YP Talk - Newsletter Archive - July 2007 News U Can Use

Newsletter Archive - News U Can Use

July 2007 News U Can Use

07/12/2007 - These news items are brought to you by Kuk, Baldwin & Associates:

HIGH-END LIVERY. Most limousine services have “fares,” “riders,” or “pick-ups,” but a few have only “clients.” That’s because those few position themselves as high-end limo services. True, high-end limos rely a lot on repeat business from regular clients, but they also need a steady supply of well-heeled new clients (executives, etc.) willing to pay for top-flight service. So all their advertising, including YP, has to project an appropriate image – with copy points such as highly trained professional chauffeurs, fully uniformed, no car more than 2 (or 3, etc.) years old, attention to details, etc. One ex-cabbie who started a high-end limo service in 2002 went from 40 clients to 4000 today, and advertising helped (Inc., 6/07).

PROMO PRODUCTS. In some YPs, the heading name is “Advertising Specialties.” We’re talking about logo-imprinted giveaways like hats, pens, shirts, calculators, and radios – and they’re back in vogue as a means of spurring sales and brand recognition and helping companies stand out in the minds of shoppers who are subjected to a steady onslaught of broadcast, online, and print pitches. Since 2002, sales of promo items are up 25% and will top $20 billion in 2007. One effective marketing combo for promo product dealers is a strong YP ad that steers readers to a complete online catalog (Kiplinger Letter, 5/25/07).

CASH SPLASH. That’s how some people view backyard swimming pools. In a few areas of the country, they can be an investment, but mostly they’re big-ticket buys for family recreation. Above-ground pools are the low end, starting at $1000. In-ground pools, on the other hand, start at $10,000 and should be installed by a contractor. Three basic types of in-ground pool are vinyl-lined with polymer or concrete walls, Gunite (concrete and plaster mix), and fiberglass molds that are delivered and set in a hole. Add-on features include diving boards, pumps, heaters, filters, and circulation systems – and contractors can base a long-term relationship on chemicals and maintenance. Also, because the expenditure is so large, they need to beef up confidence factors in their advertising (Boston Globe, 6/3/07).

Find out how to be at the top of your sales performance by clicking on www.kukbaldwin.com.

Slow Year For Ad Revenues

Network/cable TV and magazine ad revenues will grow this year, while radio and newspapers will see declines in ad revenue this year, according to ad tracker TNS Media Intelligence. Newspaper ad spending on newspapers is seen falling 2.9% (-2.4% in 2006). Spot TV ads (bought on local TV stations) will fall 5.5%, network TV ad spending will grow 1.3%, and cable ads will jump 5.9%, it says. The fastest ad growth market is digital: internet display advertising is expected to grow 16% this year.

Note that TNS doesn't track search and rich media ads, which are seeing increased attention from advertisers. Overall, the industry monitor says ad spending will be the weakest since 2001 -- growing just 1.7% to $152.3 billion, a marked drop from its previous forecast of 2.6% growth.

http://www.tns-mi.com/news/06122007.htm

Bleeding Continues At Newspapers

The New York Times reported an 8.5% drop in advertising revenue from continuing operations for May, to $157.3 million from $171.9 million last year. Total revenue from continuing operations was down 5.8% to $243.5 million. Ad revenue from the company's core news media division lost 9.9% in the month to $149.8 million. Ad revenue was off 9.1% at the New York Times media group, which includes the company's namesake paper. Growth was seen in the financial services, hotel, alcoholic beverage and corporate ad categories, but it was offset by slowdowns in entertainment, transportation, technology, media and telecommunications advertising, as well as retail and classified ads. The New England media division, which includes the Boston Globe, posted an 8.8% drop in ad revenue. The New York Times' Internet property About.com saw a 32% rise in ad revenue to $7.4 million from $5.6 million on higher demand for both display and cost-per-click advertising. Internet ad revenue across the company's three main media groups grew 21.4%.

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070614005491&newsLang=en

Mobile Marketing Hampered by High CPMs, Small Audiences

While CPM (Cost Per Thousand) has been the staple of media buying. Most media buys automatically look for the lowest cost CPM. But with new technologies, that doesn't usually work as well. So what happens? These new technology advertising opportunities compared to yellow pages. Why? One blogger thinks it's because that's the level of creativity that most of the advertising industry works on. "....And, it takes way to long to figure out how to really use these emerging tools to create something new. No, instead it's we know about yellow pages, so the mobile phone must be just a new way to deliver yellow pages ads..."

http://blog.brandexperiencelab.org/experience_manifesto/2007/06/advertising_age.html

EBay Launches A Craigslist Rival For Classified Ad Dollars

eBay has just launched classifieds sites for 220 U.S. cities under the "Kijiji" name (Kijiji means "village" in Swahili - sounds relevant to the US market to me). The new network of sites, which eBay has run successfully under the Kijiji name in Canada, Germany, Italy and Taiwan since 2005, are in direct competition to internet classifieds leader Craigslist, in which eBay has owned a 25% stake since 2004 (isn't that competing against yourself??).

