Canada’s Yellow Pages Group Rebrands, Expands Mobile and Digital Offerings

March 23, 2010 | Contributed by: Stephanie Hobbs

Last month, we shared news that Canada’s Yellow Pages Group (YPG) said it was planning a digital makeover. This morning, the company came through on its promise, introducing a new logo and a new advertising campaign designed to showcase the company’s “evolution into a performance media and marketing solutions company.”

In a news release, YPG president and CEO Marc P. Tellier said, “Our new branding reflects an important shift in the way we are doing business, in what we are offering to consumers and in the way we partner with advertisers. We now offer a vastly expanded selection of products and services that put businesses right in front of consumers as they are looking to buy. The message it sends is that YPG is multi-platform: we’re online, we’re mobile and we are still the leading and most widely used print directory in the country.”

As part of its announcement, YPG launched new capabilities and functionalities on its mobile applications for iPhone, BlackBerry, and Google Android. The company also introduced new ratings and reviews, restaurant profiles, and online coupons to its popular YellowPages.ca Internet directory.

Since the beginning of the year, YPG has been making a major digital push, acquiring Web sites including 411.ca (an online directory) and RedFlagsDeals.com (an online discount/coupon site), as well as launching its own search engine marketing offering.

Today’s announcement is the latest in a string of rebrandings for major Yellow Pages companies to reflect their growing digital offerings. Since the beginning of the year, Idearc changed its name to SuperMedia, R.H. Donnelley became Dex One Corp., and other publishers including The Berry Company have transformed their business models.

We look forward to seeing how YPG continues to expand its digital influence as part of an integrated approach dedicated to providing businesses with the ability to reach consumers on various media platforms.

Below is one of the three new commercials included in YPG’s marketing campaign.

Contributed by: Stephanie Hobbs

Stephanie Hobbs, an award-winning print and online Yellow Pages executive with broad domestic and international experience, was the Local Search Association’s former vice president of communications.

Based in the Association’s executive office Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, Ms. Hobbs directed the Association’s communications efforts, including industry advertising and public relations initiatives, Web sites and oversees all aspects of its annual conference.

Prior to joining the Local Search Association, formerly the Yellow Pages Association, she served as director of external communications at Verizon Information Services (now SuperMedia) in Dallas, where she handled media and public relations, merger communications and served as company spokesperson.

Before joining Verizon, Ms. Hobbs was director of media relations at Bell Atlantic Directory Services (1997-2000) and manager of corporate communications (1991-1997) before the company merged with GTE to become Verizon. She was a public relations manager at Bell Atlantic/C&P Telephone from 1983 to 1991 and held a variety of management positions with C&P Telephone.

Ms. Hobbs is the winner of more than 60 public relations and advertising industry awards, including the Telly, the MARCOM, the Public Relations Society of America’s Bronze Quill, the International Association of Business Communicators’ Helio and various awards for video production and communications programs.

Tags: 411.ca, Canada, coupons, digital, hybrid, logo, multi-platform, ratings, rebranding, RedFlagDeals.com, reviews, Yellow Pages, Yellow Pages Association, Yellow Pages Group, YellowPages.ca, YPA, YPG

2 Responses to “Canada’s Yellow Pages Group Rebrands, Expands Mobile and Digital Offerings”

Lawrence says:

March 26, 2010 at 8:13 am

It is not easy changing your entire business focus and preserving tremendous profit during a period of shrinking revenues for many traditional advertisers. How will Bell compete with Google to recapture the marketing dollars that once was theirs? BC and Ontario are facing harmonized taxes this summer–do you have a strategy in place for dealing with that?

Lawrence

(Comment Guidelines)

Archive