“Boomtown Will Boom Your Business”: Marketing Experts Share Insights On Regional Advertising Success

“Boomtown will boom your business” was the key message shared by three of the nation’s leading female marketing experts at the final online Boomtown Masterclass for 2024, which nearly 100 people tuned into.

The masterclass, which was held online on Thursday 21 November, featured insights from a panel of senior women in media, including Lucy Formosa Morgan, managing director for marketing agency Magna Global, Nicole Smart, general manager – group media for Woolworths Group, and Cath Brands, chief marketing & innovation officer for software platform, Flintfox International.

All three women shared their experiences with advertising campaigns in Boomtown, which represents the 9.8 million people currently living in regional Australia.

Boomtown is set to swell in 2025, with new research showing two in five city dwellers are looking to make the move to regional Australia.

The data, commissioned by the Regional Australia Institute, shows the number of metropolitan residents looking to move to the regions has doubled over the past 18 months, with 40 per cent of capital city residents now considering a move to regional Australia – up from 20 per cent in May 2023.

“What I like most about regional is the opportunities it presents marketers. Because it’s uncluttered, [marketers] can be doing so much more and engaging at a deeper level,” said Woolworths Group’s Nicole Smart.

“The most rewarding times in my career have been when I’m doing work in big regional towns. You can really connect with the local community and make a difference,” added Smart.

“One of the things I’ve learned about regional [is that] the reach and frequency is strong, but the conversion [happens] a lot quicker. It might be because there’s less noise, but it’s also because of the community and word of mouth,” said Flintfox International’s Cath Brands.

“What regional offers brands is a sense of community. It’s one thing to show up on a billboard, but why not be at the local Bunnings sausage sizzle, advertising on the local radio station and being content-driven? The reality is, in regional, [customers] are more likely to bite because they listen harder, and they’ve got less noise around them,” added Brands.

“My advice is to test regional. Work with your clients to understand the regional distribution, the regional targets and test it. There is such an opportunity – with less clutter, there’s the opportunity for bigger brands to really stand out in regional markets and deliver great results,” said Magna Global’s Lucy Formosa-Morgan.

Last week’s Masterclass was the latest session in Boomtown’s Masterclass series, designed to explore the opportunities in regional advertising. Since its 2020 inception, the masterclasses have educated thousands of Australian advertising and media professionals on the benefits of Boomtown advertising.

Details of the 2025 Boomtown Masterclass series will be released soon.