Loving Local is a major UK-wide research project which the NS independently commissioned with Crowd DNA to give a fresh perspective on the importance of local community and the associated context of media channels. The project builds upon previous six-figure research & insight projects from the NS, including the wanted ads and Local Matters, both of which provided clear and actionable insights on the unique and powerful role of local media.

Increase awareness and understanding of the importance of local community and show how local media can be used to effectively take advantage of this trend.

With a quantitative sample of almost 5,000, the Crowd DNA results provide a robust overview of what's happening across the UK, our behaviour and attitudes surrounding community and local life. It also provides a context of the different communications channels at connecting with the UK's communities. We were also able to supplement the quantative data with qualitative voxpop videos which add depth to the overall findings. And, interestingly, the results of the research can be looked at on a regional or population centre basis.

The research demonstrates that we are becoming increasingly connected to our local community; we are spending more time and money locally; just how local media (local newspapers and their websites) play a critical role in the cohesion of communities; and how this can be capitalised upon by advertisers in an environment where two-thirds of us have acted upon the advertising. For the full debrief see the Loving Local Presentation.

Local media is more relevant than ever before and we'd love to talk to you about our audience research and just how some of the UK's largest and most successful advertisers are tapping into the power of local.