Regional Media: The Creative Imperative.

Despite a perceived lack of glamour, regional advertising offers plenty of creative scope, Lucy Aitken writes

Regional press advertising usually brings to mind images of sofa beds on sale at an out-of-town warehouse, or a coupon offering a free bottle of wine at a new Indian restaurant. When compared with the latest attention-grabbing, big-budget Levi's campaign, the ads just don't seem to have the same sparkle.

But strong creative ideas are starting to make the regional press a more attractive prospect for big-hitting clients such as Unilever and Procter & Gamble. There's just one hitch: a slight image problem for agencies and advertisers to overcome.

It's just that regional papers have never been seen as a particularly exciting medium, especially by younger creative teams. As Danny Brooke-Taylor, the creative director of the Manchester-based agency BDH\TBWA, points out: 'Most people who are attracted to the industry see a poster or a TV campaign. Very rarely would someone see a campaign in the regional press and think: 'I must get into advertising!''

But what the regional press lacks in glamour, it makes up for in significance.

It claims a phenomenal share of adspend - pounds 2.98 billion in 2003 (Advertising Association figures), more than one-third of the total amount spent on press advertising last year (pounds 8.38 billion). Buoyed by revenue from classified advertising, it is the UK's second-largest advertising medium after television.

Car advertisers are big users of the regional press. Last year, they spent almost pounds 155 million across all media - Ford alone spent more than pounds 80 million, according to Nielsen Media Research.