Internet Advertising comparison

I recently came across this article Advertising follows eyeballs to the Internet
Aug 6 2008 from The Canadian Press, Which states that advertising follows eyeballs, and they've been moving to the Internet.

The reach of online advertising is growing as consumers, especially younger ones, move online for content and consumption. Yes, only the older folks are staying on the printed version. One is because its a habit. The younger ones do not have a reference point and that's why they are moving to the Internet.

But how to gauge the success of online ads?

It's not just about measuring mouse clicks that result in purchases via the Internet, said Andrew Lipsman of U.S.-based ComScore, which studies ways the Internet is used.

The bigger impact is building a product's brand online and affecting consumers' behaviour offline, he said from Chicago.

The average number of online ads viewed by an Internet user in the United States is 1,762 a month, Lipsman said. This number doesn't include any online ads seen on mobile phones. No Canadian statistics were available from ComScore.

"People are beginning to understand how these online ad exposures do have a brand-building impact. And as they begin to see the value in that and get out of the mindset it's all about direct response and purchasing something online right now, more dollars will begin to shift online."

Yahoo, AOL and MSN and social networking site MySpace are market leaders in serving up display ads, Lipsman said.

Google's share of this market is smaller, he said.

But Google has "a much larger share of the paid search (ad) market" - these are ads that appear along with websites on a page of search results.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada says online advertising revenues climbed to just more than $1.2 billion in 2007.

As for consumers' privacy concerns, Gignac said: "If we make those eyeballs less trusting, they won't come to your site and then they can't be reached by advertisers."

Gignac's organization is predicting online revenue will increase to $1.5 billion this year.

Marc Tellier, president and CEO of Yellow Pages Group, said yellowpages.ca has been online for 10 years and reaches 41 per cent of all Canadian web users in a given month, or about 9.7 million people monthly.

"That positions us as the eighth most-visited (online) destination in Canada," Tellier said. "We're looking at $214 million in Internet revenue annualized. By 2010, online should reach about 20 per cent of our revenues. It's a growing category."

In Singapore, Internet is fast gaining ground also amongst the young. The yellow pages print reported flat revenue and thereby Internet is the growth oppotunity to bring the Singapore Yellow Pages revenue up to where it was before.

Yellow Pages on mobile and more

Just checking the Yellow Pages market in Asia with my friends did not produce any positive news. The print media is declining and the Yellow Pages publishers must find new ways to leverage its brand name to enter into other platforms such as Internet and mobile etc to offset its print revenue decline.

From my observation the new media players coming from all different places as the advertising market is converging. Anyone can become a media owner. Thus, for the media player like Yellow Pages, being the solidly print media centric should find a way to co-compete with the other players in order to leverage its brand name and find suitable ways to get new income streams.... Digital media ARPA isn't going to be big... and therefore a new form of revenue stream should be found. Advertisers led where users don't pay... anyway, the sums is not a lot as yet.. but the publishers should not wait too long.

In Singapore, there is already so many happenings around... Telcos may also make enter into the fray especially this is an open market... all revenue is not dirty.
Okay, now let me take you to the US... and what's happening in the market there as reported by SEARCH LAND, there is a big wave going to mobile the next happening....

Local Mobile Search Takes Center Stage As Next-Generation Format Of Yellow Pages: Industry Panel Weighs In The importance of valuable mobile content and services is undeniable—just observe the sea of people talking, text messaging, and searching on mobile devices in nearly every personal and business setting these days. What remains to be seen, however, is which local mobile services and companies will rise to the top with the most relevant offerings that become the “must have” features, and which local mobile companies will fully harness the power of advertising in this medium.


Giving users yet another way to utilize the Yellow Pages with local mobile search is the next-generation format of the medium, as it continues to deliver local content to users’ fingertips when they are ready to find specific business information and make a purchase. The customers ultimately choose the format, and with an estimated 37 million Americans conducting mobile searches on a weekly basis (according to a recent Techmeme Leaderboard Source.. you can read more from this link at yellow pages association (http://www.ypassociation.org)

May of Good Cheers

The Fingers are walking on the Web

This is as reported in Canada by: reportonbusiness.com

I love the Yellow Pages business after spending most of my life working there. The Yellow Pages provided work for me for the past 25 years. Now its going to change and change it should to survive.. the users in Singapore are younger and more internet savvy. Web is the platform of delivery for tomorrow. And with mobile this will be even more challenging as this article from Canada suggests. Local matters is a company which provides conversion of print into internet version etc.


FINGERS WALKING ON THE WEB

There are lots of reason to love the Yellow Pages. It's a great media franchise that pumps out cash.

There's one reason to worry about phone directories maintaining their incredible track record - the domestic Yellow Pages Income Fund boasts 21-per-cent annual growth in distributable cash over the past five years - and it's that folks may let their fingers do the walking through the Internet, and somehow bypass the phone books.

Which bring us to Local Matters Inc., a software company that plans to break a prolonged dry spell in TSX technology initial public offerings.

Local Matters filed the paperwork last week for a $30-million to $40-million IPO that's led by Canaccord Capital and CIBC World Markets. The company builds the programs that run local content searches for 22 different phone directory publishers in 14 countries.

As Yellow Pages builds its online presence, our fingers will do the clicking with help from Local Matters.

The management team at this seven-year-old company includes CEO Perry Evans, who founded MapQuest and worked at R.R. Donnelley & Sons, and a number of other Internet entrepreneurs. The company is out raising money to pay down debt, rather than allow the founders to cash out.

Like most early stage tech companies, Local Matters is losing money, spilling $6.1-million of red ink in 2007 after a $16.3-million loss the previous year. So there's no earnings-per-share multiple that can be used to value this company.

But there are valuation metrics such as enterprise value to revenue - standard yardsticks back in the tech boom. Local Matters plans to sell shares for between $5.40 and $6.60 each, which will value the company at between 3.3 and 3.9 times this year's revenues.

TSX-listed software companies change hands with an enterprise value that averages 5.1 times revenues, while North American online publishers command a multiple of four times revenues. The plan is to price this IPO by June 23.

Moving the Yellow Pages to Mobile and save it.

From here.. its possible to save any kind of problem to make the product more relevant to modern lifestyle... product MUST move with the times.....


Keynoters from Down Under say Big Transformation Possible
Tim McElligott
05/21/2008
In a video-taped keynote address, John Chambers, CEO of Cisco, encouraged members of the TM Forum to be more than plumbers who move bits around--and build business models around--the customer experience. He said now is the time because of the opportunity presented by the second phase of the Internet. But it was Sol Trujillo, CEO of Telstra and Paul Reynolds, CEO of Telecom New Zealand, who spoke in person about the challenges and rewards of doing so through major business transformation efforts.


