Integrating and engaging with regional communities and buying people, not places are key to brand growth success, according to speakers at Boomtown’s latest Masterclass.
Boomtown, the media collective representing the nearly 10 million people living in regional Australia, held its winter Masterclass on 17 June, with BYD head of media, Emilyn Jones (pictured above) and SCA head of strategic insights and effectiveness, Jasmine Beech, sharing their perspectives on how brands and agencies can unlock results through regional campaigns.
BYD, now Australia’s second highest selling car brand, has identified regional Australia, and tapping into the uniqueness of each local community, as key elements of its marketing strategy.
Jones said electric vehicle and hybrid car manufacturer, BYD Australia, had actively included regional Australia in both its marketing and sales strategies, working closely with local operators to reach Boomtown audiences.
“Regional is a super important market for us, even from a dealer perspective,” she said. “For BYD, 40 per cent of our dealers are in regional areas, and even with [luxury vehicle brand] Denza, which only launched six months ago, one of our first dealers was in Townsville, and we’ve got two opening soon in Tasmania.
“We’ve identified regional Australia as an important audience, both from a customer perspective and for advertising. We know it’s important that we’re having a conversation with regional audiences, having that reach and continuing to ensure they’re a key part of our planning and marketing.”
Beech said efficiency was the biggest opportunity in regional advertising, with data showing advertising dollars go further in Boomtown.
“I’ve spent a lot of time in effectiveness data and brand lift studies across my career,” she said. “Overarchingly, when we compare metro results to those campaigns running in regional, we can see that regional campaigns had less investment, but delivered greater campaign recall, likeability and brand positivity, and I think that’s something that gets lost in the conversation.
“For example, [we had a] power tool brand that did a big national campaign. They had less than a quarter of their overarching spend in regional, but the results for regional were on-par or better than what they were achieving in metro, with significantly less spend.
“It’s clear that the love affair for brands who are actually showing up in regional markets can’t be underestimated. [Our data demonstrates that] regional residents are buying national brands, but they’re lagging on preference, so there’s a real opportunity for national brands to close the gap between purchase and preference, just by showing up and having that high mental availability for consumers.”
Jones said investment in Boomtown advertising had consistently yielded results for the brand, and BYD is looking at further customisation specific to local communities.
“We see it in the sales, but we also hear it from our dealers who are on the ground,” she said. “Integrating and engaging with local providers and communities is important, and we’ve given our dealers the freedom to use their local knowledge and networks to ensure the message cuts through in different ways.
“That customisation opportunity is real in regional areas. We’d love to start exploring ideas like customising creative to mention a local campsite or leaning into a local in-joke; it’s a way of bringing a product into that specific market and almost stress testing it with locals; it’s definitely something we want to delve into.”
Beech agreed, leaving Masterclass attendees with the powerful advice to “buy people, not places.”
“Regional residents are just people – they’re still buying Cadbury chocolate, they’re still driving electric vehicles; they’re the same as metro residents, they’re just living in different areas,” she said. “Regional areas shouldn’t be overlooked for any campaigns. We know that regional over indexes on spend in a number of categories, so there’s real opportunity for brands.”
The winter Masterclass, moderated by The Ideas Business Founder Wade Kingsley, also included discussion around the recently unveiled Boomtown Spend Snapshot, featuring new CommBank iQ insights showing that regional Australians contribute $250 billion annually to the national economy and consistently outspend metro consumers in several key categories.
Commenting on the Masterclass, Boomtown marketing lead, Francesca Ryan, said: “Regional media is often misunderstood or overlooked by marketers who haven’t experienced it firsthand. Emilyn and Jasmine’s insights come from their lived experience planning, trading and operating in Boomtown, and seeing the value of regional advertising for brands.
“Both agreed that there is untapped opportunity for agencies and advertisers in Boomtown, particularly when it comes to efficiencies, spend and engagement. Their shared learnings demonstrate the role regional media plays in helping brands build meaningful engagement, and its ability to deliver significant business and marketing outcomes.”
Boomtown’s masterclasses are now a vital part of education and professional development for the Australian media industry. Since their inception, the masterclasses have trained more than 2,000 marketing professionals on the benefits of advertising in regional Australia.
