The Midlands. Birthplace of industry. Birthplace of innovation. Birthplace, if you’ll indulge me for a few paragraphs, of the people best suited to be PRs. Possibly.

Ridiculous, you cry! Midlanders all sound as dull as ditchwater. Who would want to hire a droner from Dudley to represent their brand to the outside world when there are many other more dynamic, enthusiastic and engaging regional stereotypes to choose from?

Well, that’s just it. As the age of spin wears more than a little thin, as diversifying media and public scepticism mean there’s more toil than ever to earn and sustain trust, perhaps the caustic pragmatism of the country’s maligned midriff is a communications tonic.

I’ve heard many northerners in PR tell of how they stand out from the crowd, how their ability to speak their mind means counsel is often better respected. Southerners rarely shout about themselves in the same way, yet I’ve met many a cocky PR agent from London or the Home Counties who clearly see their regionality as a positive for their job. They think they have the gift of the gab and true powers of persuasion.

As with many things in life, the Midlander tends to be largely ignored. Rarely is the bit in the middle brought up in conversations about the north/south divide, beyond the occasional perspective intended to paint the Midlands as a bit like the north, only potentially worse in southern eyes.

So with the help of Edelman’s Paul Wooding, a Black Country lad with incisive communications skills who for many will need no further introduction, here is the considered case for why Midlanders may make the best PRs (Paul’s points, a little but I hope fairly embellished, marked*):

1. We have the 360 degree perspective: we understand and can cut-through southern spin, but also are not saddled with northern earnestness and the stigmas associated with it

2. The north is the new south, the Midlands is still the same old Midlands: the north is now home to many transplanted southerners, the south is overbrimming with northerners. Yet few people willingly relocate to Stourbridge. We keep it real, mate

3. People are fed up with the service industries being stuffed with southerners when the role they perform is nationwide. Midlanders tend to have a better acceptance and understanding of reality. The “sooty dourness” of Midlanders is actually our asset, though few outsiders would admit it*

4. We speak our mind. Northerners are expected to be pragmatic, southerners more animated, nothing is expected of the Midlander really. So we’re in a better position to talk freely, and people tend to listen, providing they can get over the accent of course*

5. Our lack of cockiness can be a good thing. People tend to think of cockneys as the cocky ones, but think back to your last bravado-fuelled chat with a scouser or a manc. The strutting stuff just “gets on the tits” of the Brummie*

6. Journalists tend to take pity on us. Yes I can think of several occasions when I sensed a hack was merely trying to do the charitable thing in listening to my call. Perhaps this is related to the above?

7. Midlanders are born pessimistic. The British media is pessimistic, often taking the negative slant where one is available. Surely no coincidence?

8. The Midlander is particularly suited to technology PR, where hype and mistrust of messaging have combined to make the media sceptical. Midlanders tend to be more believable*

9. We are born with “in-built bullshit detectors”. Perhaps due to our neutral position amongst the UK’s communicators. Perhaps due to hundreds of years of grim industrial reality – rather than a quick grounding in services industries and a local economy that only really fired into life when the business park went up on the ring road. It’s called the Black Country because it used to be black with industry. We can spot a fly-by-nighter a mile off*

10. Fundamentally, some of us just sound too dumb to be lying

For the record, in case anyone thinks I’m a southerner masquerading as a Midlander, I was born in Stourport-on-Severn, where the canal network joins the Severn but little else happens barring school trips. I did teenage Saturday shopping at the likes of Birmingham’s labyrinthine Oasis complex. I learned to rollerskate at Whispering Wheels of Wolverhampton. And my nearest league football club was Hereford United. These are the sort of things that only Midlanders truly understand.

Thanks again to Paul for your input.