Johnston Press has announced the appointment of Cherry London to create its first centralised national partnership strategy and programme, which is set to roll out across key titles this month.
Cherry London will be tasked to deliver a cohesive and energised national partnership strategy to drive subscription and sales for the newspaper brand.
Lucy Sinclair, group marketing and audience development director at Johnston Press, said: “Johnston Press engages huge numbers of traditionally hard-to-reach audiences in rural communities, towns and cities across the UK. Our brands have a loved and trusted relationship with the communities we serve. Working with Cherry is a key part of our new marketing strategy to use our size and scale across digital and print, to add more value to our local audiences and to enable national brands to capitalise on our unique media.”
Tamara Gillan, founder and CEO of Cherry London, added: “Unlocking the power of regional media and communicating with customers both locally and on a national scale is a great opportunity for Johnston Press and for partners.
“There’s been a distinct shift in consumer behaviour over the past few years, customers are much more engaged and concerned with their local communities and local media is really important within this step change.
“Johnston Press has the opportunity to talk to over 30 per cent of UK households, and these readers feel ‘ownership’ and feelings of trust towards their local paper in the same way they’re committed to their local shops, pubs, restaurants, services and sports clubs. Therefore this offers partners the opportunity to reach an engaged and loyal audience on a mass scale.”
Flagship titles at Johnston Press include The Yorkshire Post and the Scotsman, as well as 13 daily newspapers, 230 weekly titles and 200 local websites.