Boomtown, a collective representing regional Australia, recently held its first regional media masterclass for 2024, attracting nearly 100 industry representatives and speakers from Koala, IMAA and Thinkerbell.

The event featured guest speakers Bek Fraser, Head of Growth for Koala, Sam Buchanan, CEO of Independent Media Agencies Australia (IMAA), and Tom Wenborn, Executive Creative Director at Thinkerbell. The speakers shared their experiences with Boomtown advertising and highlighted the benefits of regional campaigns for brands and agencies.

Fraser underscored the importance of regional markets for its fully online business. She noted regional areas offer more choice for customers who otherwise have limited options. Fraser advised brands to consider regional spots with limited competition in their space, as they can easily penetrate and have a significant impact. She also emphasised the importance of data-driven strategies.

"Moving into the regional markets has been really interesting because the products we offer in metro also resonate with regional areas and that is because of the customer benefit. In metro, customers want the convenience of something being delivered fast, whereas in regional, customers have less choice," she commented."As a fully online business, regional is important because we can give regional populations more choice rather than just their local option or having to drive three hours to their nearest home centre."

Buchanan emphasised the value of advertising in regional Australia, citing the significant population of 9.6 million people as a valuable audience for brands and agencies. He encouraged independent agencies to reassess their perceptions of regional advertising and follow the audience.

"It’s a no-brainer to me that brands and agencies should be advertising in regional Australia. 9.6 million people is not a figure to be ignored when you’re considering your media plans and campaigns, it’s a valuable audience," Buchanan stated.

Thinkerbell's Wenborn advised not to underestimate the savviness of regional audiences. He pointed out regional markets offer a lot of cut-through due to less advertising saturation and provide the opportunity to unlock more insights or to test campaigns regionally before launching them in metro areas.

Boomtown Chairman, Brian Gallagher, said the masterclasses have become an integral part of personal development and training plans for the media industry.

"Bek, Sam and Tom offered some great advice and insights on the benefits of buying regional media, from their combined decades of industry experience. Their shared knowledge demonstrated the power of regional media and what it can bring to media strategies for agencies and brands nationwide," he said.

Boomtown represents the 9.6 million people living in regional Australia, a population that has continued to grow since the pandemic. The Boomtown masterclass series, which began in 2020, has trained thousands of media, marketing, and advertising executives nationwide on the power of regional media. Additional masterclasses will be announced in the coming months. Boomtown's eight Australian media owner members are SCA, WIN, Seven, ARN, ACM, Nine NBN, News Corp Australia, and Imparja.