The reason that this Mumbrella thread gets so much feedback is that there is a significant frustration in the market regarding the Yellow Pages print including:

The Waste.
So many people don’t want it and don’t know how to stop the books arriving. Yes Sensis have a phone number but that’s very hard to find and re-active. Sensis are motivated to keep the circ high to maintain yields and the environment suffers. In major metros you can’t ignore the piles of unwanted books particular in commercial or high density residential areas.

The Research.
Sensis/Roy Morgan’s research about readership just does stand up to anyone’s understanding of the books usage. They are just so unbelievable that they are discarded outright. The problem: Sensis are in between a rock and a hard place – any move to reality reporting on readership is going to communicate a massive drop with commensurate drops in ad yield. In you are in Sensis thinking about putting out honest numbers your CV better be up to date …

The Advertiser.
The book is full of unsophisticated marketers who don’t understand the changes in the media landscape and are not skilled to move their media accordingly. Yes Google have done very well in the last few years in this category, primarily on the back of aggressive resellers, but this is taking spend from others, for the moment. Sensis leverage this unsophisticated audience well and retain yields based on one very powerful sales tool – FEAR. Dropping your ad in Yellow print is a big deal. It’s an annual product and if you have made a mistake, is it 12 months till your next opportunity to advertise. More importantly if you do decide to come back you will have lost your position on your ad size – you’ll be behind your competitors. Drop your size and you’ll be at the back of that group. For this reason, in the book, Sensis have been able to increase yields, grow revenue (modestly) but reduce pagination. Many advertisers are recognising that their upgrades in ad size have brought no additional business. Advertisers increasing spends, with declining results through fear and ignorance is a ticking time bomb …

@Rachel, what are you blurting on about?!

OK, stats aside and accountability aside. drum roll….wait for it……..

@Stevo from Sensis; my dear fellow. Please could you guys at the mighty Sensis only send out your blessed print directories to those who subscribe to it? Please do your advertisers, your own publishing costs, your credibility as an ethical business and the environment a favour?

- makes total sense to the majority mate.

Adam

p.s. Steve if you ran your own business would you spend tens of thousands of your own money advertising in the printed YP directory?

- Didn’t think so…

And no I don’t have a copy of the YP in my house either. But my consumption or not of the YP is irrelevant. Or should be.

Sorry if that doesn’t suit your agenda. I didn’t write Marketing 101 but I certainly have read it.

The justification I’m sure impresses your year 1 students/clients

@ Rachel – well said, couldn’t agree more.

@ Tim – what about a site for the ‘fans’ of the short lived “Dance Your Ass Off” … Bumbrella?

Seriously though…”Yellbrella”…think about it.

Cheers, RL

This post is a bit like Glenn Close at the end of Fatal Attraction. It keeps leaping back to life. Believe it or not, if you scroll all the way to the top, this is the piece from last month.

If memory serves, comments automatically close after 30 days, so in a day or two, the pain will be over. Until I do another directories posting of course…

Cheers,

Tim – Mumbrella

No delivery isn’t an indicator of an involved audience, any more than TARPs tell us who loved a TV show and didn’t go pee in the last 15 minutes. We’re on to it. According to some commenters, all advertisers in the YP must be morons…or maybe, just maybe, they’ve figured out an effective media mix that works for them at a price that makes sense? Maybe not ALL their customers are interested in searching online directories? Or is my mum a moron too?

Yes there are more options nowadays…no shit Sherlock. It’s called ‘fragmentation’ and it affects every media category, not just directories. Every media category has had to react to fragmentation in one way or another if they want to stay in business. Every category has to figure out how to stay on the schedule versus new competitors…whether by targeting, or price or offering new benefits. Back in the day Sunday movies used to rate into the 30′s. Now they’re lucky to get 8′s and 9′s. On that basis, should we cancel TV on Sunday nights? Or maybe…the marketplace has adapted and both supplier and buyer has figured out a new context for this timeslot. The YP is no different. If it was a ‘dinosaur’ for all people, it would be extinct – that simple.

So….any chance Tim you can lay off the YP stories for a while? Or maybe give the topic it’s own site…”Yellbrella”? Honestly it makes my head hurt. I didn’t have to explain the basics of accountable marketing this much to my first year Uni Advertising class.

You’re welcome.

We have opposing views and thats a good discussion.

Advertising in YP sold on the basis of the number of people who have these books. Delivery isn’t reach.

Sensis YP are managing a declining asset and it’s been an amazing cash cow for years.

People have more options to promote their business and better educated on their media spends.

Less number massaging, more honesty. Like it.

Someone I know just called that number to cancel their deliveries and was told it is not possible.

Could you please explain this?