Chambers said that top line opportunities are almost unlimited, but that the approach to seizing them must be through collaboration. “Collaboration gives us the chance to bring new revenue models to market quickly,” he said.


Chambers emphasized, however that the role of the service provider will change and that service providers should not lose sight of the importance of quality management for the new environment, that this is their ultimate role.


“If you can’t manage it, you can’t monetize it,” Chambers said.


Actual service providers talked about re-inventing themselves to become the leaders of content and communications services, thwarting Chambers’ opinion.


Trujillo silenced his critics by turning around Telstra despite what he described as the worst regulatory climate in the world. Telstra, a company that had admittedly lost its technology leadership, was losing revenue on all fronts and was on the verge of being sold off in pieces.


“Dramatic change was required. We had to place some billion dollar bets like shutting down our CDMA network,” Trujillo said. “That was not a popular decision and not everybody welcomed it.”


Now, halfway through his company’s business and network transformations, that network is closed. And with the help of IBM, Brightstar and others, the company has realized $150 million in savings in its supply chain. It has also built an ecosystem that Trujillo called “the standout feature of the company’s transformation” and raised average wireless revenue per user by $20 per month. The company even saved its Yellow Pages by taking it mobile.


“These kinds of products are not dead. When you add value and create an experience, people will use it,” Trujillo said.


Trujillo said he has been trying for years to train the whole industry about the customer experience being the key differentiator and now he has an example to prove it.


“Differentiation is the most powerful word I can think of. It is everything in the market place...now, you can almost do anything you want, anywhere you want in Australia and now when I come to the U.S. or Europe it is like taking a step back in time.”


Some of the keys to a successful transformation, Trujillo said, are to take your people with you as you migrate to an IP environment, to build an ecosystem, transform your supply chain and focus on the customer experience by organizing your company around the customers’ needs.


Paul Reynolds, CEO of Telecom New Zealand, is not as far along on his transformation plan as his colleague from Australia, but he said his company is moving further and faster along this path than anyone else.


He, too, is putting the customer experience at the heart of the transformation initiative. However, he is struggling to serve people with “quite sophisticated Western European tastes in a country with little scale to support those aspirations,” he said.


As a provider in a country with only a few players, Telecom New Zealand enjoys higher margins than providers in more crowded markets, but that makes the consumers more demanding. It was a demand the company was failing to meet when Reynolds came on board in October of 2007.


“The quid quo pro is that customers must get a good deal and feel they are getting services they have come to know in their travels across the world,” Reynolds said. “New Zealanders are famous for their competitive spirit and prowess. They expect to win on the world stage and it is no different for its telecom companies. We have to win, too”


Reynolds is leading the transformation of NZT in order to overcome losses in revenue and customer satisfaction as well as its perceived arrogance and a conflict with its government.


The conflict culminated in a forced separation of its operations, which Reynolds saw as an opportunity to drive its customer-focused transformation now underway.


His strategy and advice are to invest in both long-term health and bottom line growth while meeting the needs of shareholders.


“It’s not about a long wait during transformation followed by a big-bang [return on investment],” Reynolds said.


His goal is to get the PSTN switched off altogether, but efficiency can be gained in other areas. The company has moved approximately half its customers from its legacy network to an IP network, increased bundling from 45 percent to 75 percent of customers and grew online sales from 1 percent to 25 percent. It also focused on reducing its provisioning time form weeks to days and is taking 300 legacy systems out of the network.


NZT has an aggressive timeline. Quoting race car driver Mario Andretti, Reynolds said, “If everything seems under control, you’re just not moving fast enough.”

Competition to fire up new users

One sure way to fire up the imagination of new users... a competition and a challenge. And here is how they did it in the US....

Terminix, Leading Yellow Pages Advertiser, Partners With Yellow Pages Association to Select Winners of 3rd Annual Collegiate Advertising Competition
University of Illinois at Chicago Marketing Student Wins Advertising Campaign Challenge


BERKELEY HEIGHTS, NJ--(Marketwire - May 21, 2008) - Continuing to bring Yellow Pages advertising into U.S. and Canadian college classrooms, the Yellow Pages Association™ (YPA™) today announced the winners of its 3rd Annual Collegiate Advertising Competition in partnership with ServiceMaster, a home and business services company with nine national brands and one of the largest national Yellow Pages advertisers.

The Yellow Pages competition asked college students pursuing an education in advertising, marketing, graphic design or a related field to create a print and Internet Yellow Pages advertising campaign for Terminix, a part of the ServiceMaster Family of Brands and the largest termite and pest control company in the world. Terminix and ServiceMaster marketing executives judged the competition and awarded University of Illinois at Chicago student Steven Tran and faculty advisor David Koehler first place for their Terminix advertisement that communicated key company benefits and positioning. Tran is a senior pursuing a bachelor's degree in marketing.

"All of the entries we received were creative, original and clever," said Roy Beatty, vice president, ServiceMaster Yellow Pages Marketing Group. "We chose the ad that has great potential to break through the clutter without sacrificing the information contained in the body copy which is most important to consumers when they are making a purchase decision."

In a survey conducted after the competition, 80 percent of participating students said that Yellow Pages serve as an important and valuable medium.

Managed by Joel Davis, professor in the School of Journalism and Media Studies at San Diego State University, the competition stimulated more than 800 entries, which represented the work of nearly 2,100 students enrolled at 189 colleges and universities throughout North America.

"This challenge is a great way for students to bring their creative and artistic skills into the classroom, and at the same time, demonstrate the true value of what the Yellow Pages bring to businesses nationwide," said Neg Norton, president of YPA. "The advertising industry will be richer indeed as these students begin their professional careers."

Second place was awarded to Robert Morris University senior, Mitch Kramer, whose faculty advisor is Hyla Willis. The third place winner was George Fox University senior Emily Burford with faculty advisor David Kerr. Nearly $10,000 in prizes were awarded to winning students and their faculty sponsors.

For more information on the YPA Collegiate Program and to view the winning entries, visit http://www.ypa-academics.org, a specially designed Web site that offers material professors can easily integrate into courses on media and advertising issues.

What is happening to Phone book?

With the petrol prices hitting the roof, US$130 per barrel, travelling to shop will be pulled back making internet shopping much more appealing.
So, it means the story of Yellow Pages is on the Internet as this story suggest..

http://wcco.com/consumer/phone.book...

