When dealing with big brands, it’s easy to forget about the unique cultures and personalities of the regions and aim everything at a UK-wide audience. It’s important however for brands to tailor their campaigns and give a nod to those who identify with their regional culture just as much as they do their UK identity.
It was a visit to Liverpool last week for the personal appearance of the world’s leading make-up artist, Charlotte Tilbury at the John Lewis branch, which really highlighted just how much of a media pool there can be serving just one city and showing the worth of a brand addressing a city outside of London directly.
Stripe worked with Charlotte Tilbury’s PR agency to invite Liverpool’s media to a lunch time press session at John Lewis Liverpool, giving the local media what could be a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet Charlotte Tilbury and get some of her celeb-worth tips in an intimate afternoon tea setting, surrounded by all of her sought-after products.
These lifestyle journalists and bloggers, like many of their Liverpudlians take the beauty industry seriously and so when I first met with the journalists there was lots of excitement and anticipation. This was certainly the perfect location for John Lewis to have launched their only Charlotte Tilbury counter and for Tilbury to make an appearance. We often get plenty of thanks from media after events; for the experience and goody bags etc, but never have I seen such appreciation, truly flabbergasted.
The media opportunities are vast when working with regional media, whether it be around retail or food and drink. Each region from Scotland, to the Midlands, to the far depths of the UK in Cornwall, have their own niche media pool with their mix of glossy magazines, online lifestyle publications and local city newspaper – some ‘local rags’ reaching circulations of 80,000 and more. And if you do have a national message you want to share regionally, Trinity Mirror’s shared content unit compiles content for all of their city publications from the Birmingham Mail to the Manchester Evening News, with a successful collection of online news sites reaching a multi-million size audience.
We can’t forget about the blogger and vlogger presence too. In a media world that’s shifting ever more into the digital world, we’re working more and more with regional bloggers, whether it’s inviting them to parties hosted by Sourz or getting them in to try the latest new restaurant in their city, they certainly have a presence in their home cities which can be utilised. It’s no longer about just reaching the UK-wide audience, but getting somebody who lives and breathes the region’s culture and blogs or vlogs about it to their fellow Geordies or Brummies or whoever it may be.
My piece of advice for conquering the regional media pool; get on the phone, make an appointment for a face-to-face meeting, visit the city and get to know the region’s personality and the publication is yours to fill.