Few companies have seen the ups and downs of the media industry like R.H. Donnelley. BIA/Kelsey President Neal Polachek asked Directonal Media Strategies Day 2 keynote Speaker Dave Swanson, RHD chairman and CEO, to speak about what's happened and what's ahead…
This session led by Charles Laughlin and Steve Marshall of BIA/Kelsey offered a glimpse into the mind-sets of both SMB advertisers and consumers as they learn to coexist in the digital world. One certainty: The game has forever changed. These…
We just heard from three developers of mobile local search apps, who showed simulator demos and talked about the thinking behind their products. One of their challenges, noted moderator Mike Boland, is breaking through in a "sea of apps." Boland…
Kelsey Report Program Director Charles Laughlin and BIA/Kelsey President Neal Polachek kicked off the Directional Media Strategies 2009 conference with a view of where the directory industry is currently and where it is going. Laughlin provided a variety of statistics…
Marquette Group CEO Chris Cummings gave a familiar call for industry change today at DMS. He stressed the need to communicate value to advertisers through data toward the end of instilling trust. "In the end our advertisers will gravitate towards…
Live at DMS ’09, BIA/Kelsey research director Steve Marshall is presenting fresh data from the most recent round of Local Commerce Monitor (SMB survey). One nugget that came out of the data: 9 percent of SMBs claim to be using…
Out-of-home advertising is the next frontier and a big one. Usually, we’re focused on digital forms of it, whether electronic billboards on the side of the freeway, an elevator monitor, or a screen by the grocery checkout. But in a…
TargetCast is acquiring Ripple TV, according to an announcement on Ripple's site today. DailyDOOH's Adrian J. Cotterrill posted rumor of this announcement last Friday. Ripple operates a network of digital screens in 650 locations around the U.S. reaching 8 million…
AgendiZe, the French company that enables 30+ Yellow Pages publishers to extend advertiser calls to action on dozens of online platforms, from e-mail to social networks, has raised $1.3 million in new funding led by Entrepreneur Venture, a French firm.…
Home owners associations would seem like natural publishers of hyperlocal news and information -- especially where “many residents' sense of community rarely extends beyond their own subdivisions, neighborhood schools and the crime and traffic problems closest to their homes,” as…
Many of us will be attending and running BIA/Kelsey's Directional Media Strategies conference this week in Orlando. Stay tuned for blog posts and tweets from the show. If you don't follow us on Twitter already, you can do so --…
Today at EADP, I had the privilege of participating on an analyst panel with Peter Buxton, Jesper Simonsen and Jim Easton. The panel, moderated by Kimberli Lewis and Michael Oschmann, was a lively discussion of global trends in the directory…
This morning at EADP, European Directories (EDSA) CEO Cornel Riklin outlined the company’s strategy to be the top provider of lead generation to SMBs in its markets. The path to get there includes offering leading local search platforms to consumers.…
Clemens Riedl, CMO of VZnet, Germany’s largest social network (yes, larger than Facebook across all age segments) spoke at EADP today about the ups and downs of holding that market position. The site counts 15 million unique visitors, with 80…
Following up on yesterday's post, days two and three from Prague continued with the march of thought-provoking presentations. Among them was Centrum Holdings, a Warburg Pincus-backed company that's one of the few pure-play digital entities in Czech Republic and Croatia.…
Local media companies have been experimenting with different models for hyperlocal. Some are publishing their own blogs; others are building relationships with specific bloggers. Others are partnering with aggregator sources. The New York Post has chosen the latter path, having…
Yellow Pages Group Canada announced today that it has released a new version of its popular iPhone app, including a new interface and, most notably, video. Other features (some existing) include: - Full access to merchant content, including video and…
BT Business is taking on search upstarts such as ReachLocal U.K. by launching BT SearchSmart. The service will provide a full range of search services for £74.99 per month ($123.30). There is an additional £100 setup fee ($164.42). Developed in…
Day 1 of the European Association of Directory and Database Publishers Congress being held in Prague, Czech Republic, was squarely focused on the pending and necessary notion of transformation. The congress was kicked off by EADP President and Mediatel CEO…
It doesn’t make much sense on the surface and is something of a head scratcher. But Adobe has agreed to acquire Omniture for $1.8 billion. The acquisition is described as an effort to jump-start Adobe’s Web site development and service…