Spontaneous media attribution among those who saw or heard information about the "Clean up" community projects was high.

Seventy one per cent of respondents correctly attributing it to local or regional newspapers. This figure then increased to 77 per cent amongst those prompted.

The survey was run to monitor the effectiveness of the Newspaper Society's Featurelink service, a system that taps into the feature schedules of regional newspapers, enables clients to obtain editorial coverage within branded advertising features.

With access to 1,300 regional and local newspapers it offers simple advertising campaigns that can be turned into informative, hard-hitting branded features with national impact.

COI strategic communication advisor Emma Stranack said: "We were encouraged by the results showing a positive attitudinal change towards community sentences and that a large number of respondents would be likely to respond to a similar feature in the future.

"Featurelink has proved to be an effective way of communicating with our campaign's target audiences and delivery results."

Research was carried out in two areas where the "Clean Up" community projects were to be held: Liverpool and Wolverhampton, including Dudley and Walsaw. Supervised by the Probation Service, "Clean-up" community projects are compulsory and unpaid, and are carried out by offenders undertaking community service.

Street interviews were conducted with 671 respondents between 16 and 19 February 2005, who were required to have read a local newspaper on the day the feature ran.

The survey showed a higher response rate in Wolverhampton, where the campaign was more local to the area, than in Liverpool and received more coverage in the local newspaper, the Express & Star. The researchers say this suggests that the more local the issue the greater the participation, and demonstrates the effectiveness of the regional press in addressing local issues.