Unlocking the power of regional teams

The UK’s long-standing focus on London is beginning to feel outdated and may be limiting business growth and opportunities. For years, brands have concentrated their resources in the capital, mistakenly equating proximity to a postcode with proximity to innovation. Although hybrid working and economic pressures forced brands to rethink, they may have overlooked the golden opportunity to tap into the full potential of regional teams.

The cost of operating exclusively in London is ballooning, both financially and creatively. Younger talent can’t afford to live there, clients outside the capital feel underserved, and the echo chamber of urban-centric thinking is leaving brands tone-deaf to large swathes of the population. As consumer trust in big business wavers, the brands winning today are the ones showing up locally.

Yet despite the data, the case studies, and the cultural shift, many brands still undervalue regional talent and it needs to change.

The business case for regional brilliance

Let’s start with the numbers.

Coop is one of the UK’s most regionally embedded retailers. The brand’s success in connecting with Northern communities isn’t luck, it’s built on local insight and teams who actually understand the cultural nuance. Or look at Yorkshire Tea - a brand that unapologetically owns its regional identity and, as a result, has built national loyalty without selling out its roots.

The economic case is just as compelling.

Office space outside London is dramatically cheaper. Leicester, Norwich, Ireland, and Bournemouth all offer world-class infrastructure at a fraction of the cost. When you consider that young professionals are increasingly prioritising work-life balance, affordability and purpose over prestige, regional hubs are magnetic.

And let’s not forget the talent. While London hoards visibility, it doesn’t hold a monopoly on brilliance. The rise of regional universities producing agency-ready grads shows there’s untapped creativity lying dormant, simply because it’s never been invited in.

Regional teams create relevance

One of the most under-discussed benefits of regional teams is their ability to keep brands relevant. You can’t craft campaigns that resonate in Leeds if your creative team has never set foot outside Shoreditch. You can’t build loyalty in Belfast if your media strategy starts and ends in Soho.

Brands like Greggs have cracked this. The bakery giant didn’t just explode onto TikTok because of London adland, it became a social media darling because it understands what its audience - from Newcastle to Nottingham - genuinely cares about. The Greggs X Primark collab was regional insight turned into cultural currency.

Likewise, Specsavers’ famously agile in-house creative team operates across several locations in the UK. Billboard takeovers to hyperlocalised humour only worked because they’re not filtered through a purely metropolitan lens.

True relevance means representation, not just in front of the camera but behind it. Regional creatives bring fresh perspectives, lived experiences and cultural fluency that can’t be replicated from a central office.

Rebuilding the pipeline, region by region

The long-term health of our industry depends on building a sustainable, inclusive talent pipeline. That starts with access. Initiatives like IPA’s Advertising Unlocked are proving that when agencies show up locally, talent rises to meet them.

Another standout example is Engine Transformation in Manchester, who’ve intentionally expanded their presence outside London to tap into Northern digital talent. It’s strategic, not sentimental. Brands who follow suit will not only benefit from a richer pipeline, they’ll also position themselves as employers of choice in an increasingly competitive market.

This isn’t just about recruitment. It’s about retention, innovation and brand longevity. Regional teams are more than just satellites, they’re future-shaping engines of growth.

The UK is bigger than London

Brands that fail to decentralise will struggle to stay relevant, diverse, or resilient. London is no longer the only, or best, option. By investing in regional talent, brands can unlock a wave of creativity, cultural relevance and commercial success that centralised teams simply can’t deliver alone.

So, the next time you're reviewing your talent strategy or agency roster, ask yourself: are we building for here, or are we building for everywhere? Because the brands and businesses that think beyond the M25 are the ones who’ll win the next decade.