Yellow Pages Industry Adding Mobile to Its Product List
YPA President Neg Norton was intereviewed by Mobile Marketing this week (click here). It’s an interview you should check out as it shows the range of media advertising products that publishers are bringing to small and midsized businesses:
What role will mobile play for the Yellow Pages industry?
Mobile fits the Yellow Pages strategy of making information available anytime, anywhere.Accessed shopping guide or price comparison services at least once per month. Source: comScore M:Metrics
Additionally, we believe wireless access affords us the opportunity to attract new customers beyond those who purchase print and Internet advertising.
In a related story, in this weeks YP Talk newsletter we also provided an article on a key industry supplier - AdFare, who is working with publishers to help them repuprose the video ads they have been adding to their Internet ads to also work in a mobile environemnt (click here)
Industry Giant - Andy McKelvey Dies
Last week the industry lost one of it’s founding giants as Andrew (Andy) J. McKelvey, died on Thursday at his home in Manhattan after battling pancreatic cancer. He was 74.
In the early 1960s, McKelvey decided that advertising was a promising growth industry of the future, and he returned to New York where in 1963, he got a job as an account manager at a Madison Avenue ad agency, handling consumer products like Vaseline Hair Tonic.
In 1967 he borrowed $18,000, some office space, and with one part-time assistant started the Yellow Pages ad agency, called Telephone Marketing Programs (later became known as TMP Worldwide). Through a steady stream of acquisitions the agency became the nation’s largest Yellow Pages national advertising agency with thousands of workers handling nearly a third of the national Yellow Pages ad business.
McKelvey has served as a Member of the Board of Directors of Yellow Pages Integrated Media Association. He served as Directors of the Yellow Pages Publishers Association and the Association of Directory Marketing from 1994 through September 1996.
McKelvey was best known for transforming a fledgling Web site, the Monster Board, into one of the leading online jobsites. Monster.com. McKelvey was skeptical at first that the Web was going to be the future of job searches, but he eventually became convinced, bought Adion in 1995, and the Online Career Center (Monster’s larger rival at the timep) while invested heavily including buying Super Bowl ads that helped make Monster.com the popular first choice in the growing online job search world.
We’ll have more in an upcoming YP Talk article later this week. But our condolences go out to his four children and six grandchildren.
18th Annual Phone Book Recycle Program Underway
From Reno, NV:
The 18th annual Phone Book Recycling program runs through December 31. Phone books can be recycled at local Scolari’s, Sak ‘N Save and AT&T offices.
For more, go here: http://www.ktvn.com/Global/story.asp?S=9408269
Journalism is what is really becoming extinct
The Wall Street Journal has long been known for some pretty incisive, well researched articles. Which is why Emily Steel’s “Extinction Threatens Yellow-Pages Publishers” (Media & Marketing, Nov. 17 – subscription may be required) article was such a huge disappointment.
Usually the concept of “journalism” is to research both sides, gather all the facts, and then try to present a somewhat balanced presentation so readers can appreciate both sides and draw their own conclusions. Note that nowhere in that process do you see the concept of injecting your own bias into the article. Ms. Steel apparent missed that day during her reporter training.
Why can I make this claim? In her preliminary efforts Ms. Steel had free access to many of the industry leaders and even went as far as to spend time with them on the phone in gathering her facts for this article. Yet in her one-sided assessment of the overall health of the Yellow Pages industry nowhere do you see any of their comments presented. Instead it’s a simple one way conclusion that print is useless, faces extinction, and the publishers online efforts are for naught.
Since Ms. Steel conveniently skipped the facts, let’s be sure you at least know them.
“The yellow-pages industry is running out of lifelines.” – A great opening designed to sell papers but a conclusion that has no basis for truth. In fact, how is it that she can make the claim that publisher IYP efforts are floundering but then put up a graph which shows substantial growth in the major ones (SuperPages.com and YellowPages.com) who have seen 46% and 9% growth in unique site visitors in the last year ???
“In recent years, as its customers migrated to the Web — flocking to sites like Google — the telephone-directory business followed, hoping the Internet would be its salvation.” – I can only assume that she missed the fact that no other advertising medium generates new and qualified sales leads as effectively as the Yellow pages. In 2007, print and online Yellow pages generated over 17 billion look-ups. But more importantly 90% of those references came from consumers ready to buy goods and services. Not people just browsing, but buyers. Never mind that almost half of those buyers were new customers to the business they chose from those very Yellow Pages products!!!! Which other medium does Ms. Steel suggest that would produce such a volume of high quality leads??
