MidBritain - Insight into the UK's Superconsumers

Middle England is dead, long live MidBritain. The publisher of the Daily Mail, long considered the house journal for middle England, has coined the term in order to rebrand the "offensive" and "outdated" stereotypes associated with its core readership.

Having established that 47% of the population are so-called midBritons, defining them as "aspirational with a sense of purpose", and recruited a representative sample of 5,000 of them, it plans to take on polling firms such as YouGov by regularly canvassing their opinion.

Linda Grant, group marketing services director at Associated Newspapers, said: "People conjure up an image when they hear it but they can't really define it. The Mail and middle England are synonymous but the idea of middle England is outdated."

The results of the group's research, published today, claim that rather than being "old fashioned, narrow-minded and conservative", such people are "interested in others' opinions", are "influential, engaged and vocal", and worry about the economy and the environment. They have a high level of disposable income and are the "ultimate consumers with the power to make or break almost any brand".

Owen Gibson, Guardian, 2nd April 08

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