Yellowbook, a publisher of print and online yellow pages directories, launched a new campaign called “Say Yellow to the Future”, which includes a new logo and name change.
“What this campaign does is really tries to position Yellowbook as a company that is actively thinking about the future — that’s going to be taking care of the needs of users and advertisers in the future in the digital age,” said Gordon Henry, CMO for Yellowbook.
New York-based advertising agency Gotham Inc. worked on the campaign, which includes two television spots and print and radio advertisements as well as search marketing efforts. Interactive online display advertisements are also planned, Henry said.
Yellowbook, founded in 1930, publishes about 1,000 different print editions in 48 states and has a circulation of over 120 million, according to the company. In addition to its print directories, Yellowbook has an online directory as well as a search marketing product called Web Reach.
“Over the past couple of years, we’ve started to put more of a focus into the Internet and online products that we offer,” Henry said.
Recently, the online directory’s consumer interface was redesigned and new features have been added to the site, including the ability for businesses to post videos about their services, he said. Down the road, Yellowbook may also allow users to add ratings and reviews, he said.
As part of the new campaign, the company has changed its name from Yellow Book USA to Yellowbook. People are using a number of different technologies to find information—not just a print directory, Henry said. “So by putting the two words together we felt it slightly made the focus more on the overall name Yellowbook as opposed to a book that was yellow.”
Yellowbook’s familiar “walking fingers” logo — which is in the public domain and has been used by many directory listings companies over the years — has also changed. The fingers in the new logo are more modern and are no longer walking across a book. “They are fingers that are walking to find information through whatever device that comes down the road,” Henry said.
The two television spots started running May 5. In one spot a woman looking to have a tattoo removed uses a futuristic tool to access information from Yellowbook.
“It’s set in the future to convey that not only do we have a tremendous amount of information that helps users solve their problems, but that we’re going to be doing it over whatever or through whatever device comes along,” Henry said.
