Independent media company ACM has launched a major marketing campaign to lure national advertisers, its first concerted bid for a bigger slice of the national ad market since moving to private ownership under executive chairman Antony Catalano.
The "ACM ConnectNow" campaign encourages national advertising agencies and their clients to use the ACM network of 142 mastheads across the country to reach highly engaged print and digital audiences of 6.4 million a month.
The messaging will appear in media and marketing industry trade press and ACM-owned assets throughout August and September. ACM is the publisher of this masthead.
ACM chief revenue officer Sharon Fitter said the company prided itself on keeping communities strong, informed and connected.
"Our regional heartland has experienced unprecedented growth over the past 18 months as more and more Australians embrace the freedoms of living and working in our thriving regional centres," Ms Fitter said.
"We're saying if you want to connect to these audiences come and talk to ACM."
Once part of the former Fairfax Media group that was swallowed by Nine Entertainment in 2018, ACM is now owned by Mr Catalano and Alex Waislitz's ASX-listed Thorney Investment Group.
"Unlike many other publishers we are looking to grow our portfolio not shrink it," Ms Fitter said.
"We're two years on from the separation from Fairfax/Nine and we are now the largest independent publisher in the country and we want to celebrate the connections we make. We're connecting readers to content, advertisers to audiences and we continue to add community support programs that aim to make the areas in which we operate better places to live."
Ms Fitter said that while some news outlets sought to "polarise people at times, our trusted mastheads are part of the fabric of the communities they serve".
"If you ask someone in Newcastle about the Newcastle Herald, there's a lot of passion: it truly is the 'Voice of the Hunter' and this sentiment is replicated across our network," she said.
ACM chief marketing officer Paul Tyrrell said the campaign was "not only raising the profile of ACM and our portfolio but also debunking a few misconceptions out there".
"The fact is, ACM's reach is nation-wide. We are strong in the regions where 9.1 million Australians now reside but many clients would not be aware that 48 per cent of our audiences are from metropolitan areas. So with ACM it's easy and efficient to reach both a regional and a metro audience with a single buy."
Mr Tyrrell said the ACM ConnectNow logo and information available on the website acmconnectnow.com.au showcased "the breadth of our reach across the country" and urged advertisers and ad agencies to "connect now to our audiences, our mastheads at a local or group level and, of course, our quality content solutions".
He said ACM's "Story Central" department offered commercial clients creative solutions from a team of 30 dedicated content creators.
