YPG-NZ Acquires Boomer Site

Yellow Pages Group New Zealand has acquired a majority stake in grownups.co.nz,  a Web site targeting the over 50s crowd, as reported on Stuff.co.nz. Voted as New Zealand’s best lifestyle Web site in 2008, this acquisition may well prove to be a smart move for YPG-NZ. According to Blair Glubb, Yellow Pages Group’s digital marketing director, “… there were good benefits to be reaped from combining grownups.co.nz with Yellow Pages, which publishes the Retirement Guide. He said grownups.co.nz had loyal existing browsers and Yellow Pages reached more than a million New Zealanders per month. Over 1.2 million New Zealanders are in this age group and 65 per cent of them use the internet daily.” 

In a recent post, I covered the economic impact people in their 40s and 50s make based on TVLand’s Generation BUY survey. In my post I wrote, “With boomers in the sweet spot of Yellow Pages’ current usage, the value of this audience is being overlooked not only by investors and pundits, but by Yellow Page organizations as well.”  

While I can’t take credit for guiding YPG-NZ in this purchase, it none the less is an indication that publishers are waking up to the notion that the real value of the Yellow Pages lies in the demographic groups it attracts rather than in sheer distribution or access to its data. Actively engaging this key audience, which appears loyal to both the print and online YP products, is a solid strategic move that plays to YPG-NZ’s strengths.