Front page hits home on digital London billboard

The digital billboard at the Hammersmith bus station. Photo / Supplied

The Herald's Rugby World Cup semifinal front page has gone up in lights in London - part of a marketing campaign to illustrate how newspapers can pull communities together.

The triumphant front page is the first to appear on a big digital billboard in Hammersmith - which will display front pages from various New Zealand newspapers this week.

Kiwis living in London can pose in front of the billboard and upload the picture to be in with a chance to win a trip home.

To enter, see kiwistogether.com.

The campaign steps up a gear in New Zealand next week, with a marketing and advertising campaign, reinforcing how strongly newspapers create a sense of community.

Newspaper Publishers Association chief executive Tim Pankhurst said the campaign grew out of research conducted for the NPA, by AC Nielsen, which demonstrated that New Zealanders overseas have a strong emotional connection with their hometown newspapers. The availability of those papers online meant papers were now reaching a global audience.

Almost 90 per cent of New Zealanders read a newspaper each week, and 1.6 million people read a daily newspaper, on average, each day.