YP has been growing in leaps and bounds since its 2012 launch. The company, formed by the consolidation of the former AT&T Interactive and Advertising Solutions groups by private equity firm Cerberus Capital, unveiled its new corporate signage installation atop its Glendale, CA headquarters on Monday.

“Its about time that Glendale got a pop of color. YP has arrived,” exclaimed YP CMO Allison Checchi to the group of employees and local business community members that had gathered atop a nearby parking structure to watch the unveiling.

YP has been a long-time member of the local Glendale and Los Angeles based technology community, and in the last few years has grown to become one of the largest tech-industry employers in the region.

Company CTO Darren Clark remarked that the executive team has been set on making YP a powerhouse technology brand since its launch, and initiatives like city-wide private employee shuttle services (similar to services Facebook and Google provide in the San Francisco region for employees) and community outreach have helped to make YP a prominent voice in the fast-growing Los Angeles tech scene.

The company’s LA/Glendale-based digital headquarters have been a vital part of YP’s transformation from a traditional print media business to a digital media leader. Over the past 5 years, YP’s digital solutions have grown from 18% of total revenue in 2009 to more than half in 2015 generating more than $1 billion in revenue.

The Glendale headquarters are home to the company’s product, engineering and technical teams of more than 800 people, and it has grown the office by more than 25 percent since 2013, just after it spun out of AT&T.

Due to YP’s growth, it has become the anchor tenet of 611 N. Brand Blvd, occupying 6 floors covering more than 145,000 square feet of office space. With the expansion, YP was granted signage rights on the building, allowing it to prominently showcase its brand in downtown Glendale and to the thousands of commuters traveling on the 134 freeway.

YP CMO Allison Checchi, CTO Darren Clark, and CXO Mark Ploof addressing the audience at the company’s building sign unveiling on Monday

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YP has made a major push in the past week to become a bigger player in search and to do more to monetize its own search traffic on YP.com, as well as its mobile apps. In the past week the company has made two significant search related announcements.

Last week, YP unveiled ypSearch, a new search platform that is aimed at using YP’s sizable traffic, 80 million monthly visitors, in combination with major search engine traffic to deliver leads to small-business advertisers.

A unique feature of ypSearch will be its ability to fulfill and create search marketing campaigns across both major search engines as well as the core YP.com IYP portal, where ypSearch ad units will be displayed alongside relevant YP.com business listings.

By combining campaign fulfillment and management under a single search marketing platform, operated directly by YP, the company hopes to create greater efficiency in managing portfolio-wide cost-per-lead, as well as within high-traffic advertiser verticals. This will likely allow for margin increases in time, as third-party SEM vendor platforms are taken out of the process, and greater campaign transparency and control are brought in-house.

ypSearch will support campaigns across the major search engines initially (Google, Bing/Yahoo) — but may include other traffic and lead sources in the future.

This week, YP announced ypSearch Marketplace, which is a keyword-bidded local search marketplace that is aimed at pulling major brand messages into local markets. This announcement fits right into the national brands/local targeting theme of BIA/Kelsey’s National conference, taking place later this month in Dallas.

ypSearch Marketplace is the company’s biggest move into the emerging programmatic advertising space. The new platform allows agency and brand advertisers to directly purchase YP ad/search inventory in a similar fashion to other programmatic advertising.

Both announcements fit into some broader theme taking place at YP. One is the movement to own more of the technology that drives the business, and be less reliant on third parties to drive key businesses like search. The second is to make owned and operated traffic a bigger component of search, which of course means better margins for YP.

The company also argues that its owned and operated traffic is also good for advertisers. The company cited data from a study it conducted with comscore showing that people who initiate a search on YP are more influenced by advertising that those who begin a search elsewhere, with 66 percent making a purchase post search, and 61 percent searching for businesses that they saw in an ad.

In a briefing last week with BIA/Kelsey analysts, YP CTO Darren Clark discussed the larger context around these new announcements.

One key point was that YP is now generating much more of its traffic via organic means, rather than via paid search. The company used to be heavily reliant on paid search to bring users to its door.

“We have gotten a lot better at SEO,” Clark told us. “We are much less dependent on SEM.”

As YP launches new platforms to better monetize its own traffic, the company’s sales approach is evolving as well. The sales conversations are increasingly about getting found by ready to buy consumers and on targeting the right audience.

“We are tilting everything toward lead delivery,” Clark said.

BIA/Kelsey’s Abid Chaudhry contributed to this post.

