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 directory with the mobile Web:

INTERACTIVE SMART CODES TRIALLED ON YELLOW PAGES FRONT COVER

In a UK directory industry first, Yell is to trial innovative smart codes on the front covers of two editions of its Yellow Pages directories, enabling consumers to obtain the latest local cinema and weather information via the mobile internet.

The press release goes on to note that there are roughly 25 million handsets in the U.K. that are capable of accepting the i-nigma reader required to use the smart codes.

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A Texas-based hedge fund has upped its stake in R.H. Donnelley, making it the third-largest shareholder in the directory publisher. The fund, with the vaguely Jetsons-like name Amalgamated Gadgets (so far, no word if Spacely Sprockets has an interest in investing) now owns 5.34 million shares, or a 7.76 percent stake.

RHD shares closed at 0.37 on Nov. 26, about 99 percent off its high. Amalgamated gave no indication of the reason for investment, but has said it has no intention of “changing or influencing the control of the issuer of the securities.”

Both RHD and its peer Idearc have received notice from the NYSE that they face delisting due to noncompliance with requirements for listing on the exchange. Idearc has entered a quiet period in order to sort out its options for improving its financial position going forward.

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AT&T has made public its plans to change the name of AT&T Advertising & Publishing to AT&T Advertising Solutions, and reorganize into more distinct sales and product development silos. TKG broke this news here a while back.

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Cincinnati Bell has announced a new Smart Home Phone service, using technology from Casabi, that allows landline users to access features normally found on mobile phones, like get SMS messages (converting voicemails to text) and browsing online content, including Yellow Pages listings, news, weather and sports.

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The 4A’s has hired the agency Connect FKM to develop a print and online Yellow Pages program for 4A’s members. According to the press release, “The goal of the program is to create agency brand differentiation in the Yellow Pages for agencies wishing to distinguish themselves as 4A’s members. Member agencies will appear in a 4A’s trademark, a call-out box that will allow higher visibility and credibility within the print Yellow Pages.”

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Atlanta-based Metro Directories had signed on with Boomdash to sell a packaged SEM product to local businesses. Metro is widely known for its guaranteed ad program, but was relatively late to the online party, launching its IYP in 2007. Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Boomdash has been targeting independent publishers as resellers for its local search offering.

IBegin has been trying to add its own Web 2.0 sensibility to the listings business, offering free basic directories of businesses, and customization services on an upgrade basis. It now has 150 businesses and organizations subscribing, including schools, local and state government, city services, chambers of commerce, professional associations, hotels, golf courses, newspapers, TV stations and radio stations. The company is enabling businesses to claim and control their own business listings — a feature that is also provided by other listers (MerchantCircle, etc.). Claimants can presumably add additional information while they are at it, including photos, data, contact info, etc.

Founder Ahmed Farooq says “the gigantic benefit for a business is that once the data is correct in our database, it gets filtered to all of our customers. One listing, 150+ potential distribution points — a win for everyone.” Moreover, Google, Yahoo and MSN all “deeply crawl our page. Google hits us up to 500,000 times a day.”

Farooq acknowledges that other companies also allow businesses to claim a listing, but they have loose terms for doing so — mostly e-mail verification. Businesses need to call from their actual phone numbers to claim their listings in the iBegin system.

TKG offices are closed tomorrow for the Thanksgiving holiday and blog posting will be light over the next few days. For our U.S. readers or expats celebrating Thanksgiving, have a fun and restful holiday.

Mashable is holding its second annual Open Web Awards and voting is open until Dec. 15. You can vote for one company in each of the 26 categories, such as social networking, photo sharing, search & social search, etc. (full list here).

But my biggest question is, where’s local? Among 26 categories, there is no local search — not even mapping. There are some local sites like Yelp and Center’d that are scattered throughout other categories, but shouldn’t local get its own category? The omission isn’t commensurate with local search’s exposure (Google Maps, Yelp, iPhone apps, etc.), market opportunity (our data), and overall usage.

