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There she sits, looking very much like, well, a sitting duck. Man, can we relate - perhaps we’ve found our mascot!
Some fun facts about the short-tailed albatross:
For fun, I put up a straw poll on the site before the Kelsey Conference asking the question “If the Yellow Pages print business were an animal, on which one would you put the lipstick”. The choices were the two obvious politically inspired images of lipstick on pitbulls and pigs, but I added a third the chameleon!
Notionally, I was asking people to comment on the print business as being “on its way down, “capable of fighting back hard” or “adaptable to the future”.
The results (very unscientific!):
Put another way, almost a 50-50 vote between print being on an irreversible downward trajectory down versus having more life than you’d think.
To me, that sums up the sentiment in the Kelsey Group Conference.
Opening the Yellow Pages Association annual convention was Chairman Dave Swanson, Association President Neg Norton and an impersonator of Gloria Estafan. Damn, I wish they had picked Rodney Dangerfield!
Hats off to Dave and Neg for two stirring performances.
I think the tone that Dave brought to the convention was strong. He demonstrated a genuine grasp and frank recognition of the gravity of the challenge facing the industry (and his company) balanced with a strong conviction that the channel advantage can be built upon for a “center stage” position. (more…)
It has become painfully clear that the “market at large” has a narrow and deep seated view of YP as the consumer’s fingers walking through a print directory. To me, it’s becoming a severe messaging problem - for the industry.
I would suggest that it just might be the right time for the industry to ditch the fingers, and introduce the feet! The power -and the realities - of the scaled local sales channel are completely missing in the story. This is at the heart of a tremendous misconception about the prospects for reinvention amongst the “YP media companies”.
If we’re ever going to get through to this audience, it has better be a simple re-messaging. You can’t help but grimace when you listen to this kind of vacant conversation with sweeping prognostications about the value of YP.
Try as we may to show how the usage and ROI of the print books protect it from decline, we’re fighting an uphill battle; with people who control the message ready to dismiss the reality of “normal everyday consumer usage“. Industry messaging should consider focusing on “business messaging” and mothballing the “print brand” message.
It’s important to think geographically when you assess the current state of YP industry turmoil. A few observations might be useful when trying to align the conflicting signs of growth in some geographies with an incredibly bearish financial profile of US publishers. “Exporting” the US stock market behavior really needs some navigational aid.
I debated using an image from the infamous Monty Python scene of “I’m not dead yet”, instead of Foucault’s Pendulum. The pendulum won, not just because it’s more umm, tasteful, but because I think the message of “swinging pendulums over a moving earth” is a great illustration for what’s happening in YP right now.
Swinging against the momentum of a grim stock market reaction to mounting evidence of print YP usage decline, comes two timely industry news items that squeeze in between the toughest ever financial reporting season and the upcoming YPA annual convention.
(more…)
Silicon Alley Insider ran an interesting article this morning, showing some math that projects a pretty material recession exposure with AdWords. While Henry Blodgett goes on to qualify his “expert source” as being in the know, he also points out that these numbers are “outside sourced” not inside sourced, so treat this as anecdotal.
All that aside, it outlines an interesting analysis on the account size composition of the AdWords advertiser base. It is based on a “digital ad executive’s” experience based view of the Google client base. (more…)
It is staggering to see the stock value deflation that happened among directory publishers this week. On the backs of a quarterly print decline announced by Yell and Idearc, these stocks have witnessed deflation of over 40% of their stock value in one week, driving prices down by as much as 80% off the 12-month high. Sobering stuff. (more…)
Well, it looks like the industry seems divided - those that feel businesses will “retrench” to proven media/ad products, and those which feel a recession will be a stimulant to adoption of performance-based (online) ad products.
my thought sliver?
If the print media industry puts its mind to it, it can use recessionary times to promote trial and adoption of performance-based online ad models. The “proven supplier” endorsement can lower the perceived risk.
Is there sufficient incentive and strategic commitment to drive print media publishers in this direction? I definitely see the desire, but the increasingly visible fear of a print usage driven downturn is a sensitive topic. Publishers may have a hard time being aggressive with this fear looming over their heads.
Ultimately, I think it’s smartest to just get out there and maximize your share of online growth. Viewing times like this as an opportunity will speak volumes about strategic resolve.
When you have little time and lots of money, your strategic move is obvious.
I thought I’d push out a few armchair quarterback suggestions on MS-Yahoo’s strategic moves in the local media space.
For simplicity, let’s call it MSY - plus, it just might get kind of MeSsY. (more…)