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HOME  EXPANDING THE DIRECTORY CATEGORY
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EXPANDING THE DIRECTORY CATEGORY
More Canadians than ever before are referring to directories when both print and online formats are considered. Usage of the print format remains strong and stable, with 70% of Canadians referring to a print directory to look up a business on a monthly basis2, while online directory usage is growing at a rapid pace, attracting increased advertising in the process.
YPG's vision is to be the number one source of references for local business searches in Canada. One of YPG's key objectives is to further expand the directory category, by making our print, online and wireless directories both ubiquitous and seamless. By “ubiquitous”, we mean making our products available anywhere and anytime. By "seamless", we mean that there should be no distinction between our print, online or wireless formats. What is important is that when people are looking for a product, service, business or person, they reference one of our Yellow Pages™ directories regardless of the format.
The ADS acquisition was a critical element to achieving this objective. As a result, Yellow Pages™ branded directories have become available almost anywhere in Canada. In addition, our newly formed national platform makes YPG's directories a more attractive advertising vehicle for national and regional advertisers, providing an opportunity to grow our revenues. We can also share best practices with our expanded operations in Western Canada as a means of further growing our revenue base. One such initiative was the launching of Directory Plus in Alberta and British Columbia in late 2005, where previously no such bundle of print and online advertising was being offered.
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Another way in which we hope to expand the directory category is through the development of new products. An example of this is the WebNumber™ service, launched in May 2005, which provides a free web site to every business in Canada that has a Yellow Pages™ listing. Given that only about 37% of all businesses in Canada currently have web sites4, we believe that this new service will prove to be a real advantage to those businesses that don't have one. Over and above the free listing, map and driving directions, they can add special features to their web page site such as online coupons. The Internet address for these sites is comprised of the merchant's telephone number, followed by “yp.ca”.
The development of additional online products will become possible following the roll-out of a new search engine in 2006. The new engine will be fully keyword searchable. In a single click, users will be able to find, for example, a plumber located in their neighbourhood, open 24 hours, and accepting credit cards. Moreover, we intend to offer pay per click packages. This new product, wich is performance based priced, will allow merchants to buy clicks to drive more traffic to their site.
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Another new product being piloted is a voice-activated directory. In 2005, YPG launched HelloYellow™, a telephone directory assistance service which allows users to conduct a business category search by phone. We believe this service will meet users' needs as category search was previously not available on 411 directory assistance. HelloYellow is free of charge to users and also to merchants for the basic listing. The service is currently offered in Toronto and Hamilton and we hope to deploy it on a broader scale following user acceptance and usage.
YPG is also expanding into new markets that complement its traditional Yellow Pages™ directory advertising offering. For example, the Company has entered into a partnership with Transcontinental Media to develop specialized vertical guides that will contain both editorial content and directory information for a specific topic such as home improvement. The first guides are expected to be launched in Toronto and Montréal in early 2006.
Our advertising and promotion campaigns are also aligned with our objective to expand the directory category. Our most recent campaign, which was rolled out in late 2005, is intended to further strengthen our brand and increase the top-of-mind awareness of our online properties. The idea is to demonstrate that our brand has evolved beyond the book. The campaign specifically promoted “Proximity Search”, a useful feature that can be found on YellowPages.ca™. We presented real-life situations which people can identify with. We want to get in the way of every search in a remarkable way.
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In 2005, we have rejuvenated the design of our brand and logos to capitalize on a more dynamic corporate image and our innovative products as well as to reinforce our leadership in the Canadian directory market.
YPG has a wide range of initiatives underway that are expected to help sustain the momentum in the Company's organic growth, and hopefully in the process, expand the directory category as we know it today.
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1 Statistics Canada Census, as of August 2005.
2,3 Ad Hoc Research, 2005 Canadian Usage Study
4 Statistics Canada, April 2005
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