Yellow Pages Group New Zealand has acquired a majority stake in grownups.co.nz,  a Web site targeting the over 50s crowd, as reported on Stuff.co.nz. Voted as New Zealand’s best lifestyle Web site in 2008, this acquisition may well prove to be a smart move for YPG-NZ. According to Blair Glubb, Yellow Pages Group’s digital marketing director, …

 
While investors and Yellow Pages pundits continue to bang the drum telling everyone that the “younger generation” isn’t using print Yellow Pages to the degree it should, and that without this younger demographic of users the book can’t deliver value to small and medium-sized businesses, they may in fact be ignoring the book’s greatest strength. The …

 
 As an innovative way of promoting its Yellow Pages and Yellow Frontdoor, its magazine-styled directory focused on home improvement and decorating, Yellow Pages Group New Zealand is now the main sponsor of New Zealand’s largest home show as reported by New Zealand’s Thread Magazine. Within the environment of a slowing real estate market and the …

Last night, while watching reruns of The Office on TBS, I noticed something peculiar. During a commercial break, one of the network’s stand-up comedy shows was advertised — a typical house ad.
But it had an odd feel to it. Instead of the montage style you might see on Comedy Central, showing punchy clips of comics …

As many of us have read over the past week, some major hotel chains — Hyatt and Hyatt Place Hotels, Omni and some Starwood properties – have made the decision to remove Yellow Pages directories from their hotel rooms. (Although a call to our September conference hotel, Atlanta’s Hyatt Regency, revealed it has yet to receive …

TMP Directional Marketing, an interactive and print advertising agency specializing in local services and franchises like HoneyBaked Ham and The Men’s Wearhouse, is seeing a slight rise in verticalization, more performance-based solutions and ever increasing use of online promotions to drive offline sales, according to longtime industry vet Gregg Stewart, a senior VP at the …

 
The New York Times writes about jewelry outfit Cartier and its recent social networking activity. This is nothing new for large advertisers and has become a new form of branding that follows consumer activity — especially among some demographics and fashion-forward segments.
Meanwhile, some brands such as Sony and Wal-Mart have had well-publicized gaffes with …

Television is becoming more and more interactive, bringing us closer to a day when we’ll have pull-based content and ad delivery. IPTV promises a lot here, by virtue of its IP-based architecture. But there are lots of other factors that need to coalesce before we get there, including ad delivery, advertiser adoption and Madison Avenue …

OK, so it’s not really outdoor advertising, but the big six legacy airlines have begun to slap ads onto their paper tickets and boarding passes.
The new ads will include geographically relevant promotions for destination businesses like hotels, restaurants, theme parks and golf courses. They started showing up this week on Delta flights to Las Vegas, and …

The focus of the Yellow Pages Today April workshop was on White Pages with the underlying theme of how the product can survive and the regulatory environment that will either help or hinder its growth or decline.
The opening session with Stephanie Verilhac, EADP EU affairs officer, covered the current state of the EU privacy directives …

Lawrence, Massachusetts-based Yellow Pages publisher LocalTel has partnered with Google’s AdWords program to sell keywords on Google and Google Maps, and for ads to appear on partner sites within Google’s AdSense network. According to the press release, “ Through a new strategic relationship with Google, LocalTel has become a Google Adwords authorized re-seller allowing businesses …

The balance between merchants and brands is being shifted by the increasingly common use of enhanced “product locators,” which adds store locations, maps — and frequently promotions such as coupons — to the mix, says Lauren Freedman, president of The E-Tailing Group in Chicago.
Freedman has just completed a round of shopper behavior research for …

S&MM online columnist Robert Grede shared some interesting insights in a recent article on how local advertisers can survive in a down economy and what local media sales reps should be communicating to their advertisers and prospects. While many of these items are not surprising, it is surprising how local media reps can get so …

It was interesting to see the Yellow Pages Association release its usage data showing print usage was stable at 13.4 billion and IYP usage had increased to 3.8 billion in 2007. While the overall usage figure is a 3 percent increase from 2006, which is encouraging, zeroing in solely on usage may be taking away …

One of the many reasons the Internet has bloomed in the U.S. is that the administration, under the leadership of Ira Magaziner, former head of U.S. Internet policy, allowed the World Wide Web to grow without putting unnecessary restrictions on it. At a Kelsey Group conference on Interactive Newspapers in 1996, Esther Dyson, then the …

‘Tis the season for shopping and at times endless aggravation finding stores that actually have the items you want in stock. I’m all about anything that can help ease the stress of the shopping experience. And one thing I rediscovered as an essential shopping tool is the Yellow Pages (thanks to, of all things, a …

It is hard for me to comprehend, but we are finally finished with ILM:07. We were grateful to have had 650 interesting and enthusiastic attendees from all over the world, 72 stimulating speakers, a full load of sponsors and an excellent partnership with SES.
Our next conference, April 30-May 2 at the Westin in Seattle, will …

Stuart McKelvey, president and CEO of TMP Directional Marketing, gave ILM:07 attendees a second look at their online user study to help clarify its results and provide insight on how this can serve to help more effectively plan both online and offline media. National advertisers drove the demand to track this information for both online …

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 …

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 …