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The Newspaper Society has appointed BDH TBWA to handle its pounds 3

million generic marketing campaign to promote Britain’s regional press

to national advertisers.

The Manchester agency scooped the account following a four-way pitch

against IMP, Smith Bundy Carlson and Clark McKay Buckingham. BDH TBWA

will start work immediately on a campaign that will launch in March and

include trade press and regional press advertising, direct mail and

PR.

Charles Ross, the Newspaper Society’s national development manager,

said: ’BDH TBWA is based in the regions and has a direct division. A

large part of the campaign will be targeting senior decision-makers with

direct marketing. It will also be a challenging agency for us - the

people there won’t just nod their heads - we need an agency which is

stimulating to work with and makes sure that we grow our profile.’

Neil Griffiths, the deputy managing director of BDH TBWA, said: ’It will

take more than advertising to change people’s perceptions, so we have

come up with a novel approach. We will not simply be running a few

glossy trade ads. We have to stop people in their tracks and change

their thinking.’

The campaign will form part of a long-term awareness initiative for the

regional press and follows pledges by regional newspaper owners to

increase their subscriptions to the Newspaper Society in order to

support the new campaign (±±¾©Èü³µpk10, 4 December 1998).

A steering committee of publishers will oversee the campaign which will

try to win the regional press a larger share of national advertising.