Good Question: Why Do We Still Get A Phone Book?
Reporting
Pat Kessler (WCCO) Record players, pay phones, even VCR's will likely soon be extinct. Yet every now and then you come across something seemingly from the past. And you think: Those are still around?

This week, the phone books started showing up here at WCCO and at our homes. So we had to wonder: With all the directories online, why do we still get a phone book? Good Question.

It is among the most ubiquitous of household items, but the lowly phone book gets no respect.

13,000 tons of phone books were dropped at Minnesota's front doors last year. Almost all of them were trashed.

Tim Pratt, Roseville's director of recycling says most phone directories end up where they shouldn't: landfills.

"Most of them are ending up in the trash. It's because people don't find them useful," said Pratt.

Pratt said the main reason people don't use them anymore is the internet. The phone book culture is all but gone.

Nowadays, phone book videos are wildly popular on the internet, but mostly just showing tricks and information on how to tear them in half.

When it comes to making the call, phone book or internet, there appears to be a great divide by age. It seems the younger crows uses the phone book even less than average.

The Yellow Pages Association said phone books are recycled more often than newspapers, even if fewer people are using them.

In fact, Minnesota's considering a law ordering phone companies not to send you a phone book unless you say "yes." In Roseville, Tim Pratt is all in.

"It's best not to get them in the first place," he said.

The Yellow Pages Association said the phone books still make money, even if fewer people use them. That's because people who consult the Yellow Pages actually intend to buy something or pay for a service.

In Singapore, its still much the same as elsewhere. Need to get them to use.... fast.

Internet Yellow Pages is still in Flux

This article posted on the Marketingshift.com posted By John Gartner on 7th April caught my eyes because it addresses that Internet Yellow Pages market is anything but settled or fully exploited.

Research house ComScore released data showing that the top spot in IYP has been taken from Superpages.com by YellowPages.com, while Yellow Book more than doubled its share of search.

It further stressed that "Yahoo lost more than 5 percent of the IYP search market, bad news for a company in turmoil." Well, as far as that is concerned, MSN is going to bid them over with US$55 billion offer! who can refused that?

The Google and Yahoo have not been able to take the local search that Yellow Pages is known for.

The Printed yellow pages is still dominant in the revenue and that would change because the paper is still not recycled as much yet. Many people are now turning to the Internet to do their search for products and services including the writer.

John Garner concluded that "Someday the online yellow pages business will become as hotly contested as the general search market, but for now a clear leader has not been determined."

I agree with that. What about you?

Marketing Research needed to redeem credibility

Yellow Pages Pushed to Go Much Deeper w/Audience Measurement reads the headline. I guess its the credibility issue.
In today's market ROI is the key to sustaining growth and to do that, we have to provide a tool to say how effective an ad in the Yellow Pages has been or will be if we know for certain that would be the case.
For a case for the much needed measurement standars.
In this short article, the Association of National Advertisers' Telephone Directory committee is urging the Yellow Pages industry to buck up.
The lack of accountability will adversely affect the revenue.

The report by Mediabuyerplanner.com states "The ANA wants national syndicated audience measurement research and circulation auditing; currently only 18 percent of the U.S. market is measured according to BtoB online."

Furthermore, it added "The lack of accountability at a time when advertisers are pressing for more measurability is vexing to the ANA, which says that of the $15 billion Yellow Pages industry, national advertisers comprise $2.3 billion. “At a time of intense focus on advertising accountability, the committee is discouraged by the Yellow Pages industry’s failure to provide basic accountability and ROI metrics,” said a marketing manager for Allstate Corp and an ANA committee chair."

So Asian publishers would likewise good for them to move to provide confidence building information that will ensure advertising in the YP has been an effective tool then and still now.

Internet World Academy

The world of internet has come into Singapore in a big way. This is because the Fabian Lim, the Guru of the Internet Market (IM) who has seen thousands of adults graduated from his classes. He teaches about the ins and outs of IM which includes Search Engine Optimiser. (SE0)

Now he has launched World Internet Marketing and that will mean there will be more competition in the marketplace for those who does not take the internet seriously. As the Internet barriers of entry is low, there are still lots of differentiators to make the website at the top of the 1st page.

The IM practioners go for the long tail as this is an area they can build their niches. Its the 1" wide and 1 mile deep.



Copyright: Simple Successful System

SPH Search launches Local Search Engine REDNANO

SPH Search announced today that they have launched the new Local all Singapore Search engine.REDNANO (http://www.rednano.sg/ It aims to be the premier destination for info on the red dot island of Singapore, that's where RED comes from and NANO, you guessed it right - nanotechnology! Mr. Jansen likens help from this search engine to help from a local 'local' It has two key features which are "focused on delivering the most appropriate results when it comes to information specifically on Singapore and that it will make access to this information as easy to select as possible" said SPH Search.

All said and done, I went for a test drive. I searched for Singapore Yellow Pages and found that it was there alright. So now with 2 big search engines, who will win the game in the end for the advertising revenue?

Singapore Yellow Pages will soon launched their new projects as announced in the papers such as directories for Tourist, Motoring and something for the Heartlanders and older folks.

Well, for local search, I still use the Internet Yellow Pages http://www,yellowpages.com.sg/ and it will be more than a while for Rednano to catch on as it is still in Beta stage. It looks like a little google and will take time to grow.

What do you think?




Copyright: Simple Successful System

Falling GDP can this affect advertising revenue?

Falling GDP can this affect the advertising growth for Yellow Pages?

Advertising has always been considered as a discretionary spending by most companies. In good times, the budget is higher than depressed times, naturally as companies go for growth in a rising market.

So in a situation like Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, what would be the outcome for most of these media owners? Would they see a growth? Or decline? It all depends which media you happened to be in?

In the Yellow Pages sectors which I am interested, there seemed to be growth even in times of recession and that happens in the United States, Europe, Australia but not Asia. That can be attributed to the fact that they have a large market. In 1997 Asian financial crisis, the Yellow Pages advertising revenue in most markets fell and some of the as much as 40% as companies felled like nine pins.

What must they do in order to grow then? In the growth areas are the geographical expansion as what the larger countries did. In the smaller compact countries, the only way is to grow the niches! And my, my are these crowded like the fish market!

So the alternative is internet. Someone said, isn’t that too late? Well, it’s better late than never. The Yellow Pages has a good brand name and it will be good to exploit that as some other companies in the US, Australia, UK and Canada are doing as listed herewith http://www.Superpages.com, http://www.Sensis.com.au, http://www.yell.com, http://www.yellowpages.ca

What makes these websites ticks whereas Asian Yellow Pages Internet Websites have not? It lies in the mindsets of the doers. There are many issues they have to take out before they can see the lights in the tunnel.

