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This just in . . . Yellowbook announced the launch of their new integrated marketing campaign today.  Here’s the full press release: YELLOWBOOK LAUNCHES NEW MULTI-MEDIA CAMPAIGN
THAT REDEFINES THE FUTURE OF LOCAL SEARCH
‘Say Yellow to the Future’ Escalates Yellowbook BrandUNIONDALE, NY, May 5, 2008 -- Yellowbook, the leading independent publisher of print and online yellow pages directories nationwide, announced today the launch of a new integrated marketing campaign entitled “Say Yellow to the Future.” The campaign includes a full branding makeover with a new streamlined logo and a name conversion to one word (formerly Yellow Book), new television commercials by Oscar-nominated Hollywood director Vadim Perelman, and newly designed print directories that present the company as a forward-thinking, innovative digital force of the future. The newly condensed name and fresh typeface give Yellowbook a sleeker, more digitally-focused feel. Part of the new logo depicts an evolution of the traditional industry-wide walking fingers icon. The book is removed and the fingers could now pass for walking or running through pages, pointing or clicking – an adaption to reflect the growing versatility of Yellowbook’s search options. “Local businesses have relied on Yellowbook for more than 75 years to drive and support their client base,” said Gordon Henry, Yellowbook’s chief marketing officer. “While 87 percent of Americans use traditional yellow pages, there’s been exceptional growth online. Yellowbook.com has seen explosive growth in unique visitors, and our search engine advertising product, WebReach, has gained tremendous momentum. This campaign is part of our commitment to continued innovation and, importantly, to helping consumers find what they’re really looking for—wherever they search.” ‘Say Yellow to the Future’ Multi-Media CampaignThe new “Say Yellow to the Future” campaign represents a natural evolution of Yellowbook’s brand and its goal to help local business remain visible and accessible in an e-commerce society. In one of the new television spots, set in the future, a bullied boy with an extreme wedgie returns from school. He turns to Yellowbook on his touch-screen and a holographic sensei leaps from the screen into his living room – transforming the boy into a martial arts whiz, brimming with self-confidence. A second TV spot, also set in the future, features Blanca Soto, former Miss Mexico World, as a bride-to-be who needs an embarrassing tattoo removed before her wedding. Her interactive Yellowbook guide helps her on her quest for a clean slate. “The TV executions are fairly simple storylines, but the subtext of the spots is that Yellowbook will not only help you find a local business, but a higher order emotional benefit like self-confidence or a fresh start,” said Michael Jordan, creative director for Gotham, Inc. The last scene in each ad showcases and directs viewers to visit yellowbook.com. The site’s consumer interface was recently redesigned, offering an enhanced overall user experience and greater relevancy in search results as well as advanced interactive mapping. The new campaign follows on the heels of the Yellowbook Network being named the top-gaining web property in the United States in March of this year, according to comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world. Yellowbook’s multi-media advertising campaign will launch on national TV and cable networks and national print publications. In addition, Yellowbook is expanding its marketing campaign to include online digital display. Yellowbook developed the campaign in partnership with the New York City-based ad agency Gotham Inc. The television spots were shot by Vadim Perelman, acclaimed director of “The House of Sand and Fog” and the newly released “The Life Before Her Eyes.” About Yellowbook
Yellowbook is the #1 independent publisher of print and online yellow pages directories nationwide. Founded in 1930, Yellowbook published nearly 1,000 printed directory editions in its 2007 fiscal year with a circulation of approximately 123 million. The company's online directory, yellowbook.com, reaches millions of users via computers and mobile phones through organic web searches and through Yellowbook's network of partner sites. The company's humorous advertising campaigns have made Yellowbook one of the nation's most recognized brands. Yellowbook has a sales force of approximately 5,000 - one of the largest media sales forces in the U.S. Over the past decade Yellowbook has made over 50 acquisitions and now operates in 48 states, plus the District of Columbia. Visit the company’s website at http://www.yellowbook.com/. Release on BusinessWire at: http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080505005416&newsLang=en
If your business targets women business owners in its marketing, advertising, public relations or business development efforts, then listen up. Business Development Advisors Darrene Hackler, Ellen Harpel and Heike Mayer issued a report for the Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy this month that details information and statistics about women business owners..
According to the SBA, “the report, Human Capital and Women’s Business Ownership, shows that self- employed women differ on most human capital variables compared to wage and salary-earning women. Self-employed women have more education and increased their educational attainment at a faster rate compared to other working women. The percentage of self-employed women in managerial occupations consistently exceeded the rate for other working women, and self-employed women participated in different industries than other working women. Self-employed men and women differed little in education, experience and preparedness. Important differences remain when considering occupational and industry experience.
