In what is an Australian first collaboration, six Australian media owners; Southern Cross Austereo, Win, Prime Media Group, Australian Community Media, Imparja and Grant Broadcasters today stand together to unveil a million-dollar regional trade marketing campaign that will shine a light on the benefits of advertising in regional Australia across multiple platforms and channels. It’s called Boomtown and it’s where businesses and brands will boom.

 Chair of the Boomtown committee and Southern Cross Austereo’s Chief Sales Officer, Brian Gallagher, said, “Regional Australia is home for 8.8 million Aussies who are tapped-in, on-trend, online and ready to engage. It’s one of the largest and fastest growing markets in the country.  

 “Regional Australia is a Boomtown for brands who have previously underinvested in this growing market.”

 “Only 10% of national media budgets are spent regionally, despite 36% of the country’s population living there. That’s 8.8 million Australians being ignored by advertising in an extraordinarily uncluttered environment.”

 Boomtown residents spend more on their weekly shop than their metro counterparts, and travel just as much, with 79 per cent of 25 to 54-year-olds planning to take a holiday this year*. And despite stereotypes, nearly half of Boomtowners aged 25-54 have white collar jobs.**  In other words, Boomtown means business.  

 Boomtown committee member and Australian Community Media’s National Sales and Partnerships Director, Penny Kaleta, reinforces the Boomtown committee’s passion for changing perceptions of the regional landscape. 

 “Metropolitan markets are currently perceived to be more valuable due to misconceptions about regional Australia,” she said.

 “We need to change these misconceptions or risk becoming redundant to this prosperous market, a market that can be accessed by advertisers 24 hours a day – half of Australia’s top 10 online shopping postcodes are in Boomtown!

 “Boomtown’s uncrowded marketplace is a tremendous opportunity for brands looking to cut through and achieve results.”

Fellow Boomtown committee member and Prime Media Group’s General Manager of Sales and Marketing, Dave Walker, agrees that there is a suite of misconceptions about buying into regional markets.

 Mr Walker says that regional Australia is easier to buy than ever before and the consumers are valuable, and responsive to advertising, ideas and experiences.

 “The combined reach of our media companies means that we can talk to regional Australia at any time across any platform. Reliance on metro spends in any campaign that targets people other than CBD dwellers is simply short-sighted,” he said.

 “It’s time to think outside the metropolitan postcode and look beyond city streets. The media partners of the Boomtown collective inform and entertain the people of regional Australia with incredible content, and they respond. It’s time for media buys and industry leaders to tune in.”

 

ABOUT THE Boomtown Campaign:

Boomtown will take centre stage from April 8, across multiple platforms and channels, and will be in-market for three months with events held in Sydney and Melbourne and via in-agency activity nationally.

 
Media company collective: Southern Cross Austereo, Win, Prime Media Group, Australian Community Media, Imparja and Grant Broadcasters

Committee Chairman: Brian Gallagher

Client Working Group: Francesca Ryan, Nikki Clarkson, Sam Woods, Martine McPhail

Creative Agency: Eardrum

Media Agency: Wavemaker

Production Company: Fabric Films

Exec. Creative Director: Ralph Van Dijk

Creative Director: Tristan Viney

Production Manager: Emily Jones

Director: Charlie Fergusson

Executive Producer: Krista Fergusson

Post Production: Fabric Films
 

*CMV Nov 2018 – P25-54 – intend to travel for holiday next 12 months

**CMV national survey 10 2018 46% P25-54