Newspaper Society appoints Millward Brown for research study

by Jacquie Bowser, Brand Republic 03-Jan-08, 12:00

LONDON - The Newspaper Society has appointed Millward Brown to run a six-figure research project following a three-way pitch against Future Foundation and Sparkler.

Millward Brown will be tasked with researching local and community life across the UK, finding out what really matters to the public.

The research will combine qualitative and quantitative fieldwork across cities, towns and villages to produce findings that could help clients and agencies develop more informed advertising campaigns.

Fieldwork will begin this month with a planned launch of the results in the second quarter of this year.

Robert Ray, Newspaper Society marketing director, said: "Across the last couple of years, we have delivered clear and compelling evidence of the strength of local media via the wanted ads studies.

"This new study is going to provide advertisers and agencies with a real benchmark of life in the UK and how this impacts on people's sense of community and their relationship with news and information sources, including advertising and other commercial communications."

The third instalment of the Newspaper Society's "wanted ads" research project, which was conducted by TNS, looked at the combined impact of local newspapers and their websites.

Sue Elms, executive vice-president of Millward Brown global media practice, said: "We have combined top notch qualitative, quantitative and media skills to ensure we will deliver a project with vision and applicability in the world of brand communications."