Do you have an opinion you want to express? Please do..

USAGE in the Printed Yellow Pages has fallen in the States

Just been looking at the Yellow Pages Association and it confirmed that the print usage has fallen. The Internet with its Web2.0 friendliness and convenience (broadname and widely available through wireless) has established firmly in the users' minds. Now it probably will go to the heart and make things harder for the printed cousin.

The YPAssociation reported "American fingers are doing less walking these days through the Yellow Pages thanks to the Internet, which raises the question: Are those old, heavy phone books still necessary?"

Online Yellow Pages Usage Up (02/28/2008)
INTERNET YELLOW PAGES (IYPS) ACCOUNTED for over half (51%) of all local searches online in December 2007, according to data from the Yellow Pages Association (by way of comScore).

New Research Shows Overall Yellow Pages Usage Growing – 17.2 Billion Searches in 2007 (02/26/2008)
BERKELEY HEIGHTS, NJ--(Marketwire - February 26, 2008) - The Yellow Pages Association™ (YPA™) today announced that industry research shows 2007 Yellow Pages usage grew to 17.2 billion searches in 2007, up from 16.7 billion in 2006.

Yellow Pages usage grows overall, fueled by online (02/26/2008)
Berkeley Heights, N.J.—The Yellow Pages Association Tuesday released industry research that shows combined Yellow Pages usage online and off grew to 17.2 billion searches last year, from 16.7 billion in 2006.

Interactive Ad Revenue will jump to $62.4billion by 2012

Many industry watchers such as Kelsey have always known that the Interactive media will grow and outstrip the print media.

In their latest report by Matthew G. Nelson, The ClickZ Network, Feb 25, 2008, he stated through the press release by the Kelsey Group annual forecast for Directory and Interactive Advertising (2007-2012)"Interactive advertising in the U.S. will grow from $22.5 billion in revenues in 2007 to $62.4 billion by 2012. This is 22.6 percent compound annual rate growth!

The growth of online advertising will come at the expense of print and newspaper advertising, which has been an ongoing trend. Kelsey reports that "The global shift to digital products will be the most interesting and we'll see what kind of global company start-ups will go after that acceleration of dollars moving to digital products."

The report also said that "Globally the print newspaper business will decline... 5.8 percent per year across the board. Most of the growth in digital is going to come from print decline" and that Yellow Pages print will decline but the newspapers which decline even at a faster rate.

So I believe this is the time the YPA will need to address to its members in the forthcoming annual Yellow Pages Industry Conference held each year. Details at http://www.ypa.org

What do you think?

Share prices of US Yellow Pages take a beating..but what about Canada and Singapore.

Barbara Shecter, Financial Post Published: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 filed this report that Canada Yellow Pages avoids U.S. blues as the U.S. directories feel recession pinch, fuelled by no doubt the issue of sub prime problem.

In Singapore, the Yellow Pages Share price has dropped to 84cts from the high of S$1.46 about 6 months ago. In the SE Asia region, most of them are still in Telco hands and not traded. In Thailand, it is traded under CS Loxinfo and the shares is still not performing that well. The revenue from the main book did not meet up with the target.

Well, we should be optimistic of the future as the Canadian Yellow Pages Marc Tellier Yellow Pages president and CEO, said that he believes the company is well-positioned for 2008, and after full-year results came out last week.

The US subprime problem has hit the advertisers' confidence and thus revenues are hard to be met. The stock prices has slided due to predictions by some analyste that the use of newspapers and print directories would drop by 10% in 2008.

The Yellow Pages Income Fund (YLOun/TSX) (canadian yellow pages) felled nearly 15%, from $14, even though the year end results were out since last week. For 2008, the online revenue is expected to grow by some 30%. Marc Tellier, Yellow Pages CEO, said he believed the company is "well-positioned for strong performance in 2008."

In US market, the Directories publ isher Idearc Media (IAR/NYSE), a Verizon spinoff, predicted lower revenues and softer margins and stock price has dropped by 50% In Europe, the U.K., Yell Group PLC (YELL/ LSE), the sales growth forecast is not moving towards its target resulting in the stock prices fallen by 38% since last year!

What do you think that the revenues of the Yellow Pages around this Asian region?

Yell UK Yellow Pages and 'VisitBritain' Welcome visitors

New Yellow Pages directory features great days out click here for the full story
In order to drive usage, Yell UK has brought in many great ideas, the latest is partnering with the Tourism Authorities in the UK to let the Yellow Pages directory become a platform for guide news to tourists (inter and intra). This is refreshing and also a potential revenue driver too.

Once it is done on print, this is also easily replicable on the Internet.

This story is carried on the local newspaper and was picked up by my faithfully google sniffer for such stories from the Yellow Pages.

"Warrington area residents looking for something different to do in their free time need look no further than their new Yellow Pages directory. Thanks to a partnership with national tourism agency VisitBritain, the new Yellow Pages currently being delivered features six pages of brand new editorial showcasing ‘Great Days Out’ within a two-hour drive."

It added, It is "Packed with stunning images, the information aims to inspire people to explore some of the region’s fantastic attractions. From visits to grand stately homes and eye-opening garden attractions, to castles, mountain railways and great open spaces, the new Yellow Pages features them all."

What are some of the popular things they cover the papers reported "Popular attractions such as Chester Zoo, Gullivers World Theme Park and Tour and Blackpool Pleasure beach also feature. Each listing provides information about the attraction as well as opening hours, contact details and web address."

Clodagh Ward, said that the introduction of new editorial content in Yellow Pages directories is part of publisher Yell’s continuous programme of enhancements to its products. This also includes a fresh new look to Yellow Pages directories rolling out throughout 2008 to make finding things easier.

He added, “Thousands of people turn to Yellow Pages for trusted local information every week. So, if you’re seeking activities to keep the kids amused or something to do at the weekend, the new Yellow Pages directory could provide the solution. It’s the start of an exciting partnership for us with VisitBritain.”

This is a great idea to provide rich content to otherwise a stale yearly yellow pages. With books in the hotel rooms, it will be a boost for the local economy esp those who are mums and pops stores.

I have personally seen this development over the past 5 years and I think it does add a new dimension esp. so when they are also appearing on the internet and mobile.

As the adage goes "Content is King" - truly all else is similar, content drives usage and eyeballs.

