Industry News
Industry news results are for the last 12 months. Full access to the news archive requires membership.
- 05/11/2010 - Staff Buys Young & Associations
As announced by Jennifer MacLeid Qotb and Meggan Manson in their company newsletter released today: We are very proud and honored to share exciting company news. After several years and a lot of behind-the-scenes work, Jennifer MacLeid Qotb and Meggan Manson have successfully purchased Young & Associates, Inc. from Jean Young, chairman, founder and dear friend. It is our mission to carry-on the 28-year mantra Jean successfully brought to each company served - providing a measurable impact on each client's business through strategic PR and marketing objectives and programs. With 24 collective years of experience with Young & Associates, we also bring our own desire and passion to tenaciously lead fast-growth clients into the exciting yet challenging world where traditional and social media collide. We offer each of our clients a unique perspective, with one foot rooted in solid methodologies and expertise while we continue to explore and develop unchartered media territories. Moving forward, we will continue to lead the agency as we have for the past three years, furthering the Young & Associates name and tradition with outstanding professionals including Eve Sheridan and Jennifer Mirabile. We wish to thank you each for your support and also thank our dedicated mentor, Jean Young, for helping to make all of this possible.
- 05/10/2010 - Telmetrics Issues Call Quality Stats/Guidelines
Telmetrics released call quality guidelines today to help advertising providers minimize the impact of telemarketing on local search campaigns. Telmetrics' call tracking analysis shows a 61 percent increase in telemarketer activity from January-February 2010. The increase is likely due to 1) more outbound marketing as a result of the economy and 2) the impact of the Do Not Call Registry, as telemarketers have shifted focus to businesses. Overall, telemarketing calls represent 10-20 percent of calls made to a local search ad. To protect campaign validity and ensure advertisers are paying for true ad-driven calls, pay per call providers need to focus more on call quality standards like using local phone numbers in ad campaigns rather than toll-free lines. Consumers are four times more likely to call an advertiser with a local number.
- 05/06/2010 - FourthWall Teams Up with Axesa for Interactive TV Product
FourthWall Media", a media company looking to develop a creative revolution in interactive TV, today announced that it has signed an agreement with Yellow Pages and local search service provider Axesa Servicios de Informacion to launch interactive advertising. This advertising will be delivered by FourthWalls Yellow Pages on TV application running on OneLink in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Axesa will not only provide listings data, but will sell interactive advertising to local businesses on its online Yellow Pages directory, SuperPagesPR.com.
- 03/30/2010 - Front Door Insights Buys CO Books from Names & Numbers
Front Door Insights has reached an agreement with Names & Numbers to acquire publishing rights for their phone books serving Fort Collins, Loveland, Greeley, Longmont and Windsor.
- 03/22/2010 - Valley Yellow Pages to Plant 50 Trees at Templeton School
Valley Yellow Pages will be planting 50 new, much needed shade trees at a Templeton elementary school, with hundreds of students participating in the event.
This is a continuing effort by Valley to demonstrate first hand that they are an environmentally conscious company. Templeton has been selected as one of several communities around California where Valley Yellow Pages is planting trees.
Of note in the company press release was:Virgin timber is virtually never used to make directory paper. The books are typically comprised of recycled materials with the remainder of the needed fiber provided by the residue of making squared boards out of round trees in the lumber-making process. 100% of the fiber is certified to come from sustainably managed forests. Directories are also produced with nontoxic glue and printed with inks containing soy and/or vegetable oils.
Kudos to Valley for this effort
- 02/11/2010 - Ad Ventures Acknowledged As A Fast Growing Bulldog Businesses
Ad Ventures, Inc., a leading directional marketing advertising agency, is among the businesses selected for the inaugural class of the Bulldog 100: Fastest Growing Bulldog Businesses. Sponsored by the University of Georgia Alumni Association, the Bulldog 100 is a program that will determine and award the 100 fastest growing businesses that are owned or operated by UGA Alumni, each year. Rankings are based on compounded annual growth rate of revenues for the past three years.
- 01/15/2010 - RHD Ready to Exit Bankruptcy With New Name
This week R.H. Donnelley's reorganization plan was approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross in Delaware, setting the stage for it to exit bankruptcy within the next few weeks.
- 01/07/2010 - YPA and ADM Become One
In an email to the industry, the Association of Directory Marketing (ADM) and the Yellow Pages Association (YPA) have formally merged, effective January 1, 2010.
- 01/05/2010 - Idearc Emerges From Bankruptcy As SuperMedia, Inc
Monday Yellow Pages publisher Idearc Inc. emerged from bankruptcy protection with a new name the company changed its name to SuperMedia Inc.
The company's Chapter 11 plan was approved by a bankruptcy judge in Dallas last month and went into place Dec. 31. The move cut its debt to $2.75 billion from $9 billion and wiping out any existing stock holders.
SuperMedia's banks and bondholders will receive new common stock in the company, which was spun off from Verizon in 2006, in return for reducing the debt.
- 11/12/2009 - Front Row Solutions Announces The Release Of Version 3.0 Of Its Sales Productivity And Accountability Software
Front Row Solutions announced the release of version 3.0 of its sales productivity and accountability software today. The latest update includes seamless calendar synch capability with Microsoft Outlook, a new mobile browser for smart phones and expanded data entry features for remote sales and client notes via sms text message. Many of the new features were specifically requested from Front Row's existing client base and represent the most comprehensive update of Front Row's feature-rich platform to date, enhancing the dynamic real time sales force management tools associated with the software.