This reminds me of Sebastien Provencher’s mission to get local on the agenda of next year’s South by Southwest conference where it was noticeably missing. Despite local’s actual impact and level of importance in the online world, sometimes, it’s like Rodney Dangerfield: Can’t get no respect. Maybe it’s just not sexy enough …

This could change as growing iPhone penetration garners more exposure for location-based search and content delivery. It’s already having an impact on online product development, with Firefox, Google’s Chrome and Windows 7 OS — all anticipated to have baked-in location awareness a la iPhone Wi-Fi positioning.

This was a hot topic during a session at ILM:08 on Web 2.0 community sites, and a TKG report will publish next week on the subject.

Following the roundup of blog coverage of ILM:08, you can view all the Twitter comments that are tagged and aggregated here. There was lots of good chatter and some good gems scattered throughout the 100+ tweets from the event.

Thanks to everyone who attended and participated in the conversation. If you haven’t already, you can follow The Kelsey Group on Twitter: username TheKelseyGroup.

I noticed today when watching a YouTube video that the viewing window has switched to a 16:9 aspect ratio. For videos in 4:3 ratio already on YouTube, they simply sit in the middle of the widescreen window (see example below).

This is a logical move for YouTube as it tries to monetize its content. In other words, lots of the UGC content out there is unmonetizable, as we’ve mentioned. So as YouTube tries to become a friendlier place for professionally produced content, the aspect ratio the pros used should be accommodated.

This comes just weeks after its sponsored video and embed ads programs launched. It should serve to boost those efforts and the site’s overall evolution (read: monetization), amid a commanding market share lead for eyeballs.

Before

After

Our friend Chip Perry, CEO of AutoTrader.com, was on Fox News yesterday, making a case for an auto industry (conditional) bailout to Neil Cavuto.

The argument is that a strategic taxpayer investment that comes with performance-based conditions could force the industry into being more efficient. On the marketing side, for example, Perry pointed out how the industry spends $30 billion on advertising to sell 12 million cars. That’s more than $2,000 per car, and it’s mostly going toward traditional mass media where only 10 percent of the audience is in the market to buy a car.

This relates to the recession-driven shift to more measurable media, examined in the previous post. It also carries a tinge of some of the optimistic thoughts voiced last week at ILM:08 — that a down market will have a self-correcting influence on refining tech companies’ focus at all levels. The thought is that we’ll come out better for it.

This was proved in recessions over the past two decades when companies like Microsoft and Google emerged from the ashes. Let’s hope Detroit is capable of the same refocus.

One of the prevalent themes at last week’s ILM:08 conference was how the economic environment is forcing businesses of all sizes to pay closer attention to their advertising ROI. With that will come an acceleration of the existing trend toward more measurable online media.

Google TV is one place that could benefit from this, as television spot advertising is expected to be one of the biggest victims of continued ad spending declines at local and national levels. Here, a double-edged sword faces many forms of online advertising: Overall ad spending is declining, but greater portions are moving toward more measurable media.

This was echoed throughout the conference, including a session that interviewed a panel of real-life SMBs. It was a small sample group, but one that was unanimous in its claims to move more ad dollars online.

Back to Google TV, eMarketer sums up some of its recent moves (our past coverage here) such as signing deals with NBC and Harris Corp. to sell some of their remnant inventory. This tier II inventory has prevented Google TV from being considered as a primary ad vehicle for many marketers, but more deals that give it access to premium inventory could change that.

The company has also been limited to programming that is served through EchoStar’s Dish Network. This is because it has worked out an arrangement where its software is embedded in Dish’s set-top boxes, in order to get the targeting, tracking and reporting that you would expect from Google. The whole point, after all, is for advertisers to manage and track campaigns in AdWords (see past analysis).

The limited inventory and distribution has made this more of an “add-on tactic,” according to one agency representative interviewed by eMarketer. This will likely change, however, as Google uses its weight to form more deals and gain access to better inventory and distribution.

After hearing NBC’s Larry Olevitch speak at ILM:08 about the network’s plans to reach out into more online and digital out-of-home channels, this could mean expanding its relationship with Google TV. For its premium television inventory, it would seem to be conflicted about handing over access to a cost-effective self-serve channel like Google. But these additional distribution outlets that continue to open up could be fitting for Google TV.

A separate panel on digital out-of-home video (DOOH) likewise solidified the size of this opportunity (a billion-dollar industry, according to Danoo CEO Aileen Lee). This could represent another distribution outlet for Google TV, given the targeting and tracking capabilities of DOOH.