What do you think? Should Yellow Pages around the world have this feature?

Drop me a line. Thanks.

Singapore Yellow Pages Q3 Profit falls by 70% to S$1.5million

Singapore Yellow Pages' Q3 profit falls 70% to S$1.5m

Since my report of the fall of profits of US publishers Donnelly (US 3rd largest) and also Yell.com (UK yellow pages) difficulty in meeting with their targets, it seemed that the US housing market is beginning to bite at every corner of the globe with devastating effect.

SINGAPORE: Mr Loh Kim Chin of CNA reported that Yellow Pages has announced a 70 percent fall in third-quarter profit to S$1.5 million which attributed to a S$3.4 million forex loss. Besides this, it is due to 30 percent drop in revenue to about S$12 million. It is also down by 24% YOY performance to S$13 million

Further it announced they will move to other vertical products to shore up its revenue such as a new Yellow Pages directory (hotel edition) to tap the rising tourism markets fuelled by the

integrated resort and F1 formula race that is fast transforming Singapore city. Other products are also planned such as heart land books, specialist guides over the next two years.

Poser: what do you think? Can Singapore Yellow Pages see a rise in the revenue. What are the other solutions?

Donnelly (YellowPages Publish) value falls by half; industry ailing

Donnelley value falls by half; industry ailing Email to a Friend

It has been a hard road for the Yellow Pages industry. Ever since its hay days when the investment banks bought it because it showed steady profit stream, it has now failed to deliver the profit numbers... this change in advertising trends is happening US as David Ranii StaffWriterShares reports.

R.H. Donnelley have lost half their value since December as investors react to concerns about the yellow pages industry's health and the company's disappointing projections.

The latest blow came Thursday when rival yellow pages publisher Idearc reported that its ad sales fell nearly 5 percent in the fourth quarter. That sent Donnelley's already depressed stock tumbling 38 percent for the week with 12-month price target to $25 from $65. The all-time high was $83.90. The drop since then has wiped out more than $4 billion in shareholder value.

Attributing to this fall stems from the deteriorating housing market. Then shares tumbled 9 percent Dec. 5 after Donnelley issued disappointing projections for 2008.

Donnelley is the nation's third-largest yellow pages publisher, with directories in 28 states. As advertising migrates online, Donnelley has been pumping up its Internet business, but it still generates the bulk of its revenue from selling ads in paper directories.

Although Donnelley diversify onto online with $345 million acquisition of Business.com, which companies use to search for services, vendors and potential customers; the $4.2 billion acquisition in early 2006 of Dex Media, a yellow pages publisher that also was a leader in online local searches; and consolidating its online yellow pages at a single site, DexKnows.com.

Ken Clark, publisher of YP Talk, (http://www.yptalk.com/ - the voice of the Yellow Pages industry) an online industry newsletter sees the stock's recent swoon as "totally overblown."
"These companies aren't going to go away tomorrow," said Clark, who is a Donnelley shareholder.

Donnelley spokes-man Tyler Gronbach said the company remains convinced that it has a winning hand with what it calls its "triple play" initiative -- selling ads in print and online, plus helping companies enhance their visibility on the Internet by boosting their rankings on Web searches.

"We believe our competitive advantage is we have feet on the street ... [a 2,000-person sales force] that works with advertisers every day." Donnelley demonstrated its confidence in December by announcing plans to buy back as much as $100 million of its stock. To read more....click here.

What do you think of the current Yellow Pages in your city? Are you still using it? Do you think its a good investment?

Two different tales of platform

Singapore seemed to be buckling the trend that print is on the decline. Singapore Press Holding has seen some good results as the report suggests. I guess Singapore is a small country with only 4 million people and therefore Reach of these traditional media is not a question. People still read it... esp. there has been constant revamp and introduction of new tabloid news paper for the young bi-lingual market. Instead of a print decline, there is an increase! Even magazines are on the increase.

In summary, I think the entire market has grown and people have acquired diverse taste too. Read on and post your comments on what you have in your mind.

Newspapers still among top media platforms - Feb 12, 2008
DESPITE the buzz and hype surrounding advertising on social networking and other Internet sites, newspapers still trounced other media as the most effective marketing platform last year. This is because newspapers and other traditional forms of media still have a far wider reach, said the Fournaise Marketing Group in a recent survey
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Well, its a different story in the US where the users have more or less migrated onto the Internet....and helped online newspapers

Newspaper websites draw record viewers - Jan 25, 2008
NEW YORK - A RECORD number of readers visited United States online newspaper sites last year, according to figures, confirming the Web as one of the few bright spots for the struggling newspaper industry. The Newspaper Association of America reported on Thursday the number of unique visitors to newspaper websites last year rose more than 6 per cent to a monthly average of 60 million

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News from European Yellow Pages Publishers

There is this site that I normally get my dose of information regarding what's happening in the Yellow Pages and Directory Publishing arena.
Their focus is a little wider as their members are not just Yellow Pages publishers but all kinds plus the New Media, hence its quite interesting to catch up some of the news coming from here. Anyway, I also represent the 3L systems in this part of the world. So, I need to catch up with the news from there. 3L systems is used widely by mid sized publishing companies such as Eniro.

Here is a lead from them about social network advertising - Are MySpace users getting immune to ads?

Fri, 08/02/2008 - 10:29. Sector news

Business Week writes that while News Corp., owner of MySpace is thrilled about its social network's ad-revenue growth, Google and advertisers say marketing messages aren't getting through. One company, advertising on MySpace said that ads on MySpace had lost a lot of their force, measured by the number of times users clicked on them. The ads' click-through rate plummeted from one in 100—a decent return by Web standards—in 2006 to one in 1,000 in 2007. "Users became more or less desensitized to the advertising," said the advertiser. But News Corp. still wins.

Sales for Fox Interactive Media (FIM), the division that includes MySpace, surged 87% in the last three months of 2007 from a year earlier, primarly due to revenue growth for search and advertising at MySpace. Of the total revenue generated by FIM, $62 million, or 26%, comes from a deal with Google that gives Google the exclusive right to place search ads on MySpace pages. Google acts as a middleman between marketers who want to reach social-network users and the networks where those ads are placed. But Google pays News Corp. for that right even when the ads don't generate much, if any, revenue. Google is not amused. (Source: BusinessWeek.com)

What do you think about the social networking with advertising... it looks like consumers are being followed everywhere.. even to their toilets!!!

