PlayersPlay-ers / [play-ers]

-noun 1. 18-34 year old men who play local team sports. They are brand-aware, socialise a lot, like the latest and best of what they’re into – gadgets, cars, phones, clothes, games consoles and the like. Keen on appearances, and exist within a peer-group culture where banter & bragging-rights is key,and male-bonding is done with the assistance of lagers and shots.

Highly sought after by brands desperate to benefit from the turbo-charged boost of acceptance amongst these brand ambassadors. Local media fans – engaged and loyal.

Related forms:Play-er [noun] , play [verb]

T H E A L F A I S S U E

W H AT W E K N O W . . .

H E R E ’ S H O W W E K N O W I T. . .

Our local media brands’ sports sections are powerful and effective (& relatively untapped) platforms, from which to deeply engage with 18-34 year old sports-playing male brand ambassadors – “players”.

T H E A L F A I S S U E

THE

PLAYERS

SINCE 1974

P H A S E 1Research Agency: Market Research UK

Sample: 1000 face to face interviews (quant) / 8 focus groups (qual)

Objective: Establish relationship, if any, between ‘players’ and their local media brand – how, why, when etc. Build profile of this audience.

77%proportion of Players that use local paper or website

as main source of information on their team’s news/results.

93%read their local newspaper

regularly for local sports news

68%said local newspapers

provide a breadth of local sports information not

available anywhere else.

T H E A L F A I S S U E

67%said local papers play

a key role in campaigning on local sports issues

P H A S E 2Research Agency: Wood Holmes

Sample: 672 [’players’ element boosted to 25%]

Objective: To put our money where our mouths were. Prove that our titles could deliver this audience in a ‘live’ enviroment, with a brand and product aimed at that exact group.

Pre and post campaign interviews3 ads ran over 3 weeks in each locationBournemouth in ROP | Swindon in SportMeasuring brand, model & dealer awareness

T H E A L F A I S S U E

90

77

6559 58

67

48

72

3137

LocalNews

Ents Jobs Sports Motors

ALWAYS READ

Players relationship with their local newspaper is fundamentally built around Sport content. They ALWAYS read it, they are twice as likely to turn to sport FIRST and they read it longer than other readers.

[They always go there and they’re always engaged when they get there.]

T H E A L F A I S S U E

47

2520

36

13

23

Local Sports Jobs

LONGEST READING

LocalNews

50

24 22

41

13

23

Sports Jobs

TURN TO FIRST

T H E A L F A I S S U E

Players respond positively to brand advertising in their local newspaper.Alfa Romeo awareness – WENT UPMito awareness – WENT UPLocal dealer awareness – WENT UP

TOTAL Unprompted Recall All Players All Players [Swindon] [Bournemouth]

Pre2%

Post10%

Post19%

Pre9%

T H E A L F A I S S U E

100% increase in dealer awareness in Swindon after the cutin ads

400% INCREASE

15

28

1519

151417

147 157 159

Bournemouth[traditional/ROP]Pre %

Bournemouth[traditional/ROP]Post %

Brera

T H E A L F A I S S U E

1519

34

26

11

21

5149

GT Mito Spider

Players TOTAL Awareness

Brera

T H E A L F A I S S U E

Players are more receptive to specific ads if the brand, content and location is directly relevant to them

Umprompted ad recall increased in both locations amongst Players

20%of players likely to purchase car

in next 12 months (13% of AIRs)

T H E A L F A I S S U E

Bournemouth PlayersAd Recall =

47% UP

Swindon PlayersAd Recall =

77% UP

P L AY E R S , S P O R T & C U T - I N , G A M E O N . . .

Players are 21% more likely to prefer the cut-in treatment than regular readers

Of those, one third did so because of the ad’s location in the sports section amongst directly relevant content.

For more information please contact Richard Thomas, Head of Insightr.thomas@newsquestmedia.co.uk020 7420 7603

THE

PLAYERS

SINCE 1974

Thanks to

Research AgencyWOOD HOLMES

Research AgencyMRUK

ClientALFA ROMEO

Media AgencyMEDIAEDGE:CIA

NewspapersSWINDON ADVERTISERBOURNEMOUTH ECHO