EBay spokesman Hani Durzy: "We've learned a lot from Craigslist. We think this market has room for several classified services."

While Kujiji will begin as a 100% free service, Durzy says that could change, with the possibility of generating revenue through display advertising or by offering premium services.

http://biz.yahoo.com/bizj/070703/1486418.html?.v=2

Growth of Broadband in US Slows

Cox Newspapers reports that 47% of all Americans now have high-speed Internet service at home, but the growth rate for "broadband" service is slowing dramatically according to a new study by the nonprofit Pew Internet & American Life Project. Broadband, which is considered critical to the continued fast expansion of Internet advertising, is also still rare in poor and rural residents. The rate of growth for broadband service adoption was only 12% for the one-year period ending in March. That was the lowest rate in at least five years.

"Broadband adoption in rural America faces two challenges - network availability and demographics," said Aaron Smith, research specialist at the Pew Internet Project and co-author of the report.

http://www.pewinternet.org/press_release.asp?r=141

Radio: Can Anyone Hear Me??

Radio listenership is in near free-fall in the most iPod-hit demographics, according to some fairly striking data in a new release from Statistics Canada. Teenagers listened to their radios barely 7.6 hours a week, the lowest of all age groups. This was down from 8.6 hours in 2005 and 11.3 in 1996. Among young adult men, listening fell from 15.1 hours to 13.7. Among their female counterparts, it slipped from 15.4 hours to 14.6.

Note this is Canadian data. By comparison, talk radio in Canada has nowhere near the presence it does in the U.S.

http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/070626/d070626b.htm

Mortgage Delinquencies, Foreclosures Hit All Time Highs

You've probably been hearing a lot about this on the news, but here is the official word -- mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures reached new all-time highs in Q1, with previously hot markets like California and Florida hardest hit, according to a report released by the Mortgage Bankers Association. The chief economist for MBA also said delinquencies could continue to rise, possibly peaking later in 2007, while foreclosures wouldn't peak until 2008. The 0.58% of all loans entering foreclosure was up from 0.54% and 0.41% q/q and y/y respectively. But 1.28% of all loans in foreclosure, while up from 0.98% y/y, is still well below the 2002 record of 1.51%.

http://www.mortgagebankers.org/NewsandMedia/PressCenter/55132.htm

But Business Real Estate Is Still Hot

Even as the residential real estate market continues to show signs of weakness, office property rents jumped Q2 2007, according to data from Reis Inc. and ZipRealty Inc. Office property rents gained 3.1% in Q2 -- their sharpest increase in seven years -- following 2.8% and 2.1% gains in earlier periods. The office-vacancy rate of 12.7% is at its lowest level in six years, a sign the economy is producing more office jobs, according to Reis's chief economist Sam Chandan.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118359576367757639.html?mod=seekingalpha (subscription may be required)

YP Works, Even in Canada

Thought you might find this little item interesting: You are looking for a landscape designer. Where do you find one? The Internet? Heavens no. The Yellow Pages. The Yellow Pages?:

The pair flipped through the Yellow Pages to find landscape designer and water garden specialist Bruce Chan. Yes, the Yellow Pages. ...

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=c937e4ec-1116-4280-8c4b-2aa5ef5f91d4&k=7474

What's in the IPhone?

Ok, this has nothing to do with Yellow Pages but after all the hype over Apple's new IPhone, thought you might find this interesting -- A look at what's inside.

Apparently analysts at RBC Capital Markets and Portelligent research broke open the iPhone to get an unprecedented peek at its inners (who is going to put this back together???). Here's what they found: (1) Main processor core chip is from Samsung. (2) Intel 32-megabit flash memory. (3) I/O chip: Broadcom. (4) Power management: Texas Instruments, Linear Technology and Philips. (5) WiFi: Marvell. (6) Camera sensor: Micron. (7) Front-end power amplifier: Skyworks. (8) Display driver: not sure, may be National Semiconductor. (8) Touch screen: German manufacturer Balda. (9) Wireless components: Infineon, RF Micro Devices. (10) Orientation sensor: ST Microelectronics.

Now here is the kicker -- Portelligent research's David Carey estimates the cost of the iPhone's materials is about $200 for the 4-gigabyte version ($499) and $220 for the 8-gigabyte model ($599); his estimates exclude final assembly costs.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/07/02/that-599-iphone-costs-220-to-make/

Who Gets the Most & Least Vacation?

When it comes to taking a holiday, it's best to be Finnish, and (not quite) the worst to be American. A new study ranks countries by their paid time-off policies. Residents of Finland get on average 44 days off a year (includes both vacation and holidays) compared with 25 for Americans. Other countries that get a lot of vacation include France, Australia, Israel and Morocco. Only four countries get less vacation days than Americans.

http://money.cnn.com/2007/06/12/pf/vacation_days_worldwide/index.htm?postversion=2007061305