AT&T YP Active Since Merger

AT&T Advertising & Publishing, the new directory organization arising from the combination of AT&T and BellSouth, is beginning to establish a new identity.

The company announced this week that it would adopt “the AT&T Real Yellow Pages” as its new brand. All new AT&T books, whether in the old SBC or BellSouth regions, will carry this brand, which adopts the former BellSouth Real Yellow Pages brand.

This choice is significant. It signals that the new AT&T organization is playing to its strengths. And the former BellSouth was widely regarded as an innovator among its U.S. incumbent Yellow Pages peers.

So while the new AT&T organization leans toward former AT&T executives, marketing and product development have more of a BellSouth flair. Similarly, when RHD absorbed Dex, the buyer kept on much of the Dex marketing and product development team, widely seen as a strong point at the old Dex business.