A full copy of this report is available at: http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/rs323tot.pdf
The research summary can be found at: http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/rs323.pdf
Information about this report can be obtained by calling Chad Moutray at (202) 205- 6533 or advocacy [at] sba.gov.
To sign up for Advocacy updates via RSS feed, visit http://feeds.feedburner.com/sba/rAIO.
It seems like all we’ve been hearing about lately are media layoffs. With good reason: the news has generally been negative, we’re headed into (if not already in) a recession - just look at gas prices, advertising expenditures are down across most industries and journalism is in a state of unrest.
According to today’s New York Post article, The Worst of Times by Keith J. Kelly who pens “Media Ink,” “The New York Times' news room is bracing for a bloodbath in the next 10 days.” Kelly shares lots of details as to why – be sure to read his article.
Other media layoff stories include:
WCCO.com Chicago, Good Question: Why So Many Media Layoffs? by Jason DeRusha
Los Angeles Times, CBS layoffs signal a financial squeeze on TV stations by Matea Gold and Meg James
Webpronews.com, Nielsen Business Media Makes Layoffs by Doug Caverly
And here are more articles that came up in my search:
'NY Times' Expected to Turn to Layoffs After Buyouts Fall ShortEditor & Publisher - 7 hours agoManagement and other non-unionized employees were to have accepted their buyout offers by Monday," the Post said, later quoting Anthony Napoli, a Newspaper ...
New York Times Expects Layoffs In Newsroom to Meet Job-Cut TargetWall Street Journal - Apr 15, 2008By SHIRA OVIDE NEW YORK -- New York Times Co. said it expects its flagship newspaper will resort to newsroom layoffs as buyouts offered to trim the paper's ... NYT
WNWO workers facing layoffsToledo Blade, OH - 17 hours agoWNWO-TV, Channel 24, announced layoffs yesterday of reporters, photographers, and editors as part of what vice president and general manager Jon Skorburg ...
The Look and Feel of Newspaper LayoffsPhoto District News (subscription), NY - Apr 18, 2008By David Walker San Jose Mercury News designer Martin Gee is one of thousands of inside eyewitnesses to the decline of the newspaper industry. ...
Lay off Katie Couric! CBS is to blameMSNBC - Apr 10, 2008In the morning, she was a popular personality as one of the co-hosts of NBC’s TODAY. But since she opted for the night shift as anchor of the “CBS Evening ...
Katie Couric Likely to Leave CBS Evening News After ElectionBroadcasting & Cable, NY - Apr 10, 2008The news of Couric's departure, which was first reported Wednesday night on The Wall Street Journal Web site, comes on the heels of a raft of layoffs ...
Seattle Times to cut nearly 200 jobs by next monthSeattle Post Intelligencer - Apr 7, 2008A second memo, issued later Monday, said 70 percent of the 191 positions set to be cut will be eliminated through layoffs, while the remaining jobs will go ...
Layoffs sweep TV networks and their affiliatesBroadcast Engineering, KS - Apr 7, 2008Also, last week, ABC News announced that it was eliminating about 20 jobs (though an ABC spokesperson said other positions will be added, ...
Layoffs of CBS veterans signal industry in crisisSan Jose Mercury News, USA - Apr 5, 2008They were part of 15 layoffs spread over CBS 5 and its sister station, KBCW-Channel 44. Combined, the two San Francisco-based stations employ about 250 ...
Local TV is no longer a cash cowBaltimore Sun, United States - Apr 3, 2008This week, CBS announced a series of layoffs at its stations in cities across the country, including Baltimore. And last month, the local ABC affiliate, ...
Harold Greene, Ann Martin leaving anchor posts amid CBS budget cutsLos Angeles Times, CA - Apr 2, 2008Reporters Jennifer Davis and Jennifer Sabih also are among those affected by layoffs at sister TV stations KCBS and KCAL. Los Angeles television news ...
TV media finally feeling print media's painSan Francisco Chronicle, USA - Apr 1, 2008The cuts follow 20 layoffs last week at ABC News. Over the past two years, NBC News has lost about 30 jobs as a result of a companywide effort to reduce 700 ...
Layoffs, Restructurings Hit CBS O&Os, CBS NewsTelevision Week, MI - Apr 1, 2008By Michele Greppi The first quarter of 2008 ended with separately directed layoffs and restructurings at CBS News and in the news operations at several ...
