Yellow Book announced a partnership with DistribuTech to extend its directory distribution to retail outlets. The deal is exclusive in areas where both Yellow Book and DistribuTech operate.
According to the announcement, “DistribuTech places free informational publications in more than 18,000 stores in 41 states, plus the District of Columbia, which includes grocery stores, pharmacies, mass merchandisers …

Amsterdam-based Spotzer, which creates multimedia video ad campaigns for small and medium-sized businesses, announced it has acquired a 10 million euro (US$14.8 million) investment from the U.S. venture capital firm Sierra Partners and European Directories, a print and online directory publisher with operations in Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Gibraltar, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Sweden.
Along …

The Wall Street Journal this week gave a nod to some of the developments in online video for SMBs. The Journal cites TKG data about online video as a direct response medium that more SMB advertisers are starting to recognize and value.
The idea here is that online video can combine some of the traditional strengths …

Idearc announced today that Andy Coticchio, its executive vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer, has left the company, replaced on an acting basis by Samuel D. (Dee) Jones, who had been head of investor relations. No reason was cited for the resignation. The company will immediately begin looking for a permanent CFO.

Having worked in the Yellow Pages industry over the past eight years, both for a major publisher and here at The Kelsey Group, I am constantly being asked what the industry could do to make itself more relevant and stem the tide of usage decline and the wholesale dismissal of the product with the under 30 …

Intuit has announced that it will acquire Homestead Technologies, a company that provides a suite a Web creation and e-commerce tools, for US$170 million in cash. This acquisition continues Intuit’s march into what we term a “connected services,” or combined software and Web services, business.
We have been believers in this concept for some time now. In fact, …

In case you missed any posts during the short week last week, here is a recap. Click below to read each post in full.
Bebo Provides Mainstream Content — Attracts Big Brands
Last week Bebo, the global social network, announced its new OpenMedia platform partnerships. The network has partnered with major media brands to deliver premium content …

Video production and uploads have become standard upsells for Internet Yellow Pages, local portals and sales organizations in the age of YouTube. But once a business has a video, what does it really do with it? How does it drive actions?
That’s the question the gang at Mixpo has been trying to answer for the …

Last week Bebo, the global social network, announced its new OpenMedia platform partnerships. The network has partnered with major media brands to deliver premium content to its 40 million users.
Partnerships include CBS, MTV Networks, ESPN, the BBC, Channel Four, ITN, Yahoo! and BSkyB, as well as emerging media companies like Music Nation, Next New Networks, …

ILM:07 kicks off next week and we’re all excited and busy with the run-up activities to the show. If you are attending, comment below if you’d like to meet up. Otherwise do your best to tackle us at the show, as we walk by.
It promises to be a great show, with quite a lineup that …

Angus Frame, editor of Globeandmail.com, presented an interesting CaseCamp study this evening in Toronto. He showed how the many twists and turns it took to implement one simple social media aspect to the site have paid off.
Globeandmail.com launched its “Comments on Every Article” feature in September 2005. Frame explained that the motivation behind allowing readers …

Interactive Local Media: 07 is ready to roll Nov. 28-30 in L.A. That’s next Wednesday through Friday!
The show, which is being produced in partnership with SES Local, has attendees from all over the world. One exec told me he is coming on Wednesday, taking the red eye to New York that night due to …

Should directory publishers embrace the concept of opt-out, the notion that some mechanism should be created that allows consumers to choose not to receive a print book?
This question arose last week at the Yellow Pages Today event in Zurich, which was built around the theme of “Driving Value.” A late addition to the program was …

Amazon yesterday launched a $399 electronic black-and-white e-reader called “Kindle” that can quickly download books and customized versions of newspapers, magazines and blogs over a limited-use free EVDO network. Seven newspapers are included in the first batch of content: The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Seattle Times, San Francisco Chronicle, …

Urban Mapping yesterday announced a partnership with mapping technology provider Placebase. Placebase basically has an API built on mapping tiles (the standard unit of Web 2.0 mapping) that lets developers do a lot with pushpins. This comes in handy in mapping mashups for enterprise applications that require lots of dynamically plotted points.
Urban Mapping, for those …

Google announced that it will now allow users to change address information in Google Maps. This will let any registered user click and drag map arrows to a different place on the map if they are incorrect.
This is analogous to Google letting businesses edit and contribute data to its Local Business Center, which enhances the …

Classified aggregator Oodle launched a brand-new interface today with a series of functional and aesthetic enhancements that will serve as the basis of a new product strategy and publisher network.
Beneath the surface, the company has refined its taxonomy to serve more relevant results and create a more intuitive experience. For example, a semantic analysis of …

Freedom Interactive President Michael Mathieu told attendees of Piper Jaffray’s Global Internet Summit last week in Laguna Beach, California, that his sales teams are focusing on selling a broad array of local marketing products to medium-sized businesses (i.e., a notch below newspapers’ typical focus on large local advertisers, such as auto dealers and health-care providers).
Freedom, …

According to new research released by British Car Auctions, used car buyers are apparently quite content. According to the research, nearly 96 percent were “very and/or quite” satisfied with their used car purchase.
The survey of 2,900 drivers indicated that “word of mouth” is the most popular way of finding a buyer:

36 percent relied on word of …

AT&T has bought Ingenio and will use its call tracking platform across Yellowpages.com, 800-YellowPages, Mobile and Print Yellow Pages. We think the deal is quite important. This is a story that will unfold in the months ahead as more information about integration becomes public.
For a while now, we have been saying that the inclusion of …