- 10/05/2009 - Alternative Financing ... Money For Media Buys
Yellow Pages Finance.Com (YellowPagesFinancialServices.com) was created to fill a void between Advertisers, Publishers and CMRs. Leveraging the strength of the Yellow Pages Value Proposition, YellowPagesFinancialServices.com provides financing to those businesses who want to finance their existing media buy, upgrade their existing media buy, or bundle several mediums to increase consumer awareness and build traffic to their Web site, or foot traffic at their location(s).
- 10/05/2009 - BIA/Kelsey: Digital Word-of-Mouth Driving Results for SMB's
The rapid growth of digital word-of-mouth through online reviews and social media presents a challenge for small and medium-sized business owners, who are often unaware of the online conversations taking place among consumers. BIA/Kelsey predicts this will change as SMBs adopt more sophisticated marketing practices that require advanced communications platforms for e-mail, reputation and presence management (ERPM). The firm forecasts revenues for ERPM to grow from $460 million in 2008 to $3.1 billion in 2013. The number of SMBs using ERPM will increase from approximately 500,000 to nearly 4 million during the forecast period. BIA/Kelsey plans to offer comprehensive coverage of this topic over the next few months during two upcoming webinars and its Interactive Local Media 2009 (ILM:09) conference in December.
- 09/28/2009 - ATD-Austin Selects Innovectra
ATD-Austin, a leading independent directory publisher for nearly 40 years, announced today the company has launched a new Internet Yellow Pages web site at www.theredphonebook.com and www.atd-austin.com through Internet directory software pioneer, Innovectra Corporation.
The company, which produces over 500,000 telephone directories annually in Greater Austin, Victoria and other areas located in South Central Texas and along the Gulf Coast, is providing ATD-Austin directory users more ways to easily locate local merchants and service providers. "Search, find and share is the name of the game," said Michael Doran, Sales Director at ATD-Austin. "It doesn't matter how consumers like to shop because they can use our phone books, our web site, major search engines, cell phones or their favorite social networking sites to access businesses in the Red Phone Books", added Doran.
- 09/23/2009 - BIA/Kelsey Releases Fifth Edition of Global Yellow Pages
Released today, the fifth edition of "Global Yellow Pages™: BIA/Kelsey's Outlook & Forecast" indicates revenues from print and online directories will decline 1.2 percent globally from $30.9 billion in 2008 to $29.1 billion in 2013. A 5.7 percent decline in print revenues from 2008 to 2013 will be somewhat offset by a 15.2 percent increase in online revenues.
- 09/22/2009 - Kelsey Group Name Change to BIA/Kelsey
BIA Advisory Services will now be known as BIA/Kelsey, representing the culmination of BIA's acquisition of The Kelsey Group last October and the complete expanse of services the combined company now offers to multi-delivery platforms, including traditional and interactive media, the online local marketplace, and mobile advertising. In addition to its respected and known industry reports, industry analysis, financial valuation and consulting services, BIA/Kelsey is launching expanded offerings that include ad spending reports, mobile and digital research, multiplatform strategic advice, financial valuations and sales training.
- 09/02/2009 - Yellow Book Acquires YP One
Yellowbook, a national leader in the local search industry, announced today that it has purchased the Texas and Louisiana directory assets of ypOne Publishing, the 10th largest independent yellow pages publisher in the U.S.
- 08/28/2009 - Pioneer Directories Selects Innovectra to Launch IYP Product
Pioneer Directories, a leading telephone company directory publisher in the Midwest, announced a new partnership agreement with Innovectra to launch all of its online directories at its new Internet site www.midwestyp.com.
"We are excited to be building an online directory and community based portal in and around the markets we serve. Innovectra delivers the right combination of platform capabilities, publisher services and digital media solutions for our business customers. We feel that the ActivImpact platform is the perfect compliment to our Yellow Page product", said Paul Jacobs, President of Pioneer Directories.
- 08/12/2009 - Canpages Inc. Acquires PhoneGuide Print and Online Directories
Canpages Inc., Canada's fastest growing local search firm, announced today that it has acquired Texas-based ypOne Publishing's PhoneGuide print and online directories in Ontario.
The acquisition results in a growth of Canpages' advertising base by more than 7,000 new customers as it consolidates PhoneGuide's 19 print directories that currently serve several parts of Southern Ontario. The acquisition also means an increase in Canpages' revenues by $9.2 million.
- 08/11/2009 - Innovectra Selected To Power The Beach Book Online
The Beach Book, Inc., the leading Yellow Pages publisher for The Outer Banks from Carova Beach to Ocracoke Island, NC, has selected Innovectra Corporation as its Internet Yellow Pages services partner. The companies are launching a new Internet directory portal for local residents, area visitors and vacationers who use the Internet to search directory listings and find business profile information.
- 08/06/2009 - Walhstrom Morphs Into Geomentum
Geomentum extends and enhances the best-in-class resources and massive buying clout of Mediabrands’ current hyper-local agencies; NSA Media (Print), Wahlstrom (Local Search and IYP) and Outdoor Services (Out-of-Home).