Yahoo's Revamped AT and T Deal Aligns with Display Ad Network Goal

It looks like the Google and Yahoo! game on having affairs with the Telephone companies not only are in the areas of Yellow Pages, but also on the running of their entire off-site display advertising business.. as this article attest.... from Clickz.com

Yahoo's renegotiated deal with ATandT reflects its mission to build its off-site display advertising business. The multi-year renewed agreement essentially makes a once-reliable revenue stream for Yahoo less so, yet it could mean bigger bucks in the long run for the company, which is under pressure from investors. According to an original contract signed in 2001, Yahoo powered ATandT's broadband ISP portal, and received payment for each broadband subscriber.

There should be many more of such contracts to fend off the marriage with MSN... Well, if Yahoo! and MSN are one they will still be far away from Google's dominance on the search advertising at 77% market shares.

Challenges in the Re-Definition of Advertising:

The definition of advertising



The past form: ‘You lie people to the Truth’ or as one ad agency stated "Truth well Told"


The present form: “. . . any form of nonpersonal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, and services usually paid for by an identified sponsor.”

The future form: …so is it going to be like this in the future esp with Social Networking sites?

To sum it all, this is what advertising is all about, "We found advertising works the way the grass grows. You can never see it, but every week you have to mow the lawn." Andy Tarshis, A.C.Nielsen Company

What do you think?

Hardware Exporter Chooses Search Engine Keyword Advertising

Ref: SME’s advertising online appearing in Digital Life (ST) on 29th January 2008 story filed by Irene Tan

Sim Aik Hardware, a family owned business run by Director, Mr. Sim Ah Bah learnt to tap the power of Internet Advertising since the 1990s and now becoming an advocator that this new media is the way to go for his company’s advertising.

As a customer of Yellow Pages, he has this to say “Yellow (Pages) was very expensive. The hard copies were heavy and cannot reach my overseas customers unless they come to Singapore.” He continued “Paid Advertising is not cheap (either) but it works.

He moved his budget from Yellow Pages to eGuide but found that too localized too and that’s when he ventured into keyword advertising, starting first with Yahoo! Which practices cost per metric model charges with fixed charges and now more settled with Google because of the Price per Click charges only when his ad is clicked through.

Well, when the importers are overseas, that’s the only way to get the businesses from Singapore, through the Internet. It makes sense to them. However, Mr. Sim has this to add, “Paid Search ad is not cheap but it works”.

So it’s the value proposition. Once customers perceived the product is worth its weight in gold, he will go for it because the ROI is easily substantiated. Once he is convinced it works, price becomes relative.

As consumers ourselves, what do you think?

Pest Control knows Internet Search works too.

To read the full article: Check the Digital Life 29th January 2008

Now users are a savvy lot, checking the internet for even the emergency things in their lives. Just imagine in a typical household, the wife shouted, “Darling, there is a pest in the house.” The traditional way is to look into the Yellow Pages (maybe use the book to hit the pest) but now according to Mr. G Surajan of Major Pest Management Services, said “Pest Control is like toilet, you only look for it when you need it, and people must be able to find my company instantly.”

He is not just referring to the Yellow Pages which he gets 5 calls per year but the Search engine Google and Yahoo!

He received about 2-3 enquiries per day through Google’s Adwords. Nowadays, he splits his budget equally between these two media.

What is your preference? Do you use the printed Yellow Pages, online Yellow Pages or any Search Engine?

Here comes Google Yellow Pages or what?

Pick up this story... We in the Yellow Pages industry has been talking for quite some time. When Google came, they were in the Search business literally, they define a new space in KEYWORD search and introduce a new advertising system - Adsense.

However, they do not yet have much of a Content.... but not for long... they may be eyeing into taking over yell.com, the effactable good old Yellow Pages in the UK.. Now Google has boots to walk on.. because Yellow Pages Operations has the local knowledge and a well trained sales force. And this will add much to their already huge armoury of content... here is the excerpt from the Press Release.

Google Inc. (GOOG) is a virtual printing press for money, so it's not too surprising to hear it may be looking to acquire U.K.-based Yellow Pages publisher Yell Group plc [YELL], a company with a $5 billion market cap. Published reports indicate Google could offer as much as 500 pence a share for Yell, or $7.7 billion.

This is a small sum for Google.. their shares is already worth US$700. So, they can be going around buying the strategic yellow pages operations that can increase their shareholders' values.

For the six-month period ending Sept. 30, Yell.com UK Online revenue rose 52%, while its Yellowbook.com online operations in the U.S. were up 68%.

Those are the types of numbers that appeal to Google and would presumably grow even faster under its umbrella. And it's why rumors of buyout interest from Google likely will persist. - This story is taken from Seeking Alpha website and the story is filed by David Shabelman

Check similar stories from:

See Jan. 11 post from Guardian Unlimited

See Jan. 11 story from Bloomberg

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Interestingly the Canadian Yellow Pages Group are now discovering that the old adage, " A Picture is worth a thousand words" good for business for them.

In the Press Release on January 16, 2008 — Yellow Pages Group (YPG) will be introducing its brand-new Profile Plus multimedia service. This enhanced business profile web page can now include a video clip, photo gallery and other useful information about merchants. The deployment of the new service to advertisers is underway. It will be available for online users to view on YellowPages.ca™ as of spring 2008.

Take a test drive here to see what are these items all about...

With the introduction of the new service, a typical YellowPages.ca™ Profile Plus web page could include the following components:

A dynamic 30 to 60-second video profile of the business
A photo gallery where advertisers can showcase up to 10 photos
Business details, including location and contact information, hours of operation, products and brands, methods of payment, map and directions, etc.

To consult a video sample, click here.To have an overview of a Profile Plus page, click here.

Cheers.

Social Networking Sites growing in Singapore.

Just looking at the new media.. and because of web2.0, they are now marching into the hearts of
Singaporeans as reported by Channel News Asia...

" Social networking sites, such as Facebook and MySpace, have been around for less than five years, but they are already very much part of the Web 2.0 revolution taking place right now.

Not only are they changing the way people socialise, they are also making traditional businesses sit up and take notice.

It is estimated that about 194 million people around the world are managing at least one profile on a social networking site.

And with 800 million internet users still not registered with such sites, the potential for growth is overwhelming.

A recent study showed Friendster leading the race in the Asia Pacific region, followed by Facebook, Orkut and MySpace.

As proof of its popularity, 14 per cent of Friendster's global traffic comes from Singapore compared with only 3 per cent from the United States.

One key point for its success in attracting advertising is: The various applications on such sites also allow for better advertising.

Google's Open Social platform, for example, is being used by developers to create one-size-fits-all applications or widgets."

