – of the total UK national advertising market.