‘More exciting’, ‘more effective’ and ‘double the impact’ were just a few of the insights from last week’s Boomtown Masterclass – the latest in the collective’s education series.
More than 100 industry professionals attended Boomtown’s winter Masterclass on July 4, gaining insights from an expert panel of senior marketers, including Lauren Dawber, Senior Director – Media, Operations and Performance for Optus, Rob Maxwell, Head of Investment for independent, full-service media agency The Speed Agency, and Manelle Merhi, General Manager – Marketing and Customer Experience for Kennards Hire.
All three speakers discussed the significant opportunities for brands advertising in regional Australia, particularly in creating meaningful campaigns that not only connect with audiences but deliver strong ROI.
The panel revealed many national brands are now recognising that a large proportion of their customer base live outside capital cities – and they need to target them accordingly.
Optus’ Lauren Dawber said: “At Optus, we think about regional like we think about anywhere else in Australia. We know our customers are all over Australia – I think it’s remiss [of any brand] to think they only find customers in metro cities. Now, we don’t look at our customers as ‘metro versus regional’; we look at them based on demographic and channel – the digital ecosystem is powerful, it doesn’t matter where you live.”
Kennards Hire’s Manelle Merhi added: “Around 35 per cent of our branch network and operations are based in regional Australia – it means that we ensure to focus a significant portion of our marketing spend in supporting regional markets.”
Kennards Hire has used its strong regional customer base and affinity with rural Australia – the brand was born in Bathurst in 1948 – to create deeply impactful campaigns and embed its branches within the regions, achieving strong results.
“We stay close to the data and find that we get a double or triple impact in regional more so than we do in metro areas. These types of regional results make it hard to argue with the data and easier to align on decisions in the organisation’s broader strategy,” said Merhi.
“They’ve also driven our thinking around regional – we look to cultivate deep relationships and create opportunities to nurture and play a values-led role in those communities. Our regional teams are very much part of their local community, because residents choose businesses that are active in their community and have good values”.
Given the results, Speed Agency’s Rob Maxwell said it would be remiss for any brand to overlook regional. “The facts and figures about regional are compelling for agencies and clients and demonstrate how much opportunity there is, particularly when you look at the size of the population, as well as other socioeconomic factors,” he said.
“Whether you’re an online business, a brick-and-mortar establishment or just looking for new expansion territories, regional is such a happy hunting ground and should be treated the same as any other market. Brands really need to park any preconceptions about regional and come at it from a neutral place. Look at the data – it will help level the playing field and show how an area can represent a really strong growth opportunity”.
“I would love all agency partners to really think about markets outside of the capital cities, as it makes for more exciting and more effective media plans. We’ve used the vast amount of data we have about our network and customers to really understand exactly where they are, but also where our future growth is going to come from – and so much of that growth for Optus is in regional Australia,” said Dawber.
Boomtown, the collective representing the 9.8 million people living in regional Australia, has been actively campaigning for increased advertising spending in regional Australia since its inception in 2019.
As part of its efforts, the collective has been running regular Masterclasses designed to show agencies and brands the benefits and opportunities of regional marketing. The Masterclasses have trained thousands of Australian media, marketing, and advertising executives on the power of regional media.