“Print and online ad spending on yellow pages will plummet 6.3% next year, more than double the rate of decline expected for broadcast TV, according to forecasts by Wachovia analyst John Janedis.” – Heaven forbid I challenge a respected analyst, but in a rapidly slowing economy one of the first moves small businesses will make is to pull back on their advertising spending whether it makes sense or not. Both reporter and analyst ignore the research which shows that Yellow Pages offer an average sales ROI of 33:1 for national advertisers, and nearly 14:1 for local advertisers. And of course those 3+ million local and national advertisers that do rely on the Yellow Pages to connect with consumers must be ignorant. Why would any business advertise in a media which actually makes the phone ring??
“Facing the real prospect of extinction, the publishers, many of which have considerable debt, have been slashing jobs, scrapping dividends and exiting unprofitable markets.” I guess this reporter hasn’t looked around much because there aren’t many businesses that aren’t doing the same things in this down economy. Let’s deal with the real elephant in the room – because Idearc (IAR) and RH Donnelley (RHD) have received notice from the NYSE about potentially being delisted from the exchange because their stock price is below $1 per share, the assumption that immediately flows is that these companies are about to close their doors, as well as all the other publishers in the industry even if they aren’t publicly traded. The fact is delisting doesn’t necessarily mean that a company is going to go bankrupt. There are plenty of private companies that survive without the benefit of a stock market thank you, and it is not unusual for a company to be delisted and still be profitable. Ironically there are three newspaper stocks that have been delisted by the NYSE this year — GateHouse Media Inc. (one of the nation’s largest publishers of community newspapers), Sun-Times Media Group, and the Journal Register Co., but they still seem to be around.
The NYSE lists 53 companies on its Web site that don’t comply with listing standards, including Rite Aid, Six Flags (amusement park operator), Westwood One Inc., the syndicator of programs to radio stations, and Citadel Broadcasting Corporation, a radio broadcasting company. On the Nasdaq Stock Market, by my quick count some 265 or so companies closed below $1 yesterday, compared with 53 at the end of last year. Nasdaq stocks under $1 yesterday included Sirius XM Radio Inc. and Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc.. Do we think either of these companies is about to become “extinct”???
What you didn’t see in the article is that without question the Yellow Pages industry has succeeded in migrating to a true multi-platform product set which includes print, online, search optimization, mobile, and even direct mail and billboards, to provide an optimal one-stop advertising program for any business. It’s also clear that this conversion has come faster and more effectively than any other media players. This is evident in the fact that most local search engines get a bulk of their search data from those various publishers that are approaching “extinction”.
Next time Ms. Steel, could we please get all sides of the discussion in your articles?
Print Yellow Pages As a Source for Recycling Info
From Yellow Pages Association press release:
-- Copper and scrap metal (16 percent) -- Paper and newspapers (13 percent) -- Glass, bottles, and plastic (7 percent)(1)
New Yellow Pages Recycling Effort Trial
The Yellow Pages Association announced a new recycling program in conjunction with the printer RR Donnelley called “Recycle As You Shop” (RAYS). The RAYS effort is a recycling program being piloted in Maryland and designed to offer consumers and small businesses an added incentive to recycle paper products – including all types of telephone directories.
The pilot will begin November 1st. It gives shoppers an opportunity to receive a $10 coupon at 25 participating Office Depot stores throughout Maryland just for dropping off recyclable paper products. Green in-store recycling containers carrying a “Don’t Come In Empty-Handed” sign will be located at select Office Depot store locations in the trial area. The website www.recycleasyoushop.com has additional details on the program.
The RAYS effort is a collaboration between RR Donnelley and various publishers from the Yellow Pages industry such as AT&T Yellow Pages, Idearc Media Corp, and RHD/Dex, as well as non-industry entities such as Hearst Magazines, Sundance Catalog and Waste Management.
If the pilot is successful if may be expanded to additional parts of the country.
Paper fetishists??
Wow. This was the latest title one of my adorning fans has slammed me with. Bonus points to the creator for uniqueness but I am amazed at the level of pretentiousness that these computer eco-snobs demonstrate, especially their failure to see the whole picture. They don’t seem to recognize that the print Yellow Pages:
- Use no additional energy all year long unlike the computer you are probably reading this on, which does use electricity continuously.