I actually have opened many accounts too, on Friendster, Facebook and My Space being the main one, but there are others too, much smaller ones such as Tagged, Linkedin, etc

On advertising, a friend has tried to use this social networking method to do his marketing of t-shirt, it is in the early days, I think there is a great promise in this new phenomenon.

For the details of the part on CNA report... click this link

There is an easy way to create your own website

Blogs is the easiest... Look at Blogspot, Wordpress and many others in the market. Now there is another way to do it. It's through a hosted and there is a host of templates. Even if you do not know HTML, you can get it done.. just like blogspot but looks more like the real mccoy. However, its easily done in 3 hours. Check it out.. at http://www.websplanet.com and the samples are: http://www.berean.websplanet.com and a host of others. If you like to try it out, just fill in the form and you will be on the way to have your business online straightaway! c. u. cheers.

Trying to build your website?

Hi, Today, there are over millions of internet subscribers and there would great opportunities for the small guys to make the Long Tail works for you, if you know how. Here is a short article I wrote...

Internet is becoming an all important sales and marketing tools of the marketing mix, especially for small companies with great ambition.
However, it is to be used whereby the internet usage level is high. In the year 2007, there are already 1.256 billion users as follows:

WORLD INTERNET USAGE AND POPULATION STATISTICS
WORLD TOTAL
6,608,626,128
100.0 %
1,256,495,383
19.0 %
100.0 %
248.1 %

Internet Usage and World Population Statistics are for November 30, 2007. Information in this site may be cited, giving the due credit to http://www.internetworldstats.com/.

There are many ways one can sell over the Internet, by using websites, blogs to provide the latest information which is the pull factor and the push factors are using the emails through opt-in for newsletters, RSS etc.
In the web2.0 and its long tail effect through the innovative changes such as social networking and popularity of search engines such as Google etc, the use of purpose built websites internet marketing will be very useful to reach out to the niches on a worldwide basis.

Communications using a sleuth of multi-media products such as audio, video and an opt-in email, customers are no longer confined to the shores of your country.

Using of the Internet as a sales tool depends very much on the company’s strategy. Some of them use Internet is to maintain their presence and to entice local and foreign firms to check their products and services anytime anywhere. Some companies are internet based operations "virtual" such as Amazon.com; some are brick and mortal with virtual presence such as Barnes and Nobles, a book seller.

How to sell over the Internet?

More and more companies are turning to internet as their primary source of operations and therefore they have to rely on the virtual community to buy, sell or trade. With importance of e-Commerce, many firms have devised automated ways; like auto-responder to reply to the customers. As there are many websites and if should you like to rank better than your competitors, it’s good to engage companies that can assist you rank better in search through the search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, MSN and other smaller ones. There are companies that can help you rank higher with better website creation tools and utilization of the knowledge of Search Engine Optimization. (SEO) is http://www.aquarius.com

Soliciting for business over the internet is both an art and science. After getting the list with one of their very persuasive letter, one has to absolutely guarantee that the integrity of the firm in not allowing/sharing the name list with 3rd party is maintained. (http://www.masterlistbuilders.com/ will teach you that)

Telecommunications technologies have been perfected that nowadays, prospects can call using internet phones to landlines. Thus using Skype or some other equivalent, one can be in touch and usually these prospects will be very hot leads.

Another form where self served model is done well is in hotels and airlines bookings, supplemented by in bound telemarketing staff to take care of phone bookings.

The way sales are done is very persuasive nowadays but still the human touch is still very much in the game. Don’t ever lose sight of that. Its not that when one buys online, the human touch is thrown out of the window, all the more, its needed because the online buyers is basing on brands and trust for the service to be delivered

C u. Hope that helps...

Great, today I will like to chat about the Internet world. The people are now navigating towards the Internet for their transactions. And it looks like all the brand new companies that are taking limelight. Brands that we have not heard of.. So, kinda of more "coool" and "in" are important. Most of the offerings are, besides the big boys offering, niche. It is those niches that grows later. U Tube, MySpace started small - a niche and grew.

Reminds me of the Japanese who conquered the motorcycle market, they went after a niche and the rest is history.

ComScore Media Metrics Releases provide some interesting insights into the markets in US. Even though there are sub-prime issues out there, consumers still needs to fly, eat, entertain, etc. Here is the Dec findings.

Usage of Internet in America… rising as reported by ComScore Media Matrix Release Tip 50 US web Ranking for “December = Here is an excerpt taken from their report.

“Holiday shopping resulted in several retail categories experiencing significant growth during the month. The fragrances/cosmetics category climbed 30 percent to 21.5 million visitors, making it the top-gaining category for December, led by BathandBodyWorks.com with 4.4 million visitors (up 27 percent) and Sephora.com with 4.1 million visitors (up 41 percent).

The consumer goods category once again saw significant growth for the second consecutive month, gaining 23 percent to nearly 36 million visitors. OfficeMax led the category with 15.3 million visitors, up 170 percent from the previous month, with much of the growth generated by the popular Office Max branded viral holiday greeting site ElfYourSelf.com. OfficeMax also claimed the top-gaining property position for the month. Other consumer goods sites achieving growth included QVC Sites, up 3 percent to 6.1 million visitors, and retailer Hammacher Schlemmer's site Hammacher.com, up 9 percent to 807,000 visitors.

The retail - music category posted a 17-percent increase to nearly 28 million visitors, led by Barnes & Noble with 9.3 million visitors (up 20 percent), CDUniverse.com with 3.5 million visitors (up 4 percent) and eMusic with 3.4 million visitors (up 89 percent).

Other retail categories experiencing strong growth for the month included jewelry/luxury goods/accessories (up 22 percent to 24 million visitors), retail-food (up 14 percent to 19 million visitors), retail-sports/outdoors (up 13 percent to 36.6 million visitors), and flowers/gifts/greetings (up 12 percent to 44.6 million visitors”

This information is supplied through the courtesy of Google Alert. I use it..
comScore Media Metrix Releases Top 50 US Web Rankings for DecemberCNNMoney.com -
USAORG 24468 5 Fox Interactive Media 81847 30 Yellowpages.com Network 24453 6eBay 79892 31 Bank of America 23771 7 Amazon Sites 65205 32
Superpages.com...<http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/AQTU15815012008-1.htm>See all stories on this topic:<http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ncl=http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/AQTU15815012008-1.htm>

Different Strokes for Different Folks users of Yellow Pages

During the course of my selling career in the Yellow Pages, I came across different usages of Yellow Pages, some use it to source for agencies (esp people from overseas), some for selling things (I confess before joining Yellow Pages, I used it extensively to do my research to sell my first deal, my friends from the Insurance also did - use the White Pages instead for names) others use it for door stopper etc.

