Bernard Salt joins Boomtown to spotlight 'regional super consumer'

According to demographer and columnist with The Australian, Bernard Salt, the biggest factor driving major life choices for Australians over the last hundred years has been “the relentless, obsessive pursuit of lifestyle and quality of life.”

As a result, he predicts that the next 10 years will be “the time of the regions,” experiencing a surge in population growth and consumer spending as millennials “pass through the peak income earning stage of the life cycle.”

Salt spoke on Wednesday at a breakfast in Sydney’s Barangaroo, hosted by the Boomtown collective and attended by 160 guests.

Bernard Salt

Describing the life of the “regional super consumer,” Salt told the room that peak growth is coming from those aged from 20 to 40 making the move to ‘lifestyle’ regional destinations, with the Gold Coast/Tweed Heads, Sunshine Coast, Geelong, Warragul-Drouin, Morisset-Cooranbong, Busselton, and Ballarat topping growth.

Regional super consumers are more likely to own a home, more likely to spend more per basket on groceries and online shopping compared to metro dwellers, live in multiple car households, spend more time improving and maintaining their homes, and are exposed to rising cosmopolitan influences – especially food.

“In big, bold, round numbers – 10 million people with the spending power of a first world nation, 4 million households. This is regional Australia, and according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, this is a market that will surge and blossom over the next 10 years,” Salt concluded.

Also speaking at the breakfast was Boomtown chair, Brian Gallagher, who said that in the five years since the launch of Boomtown, the sales teams from the collective has “spoken to hundreds of brands and ... many hundreds of media buyers about the benefits of investing in these audiences.

“They have focused on the core benefit, the ability to achieve real outcomes in advertising ROI. As a result of these conversations turning into negotiations, significant ad spend growth to regional media has been achieved, which is what we set out to do.”

Brian Gallagher

In terms of numbers, Gallagher said that members of the Boomtown Collective have seen an increased share of the national advertising dollar, now at 17.6%. This is an increase exceeding 35% share growth since the campaign launched.

Referencing a research piece Boomtown did with Analytics Partners to review studies on the effectiveness of campaign activity using regional media, Gallagher said the analysis indicates up to 32% increase in ROI being achieved with regional media. 

“Local stories have always proven to drive audience attention and engagement,” Gallagher said.

“Attention and engagement that is equally important to advertisers to cut through the noise and make their mark with these same consumers. This also means local media outlets offer effective and brand safe advertising environments.”

See more: Boomtown and Thinkerbell debut campaign celebrating regional opportunity

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Top image: Brian Gallagher and Bernard Salt