Local Service Pages, a new publisher in NY who launched a Bronx book in the fall of 2012 is extending the usage of the print books with their Staten Island Book. They are the first directory publisher to have a…
Today, Yellowbook is launching a group buying/deal-a-day product called Weforia.com in three of its markets -- Boston, Phoenix and Ft. Myers, Florida. This makes Yellowbook the first U.S. Yellow Pages publishers to enter this space, which has become a local…
Yellowbook had signed on to a new local ad exchange launched today by Chitika, an ad network established in 2003 that serves more than 2 billion monthly impressions across 80,000 Web sites. The core idea is to apply the ad…
Today, Yellowbook is rolling out a partnership with European mobile app developer Adaffix similar to deals Adaffix has been launching in recent months across Europe. The app presents a clear monetization opportunity by suggesting three alternative businesses when the callers…
I recently attended a webinar hosted by SalesBlogcast that featured social media company BizBrag. My reason for attending was to learn how small and medium sized-businesses can take advantage of social media. Based on our Local Commerce Monitor research, 32…
One of the recommendations we have been supporting and talking about over the past year is the need to look at the print directory differently. For the past 100-plus years, the directory has been viewed as a distribution media vehicle…
Leaders of the U.S. independent directory publishing industry were passionate in their defense of print media at this morning's opening session of the Association of Directory Publishers meeting outside Houston, Texas. Jim Hail, the outgoing chair and head of Idaho-based…
It's nearing the end of earnings season for the global Yellow Pages industry, and my program, The Kelsey Report, will soon issue a detailed roundup of 2009 results across all the companies that report publicly. In general, the news has…
Philadelphia-based 7Mainstreet cofounder Andy Leff got the idea for his company about four years ago while driving to the grocery store. "I was listening to something on the radio about the success MySpace was having with helping rock bands promote…
The folks at Canpages have been very busy lately. In addition to producing competitive print and online directories throughout Canada (where they go head to head with the formidable Yellow Pages Group), the Canadian independent directory publisher operates Immersifind, an…
The independent Atlanta-based Yellow Pages publisher Metro Directories will go out of business this year, and its rival Yellowbook has agreed to honor the contracts of Metro advertisers for books yet to be published this year. Here is a statement…
Longtime U.S. independent publisher White Directory (owned by Hearst Corp.) has launched a complete rebranding, dropping the old "Talking Phone Book" in favor of "LocalEdge." The company says it plans to phase in the new brand over the next 12…
Last week, Yell Group issued its nine-month earnings report (the company's financial year ends March 31) and most of the news was sobering. Organic growth is expected to be in the negative double digits in its fourth quarter, and…
We got news this week of two directory publishing operations shutting their doors, a reflection of the challenges of running a competitive directory publishing company in the face of a difficult economy and intense competition from incumbent publishers and the…
Here is a collection of newsworthy Yellow Pages and directional media items that I've noted over the past week or so. Got this press release in my inbox from Yell Group this morning, showing some creativity in linking the print…
Sometimes even the most clever advertising for Yellow Pages has a "been there, done that" quality to it. Take a funny situation, add a clever conclusion involving a play on words related to a Yellow Pages heading and, bam, you've…
This from a guy who has managed most of a lifetime without using the word "potpourri" in a sentence ... At any rate, here is a rundown of some Yellow Pages-related items of note from the past week. It's the…
Spotzer, an Amsterdam company selling a "ready to air" video solution for SMBs, has made clear it is serious about partnering with traditional media channels to brings its solution to small businesses. The company announced today that it has brought on…
France Telecom is finally pulling the plug on the 26-year-old Minitel service, which it launched in France in 1982. (Actually, Minitel is really 15 years older than that according to SEC filings: "Under an advertising sales agreement entered into in 1967,…
On Thursday's second-quarter and first-half earnings call, Yellow Pages Group CEO Marc Tellier made it abundantly clear that his company’s acquisition of Volt Information Sciences was driven by the need to secure strategic technologies and not to gain a toehold in…