TV Layoffs in Miami, Denver, and SacramentoU.S. News & World Report, DC - Mar 28, 2008Three different metro newspapers are reporting layoffs at local CBS stations. The Sacramento Bee reported today that the CBS affiliate in Sacramento would ...
More Layoffs at ABC NewsBroadcast Newsroom, CA - Mar 27, 2008It will also make that support more directly responsible to those at ABC News who depend on it the most. And it should move us forward faster and more ...
ABC workers face layoffsHollywood Reporter, United States - Mar 27, 2008While Scott didn't specify the number of staff that would be made redundant or the cost savings involved, he said the creation of a new ABC Resources ...
comScore Media Metrix recently released its monthly analysis of U.S. consumer activity at the top online properties for March 2008. The analysis named Yellow Book Network as the top-gaining site position for the month with a 54% gain to 13.5 million visitors. Again, stating that Yellow Book is strong and substantial company growing in leaps and bounds. See the complete comScore Media Metrix analysis below.
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comScore Media Metrix Releases Top 50 Web Rankings for March
(Yellow Book Network and MLB.com Lead Top-Gaining Properties)
RESTON, VA (April 14, 2008) – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its monthly analysis of U.S. consumer activity at the top online properties for March 2008 based on data from the comScore Media Metrix service. March saw traffic increase to online radio, gambling and retail-health care sites.
“American sports factored in prominently for the top gaining categories and properties in March,” said Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix. “The NCAA tournament drove substantial traffic to online gambling sites during the month, while the start of spring training made MLB.com one of the top gaining properties. Both events also contributed to ESPN.com’s surge in the top properties rankings.”
Top-Gaining Sites for March: Yellow Book Network secured the top-gaining site position for the month, with a 54-percent gain to 13.5 million visitors due, at least in part, to a new partnership with addresses.com. Baseball spring training and fantasy team drafts prompted a flood of earnest fans to MLB.com, which jumped 50 percent to 9.8 million visitors. Bankrate.com Sites witnessed a 46-percent increase to 5 million visitors with the addition of the InsureMe.com entity in March.
Radio Sites See Surge in Visitation: Radio sites experienced a sharp increase in traffic in March with the category growing 27 percent to 61.8 million visitors, making it the top-gaining category for the month. AOL Music led the category with 21.9 million visitors (up 5 percent), following by Yahoo! Music with nearly 20.8 million visitors (up 4 percent) and Clear Channel Online with 11 million visitors (up 2 percent). Other significant increases were experienced by Pandora.com (up 9 percent), Citadel Broadcasting Corporation (up 11 percent), and Disney Music (up 17 percent).
Online Gambling Traffic Propelled by March Madness: The NCAA basketball tournament, also known as “March Madness,” attracted a flurry of online bettors, prompting a 14-percent gain to the online gambling category. Sportingbet PLC increased 35 percent to 975,000 visitors, UPICKEM.net jumped 174 percent to 396,000 visitors and SportsBetting.com rose 114 percent to 145,000 visitors.
Walgreen Co. Leads Retail – Health Care Category: Retail – Health Care sites experienced a 12-percent increase in March to 26.3 million visitors, as Walgreen Co. led the category with 5.4 million visitors (up 10 percent). Drugstore.com, Inc. captured the second position with 3.7 million visitors, followed by CVS with nearly 3 million visitors.
Top 50 Properties: The top 10 properties maintained their positions from February with Yahoo! Sites continuing to lead as the top property with 139.5 million visitors, followed by Google Sites with 137.5 million visitors and Microsoft Sites with 121 million visitors. ESPN jumped 12 spots on the popularity of March Madness and anticipation of the 2008 Major League Baseball season. Gains were also experienced by AT&T (up 8 spots to #18 with 31.3 million visitors), Target Corporation (up 5 spots to #20 with nearly 30 million visitors), and CBS Corporation (up 6 spots to #24 with 28.6 million visitors).
Top 50 Ad Focus Ranking: The top 10 Ad Focus properties also maintained their February rankings with Platform-A, the ad network combining Advertising.com, Tacoda, AOL, and Quigo, leading the ranking in March, reaching 91 percent of Americans online. interCLICK gained 9 spots in the ranking to position 14, reaching 58 percent of the 188 million Americans online. Real Cities Network and YuMe Video Network both entered this month’s rankings in positions 38 and 43, respectively.