- Requires no batteries or power or connectivity to make it work
- Is made with recycled paper, paper which normally would have been carted off to a landfill
- In the .3% of the landfill space it takes up, it does not pollute the landfill with the many toxins that all the electronic junk and batteries does.
- Is not made with plastics which requires petroleum (at some $80 or more per barrel of oil) like the computers, PDA’s, IPODs, fantastically equipped cell phones, switching equipment, cable shielding, and all the required related hardware does
- Is quicker in nearly every case I have seen to find the information you need
- Isn’t biased because of your age – with tattoos, sushi, and skateboards being some of the fastest growing print headings, I doubt it is only being used by “the elderly”
Ok, we all acknowledge that the Internet will someday be the preferred source for information. But currently, it is far from perfect. And please don’t ask me to click away on my cell phone using some 2 inch screen to find what I need, not when I can’t even drive around the major city I live in without losing the signal.
In many ways I can’t blame consumers who really don’t understand why multiple directories arrive at their doorstep. No one ever explained to them that these print products cover different geographic areas and shopping needs. Nor has anyone ever taken the opportunity to tell them the many things the industry does to be eco-oriented. In the absence of information, they will grab at anything they may see on the Web because if it’s on the Web, it has to be accurate, right?
Conservatively, the Yellow Pages industry generates nearly $1 trillion in commerce, much of it for small to midsized businesses at the local level in markets from the smallest town to major cities. That’s a lot of jobs and a lot of business at an economic time when we could all use a lot more of both.
The print Yellow Pages are a good thing.
Energy-Efficient Windows Found in the Print Yellow Pages
As we are entering “Energy Awareness Month” and the winter season, the Yellow Pages Association (YPA) has released information that the “Windows” heading in the print Yellow Pages ranks 85th out of more than 4,500 potential headings and generates 26 million references annually for advertisers. Clearly Americans are turning to the Yellow Pages to help save on utility bills.
The results that print Yellow Pages bring to advertisers as the most frequently referenced medium before a purchase decision is made for this heading can be seen in the 94% of purchasers who indicated they made a buying decision based on what saw in the Yellow Pages.
Another interesting note in the YPA release show that under the “Windows” heading, most users (73%) indicated looking at a local window company over a chain store. That kind of strong further demonstrates why the Yellow Pages are a top local resource for residential window needs.
Green Not A Consumer Hot Button
According to a recent Yankelovich survey of 2,763 consumers about their environmental attitudes titled “Going Green”, a mere 34% of consumers indicated they feel much more concerned about environmental issues today than just a year ago.
J. Walker Smith, the president of Yankelovich noted in the company’s press release that “…while consumers are highly aware of environmental issues due to the glut of media attention… ‘going green’ in their everyday life is simply not a big concern or a high priority.”
Mr. Smith also indicated that consumers are far more knowledgeable about green than they’re generally given credit for. According to the Survey:
- Only 7% of consumers believe Al Gore’s “10 Myths” in his heralded “An Inconvenient Truth.” and that it’s already too late to do something about climate change
- Only 8% agree that the warming that scientists are recording is just the effect of cities trapping heat rather than anything to do with greenhouse gases
Applying these results to print Yellow Pages, the true inconvenient truth is that the advertising placed in these products results in nearly $500 billion in commerce each year. That’s business which is critical to the existence of many small businesses, generates jobs, and is truly a local boost in communities of all sizes.
New Generation Doesn’t Get It
I know we are in the age of the “I” generation – iPhones, iPods, I-have-a-blog. Many of the negative comments I respond to on blogs to people who say they never use a print phone book, is simply why? I have long argued that it is far quicker to grab a print Yellow Pages to find what you are looking for than to be clicking and surfing away thru myriads of websites. When you use a book you also get a quick visual indication (subjective as it is) about the viability of the business you are looking at – those print ads aren’t free and if that company has bought a half page ad this is probably not some fly-by-night, Johnny come lately company.
Sure, those online products can be good sources, especially if you are in a more mobile situation and may be away from where the books are. But they are still not to a point where they provide the same kinds of information that the books do.
I noticed this quote in a Calgary Herald online article. While the article had nothing to do with assessing the value of print vs. online, I thought the comment was very telling :
“… This is 2008, and there’s a whole generation of people who will spend two minutes looking up a phone number on their computer before they’ll take five seconds to find it in a phone book…”
Which leads me to the question – are the Gen X/Y folks who seem to be rejecting the print product more so than their parent’s generation missing a real opportunity with their totally inflexible view that if it isn’t online/digital we won’t use it????
