Newspaper Society develops Local Matters planning tool

by John Reynolds, Media Week 20-Jun-08, 15:10

LONDON - The Newspaper Society has launched a planning tool providing insight into social, behavioural and political differences between communities within the UK.

The tool, called Local Matters, is geared to helping agencies and advertisers to plan campaigns.

It has been built using findings from a national study, conducted by research outfit Millward Brown, which claims to demonstrate how attitudes towards issues including the economy, environmental awareness and community and national governments vary across the country.

The research claims a variety of findings, including that 62% of people believe their local area is improving, compared to just 30% who believe the country is improving.

Meanwhile, it found that people with young families are most likely to take an active role in the community.

Denise Turner, head of insight and effectiveness at MPG, said: "The Local Matters research turns a London-centric view of Britain on its head.

"Community means different things to different people and the findings bring to life how people are living their lives on a region by region basis."