About comScore Media Metrix: comScore Media Metrix provides industry-leading Internet audience measurement services that report details of online media usage, visitor demographics and online buying power for the home, work and university audiences across local U.S. markets and across the globe. comScore Media Metrix reports are used by financial analysts, advertising agencies, publishers and marketers. comScore Media Metrix syndicated ratings are based on industry-sanctioned sampling methodologies.
About comScore: comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/boilerplate.
Tom Kane's post, Which is Better: Advertising or Public Relations?, on LegalMarketingBlog.com hits the nail on the head.
I couldn't agree with Tom more when he says, "until a firm has done the basics involving strategic marketing planning, [advertising, public relations,] or both could be a total waste of money."
He is so right.
I regularly encourter law firms who still take an ad hoc approach to their marketing efforts. They advertise in the XYZ magazine supplement because they're getting a "discount" or at least a perceived discount. They hire a consultant or service to "issue a press release" and then don't leverage the value of the news or coverage. They purchase a directory listing upgrade because the sales person said they should. And the list goes on.
The bottom line is that law firms need to approach their communications the same way big businesses have for decades. It's about strategic planning. They need to identify what their trying to accomplish, who they're trying to reach, the messages they want to deliver, the time-frame within which they need to act, the best vehicles for success (advertising, marketing, interactive technologies or public relations) and how they will measure the success of their efforts.
All this, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts" . . . .
This fifth edition of the annual report "The State of the News Media 2008,"tracing the revolution of news by the Project for Excellence in Journalism and Funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, can certainly not be summarized in a "Research Brief." However, the content is so encompassing, and the analysis so probing, that it begs excerpting to compel interested readers to pursue the complete study through the link provided.
The recently released study opens by saying "The state of the American news media in 2008 is more troubled than a year ago. And the problems, increasingly, appear to be different than many experts have predicted."
Online, for instance, the top 10 news Web sites, drawing mostly from old brands, command a larger share of audience than they did in the legacy media. And research shows blogs and public affairs Web sites attract a smaller audience than expected. Several trends, says the report, bear particular notice heading into 2008:
News is shifting from being a product - newspaper, Web site or newscast - to becoming a service. There is no single or finished news product anymore. As news consumption becomes continual, more new effort is put into producing incremental updates, as brief as 40-character e-mails sent from reporters directly to consumers without editing. But service broadens the definition of what journalists must supply. The hope is, however, that service, more than storytelling, could prove a key to unlocking new economics.
A news organization and a news Web site are no longer final destinations. They move toward being gateways to other places. As much as half of every Web page, designers advise, should be devoted to helping people find what they want on the rest of the site or the Web. A year ago, only three of 24 major Web sites from traditional news organizations offered links to outside content. Eleven of those sites now offer them.
The prospects for user-created content, once thought possibly central to the next era of journalism, now appear more limited. News people report the most promising parts of citizen input currently are new ideas, sources, comments, pictures and video. But citizens posting news content has proved less valuable, with too little that is new or verifiable.
Increasingly, the newsroom is perceived as the more innovative and experimental part of the news industry. New technologies are seen as less a threat to values, or a demand on time, than a way to reconnect with audiences. Majorities think things such as journalists writing blogs, the ranking of stories on Web sites, citizens posting comments, and citizen news sites are making journalism better.
The agenda of the American news media continues to narrow, not broaden. A comprehensive audit of coverage shows that in 2007 the war in Iraq and the 2008 campaign filled more than a quarter of the newshole and seemed to consume much of the media's energy and resources. At the same time, domestic issues each filled less than a single percent of the newshole including education, race, religion, transportation, the legal system, housing, drug trafficking, gun control, welfare, Social Security, aging, labor, abortion and more.
Madison Avenue, rather than pushing change, appears to be having trouble keeping up with it. Like legacy media, advertising agencies have their own history, mores and cultures that keep them from adapting to new technology and new consumer behavior. In the short run, this may be helping traditional media hold onto share of advertising revenue. The question of whether, and how, advertising and news will remain partners is unresolved, concludes the report.
Concluding this brief summary, the report says that an analysis of more than 70,000 stories from 48 separate news outlets in five media sectors in 2007 offers an empirical look at the content of the American media. Among the findings overall:
The agenda of the American news media is quite narrow - The agenda of the American news media is quite narrow
- Rather than cover the world, only two countries in 2007 received notable coverage, both closely related to the war - Iran and Pakistan
- Geopolitical events in the rest of the world made up less than 6% of coverage studied that includes Afghanistan, Korea, China, Russia, Israel and everywhere else combined
- The media and the public often disagreed about which stories were important in 2007. Citizens wanted more coverage of bread and butter issues, such as rising gas prices, toy recalls, and the legislative battle over children's health insurance, and less coverage of the crisis in Pakistan, certain aspects of the Iraq debate, and of other distant places in the world.
