Grazing the current crop of business news mags, I happened across the June 2 edition of BusinessWeek. The cover article, "Beyond Blogs," is on how social networking is changing key aspects of the corporate marketing tool kit. One of the…
"Extraordinary change means extraordinary opportunity," Merrill Brown, founder and principal of MMB Media, told the audience at last month's Drilling Down on Local conference. Few people are more knowledgeable about the impact of new technologies on society than Brown. Before…
I’ve spent quite a bit of time over the Easter holiday talking with friends and family about the economy and how they are dealing with the budget crunch we are all experiencing. One of the common threads of all these…
S&MM online columnist Robert Grede shared some interesting insights in a recent article on how local advertisers can survive in a down economy and what local media sales reps should be communicating to their advertisers and prospects. While many of…
It was interesting to see the Yellow Pages Association release its usage data showing print usage was stable at 13.4 billion and IYP usage had increased to 3.8 billion in 2007. While the overall usage figure is a 3 percent…
When a local team headed by ad agency and PR veteran Brian Tierney bought The Philadelphia Inquirer and related holdings 18 months ago, it was seen as a possible model for how “new thinking” could transform the newspaper industry. Since then,…
'Tis the season for shopping and at times endless aggravation finding stores that actually have the items you want in stock. I’m all about anything that can help ease the stress of the shopping experience. And one thing I rediscovered…
MerchantCircle has apparently changed its tact for getting small businesses to sign up. In the past, there have been numerous reports that it autodialed SMBs and notified them they had to check out the company's Web site to see their "bad…
It is hard for me to comprehend, but we are finally finished with ILM:07. We were grateful to have had 650 interesting and enthusiastic attendees from all over the world, 72 stimulating speakers, a full load of sponsors and an…
Last week Bebo, the global social network, announced its new OpenMedia platform partnerships. The network has partnered with major media brands to deliver premium content to its 40 million users. Partnerships include CBS, MTV Networks, ESPN, the BBC, Channel Four,…
Interactive Local Media: 07 is ready to roll Nov. 28-30 in L.A. That’s next Wednesday through Friday! The show, which is being produced in partnership with SES Local, has attendees from all over the world. One exec told me he…
The numbers are looking very, very good for the Interactive Local Media:07 conference in L.A. Nov. 28-30. Internally, we think this one is a record breaker. Register and book the hotel while you can. The latter tends to sell out.…
National advertising dollars remain mostly elusive for independent Yellow Pages publishers. They get just 5 percent of total revenues from national, as opposed to 14 percent for incumbent publishers. But working to change the situation is the CMR Gateway, an…
National advertising dollars remain mostly elusive for independent Yellow Pages publishers. They get just 5 percent of total revenues from national, as opposed to 14 percent for incumbent publishers. But working to change the situation is the CMR Gateway, an…
Under-served small communities are getting more attention. Companies like TownNews, Grayboxx and Topix have set out to focus on small town and exurban residents, and aggregating those local users for advertisers. As we wrote in April, Topix -- a 25-person company…
Big names, interesting people, compelling research. Forgive the commercial message here, but we’re set to deliver the goods at The Kelsey Group’s Interactive Local Media 2007 (ILM:07), Nov. 28-30 in L.A. I think there’s something for everyone. And this year,…
Yellow Pages branding has had a major shift in the past couple of years, with company after company downplaying the "Pages" part of their name, and highlighting their multi-channel capabilities, often via a generic, appealing sounding names such as Sensis,…
Yellow Pages branding has had a major shift in the past couple of years, with company after company downplaying the "Pages" part of their name, and highlighting their multi-channel capabilities, often via a generic, appealing sounding names such as Sensis,…
Trader Pubs, the Canadian shopper publisher of AutoTrader.ca and assorted other titles acquired by YPG last year, is seeking synergies between the companies that add usage and extend advertiser relationships in both directions, according to Geneviève LeBrun, a longtime YPG…
While I am in Reston, VA, attending Kelsey's Directory Driven Commerce conference, I thought it would be a good time to start talking about our next show, which I am co-producing: Interactive Local Media 2007. The show is being done…