Today, as I look at it, the usage patterns is still strong and here are snippets of what the creative businesses and wannabes are using the Yellow Pages for.... here are some of them from all over the world....(and how did I do it? I subscribed to Google Alert and provides me info to my email account each day)

I got the best toe job in townGuardian Unlimited - UKAnd then one day I noticed in the Yellow Pages that there were all thesebeauty salons offering pedicures, so I tried all the ones in my area andeventually ...<http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/fashion/story/0,,2237967,00.html>See all stories on this topic:<http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ncl=http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/fashion/story/0,,2237967,00.html>

Know your market by testing and talkingFinancial Post - Toronto,Ontario,CanadaWhile you can find market research consultants in the Yellow Pages, manyentrepreneurs find "do-it-yourself" a valuable investment. ...<http://www.financialpost.com/small_business/startup/story.html?id=228683>

Here is a snippets of it....
If you see sufficient opportunity, move on to primary and secondary research. The latter means using "secondary" sources (such as published research, directories, market statistics) to explore the size of the market for your business. Urban population studies, government and industry statistics, trade association forecasts, and research reports from securities analysts may all help you figure out the dynamism of your market and its appetite for new suppliers.

While you can find market research consultants in the Yellow Pages, many entrepreneurs find "do-it-yourself" a valuable investment

Huh, this is even more bizazz as the author related an incident in the S America city where kidnapping was a way of life and even had "negotiators" in the Yellow Pages...

"Almost every family had someone who was kidnapped by the guerilla forces, and it was always women that were kidnapped," she said. "The family I stayed with had an aunt that was kidnapped, and they talked about it very casually. There were even negotiators in the yellow pages."

Check the full stories from here...

Author discusses travel experiencesBurlington Hawk Eye - IA, United StatesThere were even negotiators in the yellow pages." Harless became a nursepractitioner in her late 30s but never imagined the conditions she would beworking ...<http://www.thehawkeye.com/Story/Book_011308>

Well, there are more stories of such.. just go to Google Alert to find out how you can also use this service to do your marketing research FREE.

C U

Singapore Yellow Pages unveils medium term growth

Its great news! Yellow Pages is not going to be left behind in the race to get a slice of the adpie in Singapore from 2008. With the appointment of Mr. Danny Chow as the CEO and a new board, we will be able to see that this new thrust will lead them to more sustainable growth in the long term.

As mentioned yellow metal can be gold, so yellow pages can be worth its weight in gold too as the metal hits US$914 this morning.

As Channel News Asia reports. "SINGAPORE : Directories publisher Yellow Pages has unveiled its new medium-term growth plan. The company is now seeking to embark on a new phase of growth after emerging from a boardroom tussle last year.

The new growth plans are being spearheaded by its newly-appointed CEO Danny Chow. Yellow Pages said it plans to launch new print products starting with a new Hotel Edition Yellow Pages.

It is seeking to tap into growth in the tourism industry. Yellow Pages also plans to have new products targeted at motorists, the heartland areas, newly-arrived long-term residents and the active ageing population. Read on...

Happenings in Yellow Pages

Snippets:

1. The Asian Yellow Pages fraternity (Asian Directory Publishers Ass. Inc - ADPAI) is meeting in Kuala Lumpur in mid January. This body comprises of members from Mid-East, Australiasia to North Asia. Better big footprint as the members' list suggest.

AUSTRALIA Sensis Pty Ltd.
BRUNEI GTE Directories (B) Sdn Bhd (http://www.yp.com.bn)
CHINA (SHANGHAI) Shanghai Telephone Directory Coporation
FIJI Fiji Directories Ltd.
HONGKONG Telekom Directories Ltd. (http://www.yp.com.hk)
INDIA GETIT Infomediary Ltd. (http://www.getit.co.in) p
INDONESIA PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (http://www.yellowpages.co.id)
JAPAN NTT Directory Service Co.
TOWNPAGE Japan Telephone Directory http://english.itp.ne.jp
MACAU Directel Macau (http://www.yp.com.mo)
MALAYSIA Telekom Publications Sdn Bhd(http://www.yellowpages.com.my)
PAPUA NEW GUINEA, SOLOMON ISLANDS Edward H. O'Brien (PNG) Ltd.
PHILIPPINES Directories Philippines Corporation (http://www.eyp.ph)
SINGAPORE Medianusa (S) Pte Ltd. (no website)
SOUTH KOREA Korea Telephone Directory Co. Ltd. (http://www.yellowpages.co.sk )
SRI LANKA Directories Lanka (PVT) Ltd. (http://www.yellowpages.com.sl)
THAILAND Teleinfo Media Co; Pvt Ltd. (http://www.yellowpages.co.th)
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Etisalat Yellow Pages Al-Whada (http://yellowpages.ae)

Well, there are more joining this group.. visit these sites to get a glimpse of what they can offer when you want to go for a trip? I believe Mongolia is also in the list.

New Moove in Singapore Media Scene

Advertising 2008 in Singapore

Will they hit a goldmine here?

Happy New 2008! A year that will be as promising! Singapore’s GDP growth is 7.5% (Prime Minister’s Mr. Lee’s New Year Message) with property prices index going up by 24%, with prime properties hitting to the roof because the announcement of Integrated Resort pushing the sentiments higher than expected. Thanks also to the sub-prime issues in the US, the funds came flooding here. Well, I bet the advertising dollar is also up judging by the number of advertising that appeared in the daily papers, TV, radio and outdoor. I think the advertising spend will go up by double digits 10% at least! I am sure it will appear on Adasia – the Advertising, marketing & media news from the Asia Pacific Region

Well, 2007 has seen many changes to bill boards, SMRT together with MOOVE have been doing many new initiatives on the tracks, buses and Taxis. Now MRT riders can watch Tunnel TV for 2 minutes as trains whiz past during their rides along south-bound train ride between Newton and Orchard.

In the report filed by Nicholas Fang under Media and Marketing on 31st Dec 2007, it stated that SMRT has installed 360 LED panels on the walls between two stations. Usually, these walls would be blank. The trains moving at 45 kilometers per hour will be synchronized with panels. Here is a picture from The Straits Times on how it looks like. I have not seen it myself, hopefully will be soon.

That’s a great start to the competitive and interesting advertising landscape in Singapore with defining cutting edge technology. Wonder who sold the LED panels?