- The media also showed a marked short attention span in 2007
Each news medium is examined in more detail, and the complete study may be freely accessed here.
Fast Money declared Yellow Pages dead last week. In the interview, the Fast Money Traders appear to argue a good case without seeing the upside of what’s happening in the industry. Yes, stock prices are down – but that doesn’t mean we should pick up our shovels and start digging graves just yet.
David Swanson, CEO of R.H. Donnelley Corp had something to say on CNBC in response to the Yellow Page attack. Swanson focused on the misperception of usage and the diversity of offerings by the Yellow Page companies. He said, “This year 13.4 billion people referenced the print Yellow Pages. Last year it was the same. Now add to that the fact we’re diversified online. Internet yellow pages received up to 17.2 billion references.”
It can’t be that bad if companies like Yellow Book continue to expand amidst a volatile market. As recent as March 16, 2008, Yellow Book announced an expansion into South Carolina and Yellowpages.com entered into a large deal with Microsoft.
- CNN Money: http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200803171309DOWJONESDJONLINE000658_FORTUNE5.htm
- Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN1757648920080317
As long as the leading Yellow Page companies continue to expand and enhance their online offerings, they aren’t going anywhere. I do presume, however, that we will continue to see changes during the coming months.
In a Law.com article titled, Legal Directories: Valuable Resource or Waste of Time?, Michelle Madsen of Legal Week looks the corporate counsel’s view of directories. Do in-house attorneys use directories such as Chambers and Partners, the Legal 500 and Lawdragon or are they “a self-perpetuating marketing arena for law firms, or a useful tool for clients?”
Madsen concludes that “A sensible attitude to the directories would seem to be to regard them as a resource, a tool to be drawn upon and, compared with other sources of information, not as a substitute to personal contact or knowledge. As such, they need to be judged critically but, on balance, it would seem they have earned their place on the shelves of most general counsel.”
In my latest book, Everyday Public Relations for Lawyers, I provide a short list of such directories which also includes:
• American Lawyer AMLaw 200
• Best Lawyers in America
• Euromoney Expert Guides
• Global 100
• Leading Lawyers
• Legal Experts
• Martindale-Hubbell
• Multicultural Law Top 100
• National Law Journal 250
• Of Counsel 700
• PLC Which Lawyer? Yearbook
• SuperLawyers
• The Vault
• Who’s Who Legal
You can find more comprehensive lists in Leigh Dance’s Global Guide to Law Firm and Lawyer Directories and the companion book compiled by Deborah McMurray, North American Guide to Law Firm and Lawyer Directories.
People ask us all the time about Yellow Pages and the long-term outlook. According to the Yellow Pages Association, “Yellow Pages -- in print and online -- remains a go-to resource for ready-to-buy consumers.”
BERKELEY HEIGHTS, NJ--(Marketwire - February 26, 2008) - The Yellow Pages Association™ (YPA™) today announced that industry research shows 2007 Yellow Pages usage grew to 17.2 billion searches in 2007, up from 16.7 billion in 2006.
Print usage remained stable with 13.4 billion print Yellow Pages references, unchanged from 2006, according to the 2007 Knowledge Networks/SRI (KN/SRI) Industry Usage Study, while comScore reports Internet Yellow Pages (IYP) searches increased 15 percent in 2007 to 3.8 billion, up from 2006's 3.3 billion IYP searches.
"The Yellow Pages medium is still a go-to resource for ready-to-buy consumers. Overall Yellow Pages usage increased in 2007 as Internet use continues to grow and print usage stabilizes," said Neg Norton, president of YPA.
Some of the other important statistics from the Association include:
- Approximately 87 percent of the U.S. population used the print Yellow Pages in 2007. (KN/SRI)
- Average number of monthly IYP searchers up 16 percent: 73 million IYP searchers per month in 2007, compared to 63.1 million IYP searchers per month in 2006. (comScore)
- Of the 144 million people performing local searches online in December 2007, over half (51 percent) used IYPs. (comScore)
To read the full story, go to http://new.marketwire.com/2.0/release.do?id=825649.
With a media relations campaign, you don’t control the final message the way you do with a paid advertisement.
In order to maximize the value of your media relationships, take heed of the following tips:
- Determine your primary geographic market
- Create your general media list
- Double-check your contact file
For more information and tips from Everyday Public Relations for Lawyers, stay tuned!
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