The growing subset of DOOH screens have their own IP addresses and can serve geographically and demographically targeted content. They’re also increasingly serving trackable calls to action and mobile device integrations such as SMS-based promotions. And Google Maps is already used by some DOOH providers to exhibit nearby businesses.

Lastly, the IP-based architecture of IPTV packages like AT&T’s U-Verse seems like a natural fit for self provisioned video ads that are generated and tracked in AdWords. These could all be possible directions for Google TV.

The following post was contributed by TKG associate Mark Temple, who attended last week’s Yellow Pages Today event in Zurich, Switzerland. 

The sixth annual Yellow Pages Today Conference assembled experts from the industry to give their specialist opinions around the theme of this year’s conference, “The Future of the Printed Directory.” 

Margit Kaluza-Baumruker, the marketing director from Herold Business Data in Austria, addressed the topic, “How does the user think of the future of the printed directory?” 

Kaluza-Baumruker described a recent eye-tracking study Herold conducted with the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration to analyze how print directory users search for information/results in Herold’s Yellow Pages directory. The study looked at how various age groups view different ads within the book, including which ads attract the attention of the user, what order of text or pictures is viewed first, smaller vs. larger text and so on. All eye movements were filmed and recorded, which produced some interesting findings. Color and content are the most important factors when looking for a particular business, while position also ranks high, Kaluza-Baumruker said. 

On the event’s second day, keynote speaker Isabella Lascombe, PagesJaunes’ marketing director for printed products, outlined some of the methods the publisher has used to sustain print. PagesJaunes publishes 134 Yellow Pages editions and 139 White Pages editions each year. 

PagesJaunes employs a variety of methods to maintain, improve and build its business, including extensive market research. In 2007, the publisher conducted a survey of 24,000 respondents that produced some interesting results comparing the whole of France with Paris and its suburbs. For example, the national average of print vs. online lookups is 62 percent for print and 38 percent for online. In Paris and its suburbs, meanwhile, the breakdown is 44 percent for print and 56 percent for online. These data influenced the publisher’s decision to price its print and online advertising in urban markets differently from the rest of France. 

PagesJaunes has also made innovations in directory distribution. Each household that is registered in the distribution database receives a copy of the book. In large cities, a book is delivered to every door, even if the name is not mentioned in the listing. Directories are sent automatically to new business movers, while country home owners receive a mail shot asking if they would like a directory. All these actions have contributed to a 91 percent possession rate in France. 

PagesJaunes is continuously looking at different ways to gain information about customer preferences. For example, the publisher did a test mail shot featuring a response card asking customers if they wanted a print directory the next time the Yellow Pages book was published. There was a 6 percent return from the customers, which suggested the pace of opting out of print delivery remains fairly low. 

Lascombe also outlines PagesJaunes’ price rebalancing strategy, noted earlier, where different pricing models are used depending on region. In some print directories, the publisher has decreased pricing as much as 20 percent. PagesJaunes is looking at multiple actions to help it maintain print revenues as it aggressively grows its online business.

Last night, I finally got around to downloading the newest iPhone firmware (v2.2) that was released Friday. It includes enhancements to browsing in Safari, Podcast integration, the option to deactivate typing auto correct (thank you!) and Google Street View.

The latter stands out among all the new features and is being touted as the new release’s centerpiece. And rightly so — it’s a nice integration that places a little icon right next to the “pushpin” of a given business. This takes place within the native Google Maps application that is a standard fixture on the iPhone’s home screen.

After you click the Street View icon, the entire screen switches to landscape mode and shows high-quality, full-screen street view imagery. This includes the ability to pan around with your finger and advance down the street using similar vector buttons that navigate the online version of Street View. The application is, in fact (opinion), better than Street View online — which says a lot given the limited set of controls on the iPhone, compared with an online experience (mouse, larger screen, etc.).

The integration is also grounded more in searching for actual places or businesses, than just browsing around. In other words, Street View is activated after a business search is done and the icon appears to see that business from the street level. This differs slightly from the online version that also lets you first activate street view, and then place an icon on the map to determine where to get started.

Interestingly, the latest software update also comes with walking directions — something we speculated about and asked for back in July. It should be a valuable addition.