Yellow Book Changes Name, Flaunts New Tagline

At least three companies that publish yellow pages phone directories are fiercely competing for market share - large phone directories pulled 13.4 billion searches last year, and it’s a $31 billion industry, per the Yellow Pages Association - and Yellow Book is hoping to boost its presence with a new integrated campaign.

Yellow Book has become Yellowbook, with the tagline, “Say Yellow to the future.” The move follows similar efforts from AT&T, which launched two campaigns this spring to position its product as the “Real Yellow Pages,” and from R.H. Donnelley, which introduced its small-format “Dex” book and character in recent years, writes Adweek.

The name change and sleeker design is meant to better reflect Yellowbook’s digital offerings on Yellowbook.com, according to the company.

“While 87 percent of Americans use traditional yellow pages, there’s been exceptional growth online,” Gordon Henry, Yellowbook’s CMO, said in a statement. “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.”

Online yellow pages directories  generated 3.8 billion searches last year.

The Yellowbook campaign includes TV spots on national and cable networks, with print and online support. Yellow Book’s measured U.S. media spending was $40 million (excluding online), per Nielsen Monitor-Plus, for the disconcerting campaign running last year that featured actor David Carradine as mystical guru.

AT&T spent $60 million on its phone book and online products, while Donnelley’s measured media spending was $12 million.

The Yellow Pages industry is being pressured to provide more audience measurement to its national advertisers. The Association of National Advertisers’ Telephone Directory Committee is urging the Yellow Pages industry to significantly improve measurement standards. The ANA wants national syndicated audience measurement research and circulation auditing; currently only 18 percent of the U.S. market is measured.