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The BIA/Kelsey NATIONAL show is now fully in place, with 56 speakers set to define the cutting edge in national brands and local marketing. The show takes place March 25-27 at The Dallas Westin. Just added to the program: Internet visionary Mitch Golub, who leaves Cars.com today after successfully developing it into a $1.8 Billion enterprise that has, along with AutoTrader.com, helped define all the best practices of working with the world’s most aggressive national and local marketers (the car manufacturers and car dealers.)

Also added: key brands defining the best in vertical marketing. Dental One Partners, VCA (Animal Hospitals) and Service Experts Heating and Air Conditioning have now been added to a lineup that also includes leaders from Brooks Brothers, UniGroup (United Van Lines), Rooms to Go, All My Sons Moving & Storage, El Pollo Loco, U-Haul International, Nestle TollHouse Cafe, and The Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Announced earlier: keynotes from Google’s Brendon Kraham; Facebook’s Jon Czaja; Bizhive’s Dave Walker, Kenshoo’s Aaron Goldman, Geary LSF’s Karen Traversi Kovaleski and The Weather Co’s Ryan Davis. There are also key sessions with thought leaders such as YP’s Melissa Burghardt, The Washington Post Co’s Ethan Selzer; The Dallas Morning News’ Grant Moise; Meredith Corp’s Pam Taylor; and TvB’s Steve Lanzano.

The program also marks the debut of key new BIA/Kelsey data on franchise marketing from our Local Commerce Monitor survey. And last but not least, we’ll be doing Dallas right, with two Best of Dallas receptions; a “Before the Bell” Dallas Innovator Breakfast at the Addison Treehouse sponsored by Speakeasy; Two social breakouts, including National DEMOs and Drinks and Women Leading in Local; and an After Hours Country Casino sponsored by Local Site Submit and Moon Valley Software.

Check out the full, 2 1/2 day agenda. You may register here.

Cars.com visionary Mitch Golub is set for BIA/Kelsey National

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The BIA/Kelsey NATIONAL show is now fully in place, with 56 speakers set to define the cutting edge in national brands and local marketing. The show takes place March 25-27 at The Dallas Westin. Just added to the program: Internet visionary Mitch Golub, who leaves Cars.com today after successfully developing it into a $1.8 Billion enterprise that has, along with AutoTrader.com, helped define all the best practices of working with the world’s most aggressive national and local marketers (the car manufacturers and car dealers.)

Also added: key brands defining the best in vertical marketing. Dental One Partners, VCA (Animal Hospitals) and Service Experts Heating and Air Conditioning have now been added to a lineup that also includes leaders from Brooks Brothers, UniGroup (United Van Lines), Rooms to Go, All My Sons Moving & Storage, El Pollo Loco, U-Haul International, Nestle TollHouse Cafe, and The Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Announced earlier: keynotes from Google’s Brendon Kraham; Facebook’s Jon Czaja; Bizhive?s Dave Walker, Kenshoo’s Aaron Goldman, Geary LSF’s Karen Traversi Kovaleski and The Weather Co’s Ryan Davis. There are also key sessions with thought leaders such as YP’s Melissa Burghardt, The Washington Post Co’s Ethan Selzer; The Dallas Morning News’ Grant Moise; Meredith Corp’s Pam Taylor; and TvB’s Steve Lanzano.

The program also marks the debut of key new BIA/Kelsey data on franchise marketing from our Local Commerce Monitor survey. And last but not least, we’ll be doing Dallas right, with two Best of Dallas receptions; a “Before the Bell” Dallas Innovator Breakfast at the Addison Treehouse sponsored by Speakeasy; Two social breakouts, including National DEMOs and Drinks and Women Leading in Local; and an After Hours Country Casino sponsored by Local Site Submit and Moon Valley Software.

Check out the full, 2 1/2 day agenda. You may register here.

Cars.com visionary Mitch Golub is set for BIA/Kelsey National

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The program for BIA/Kelsey National is building quickly, with many great new speakers, as well as a slew of conference “extras.” Taking place March 25-27 in Dallas, BIA/Kelsey National breaks new ground in the local ecosystem, exploring key trends and opportunities in local for national brands. BIA/Kelsey forecasts that national brands will spend $68 billion on local marketing by 2018.

More than 40 speakers are now slated to join the National program which is being co-chaired by Third Act Marketing CEO Gregg Stewart, our longtime go-to expert for national-local advertising. The event also features The GoLocal Awards, honoring the best in national brand marketing targeting local users; a Before the Bell Innovation Tour at the Dallas Entrepreneur Center’s Treehouse, which is sponsored by Speakeasy; a special edition of Demos and Drinks, showcasing some of the industry coolest technology; a Women Leading in Local session, featuring Happening’s Angela Giovine and Tina Paprone; and special evening events to be announced.

Key speakers just announced include Google‘s Brendon Kraham, Director, Mobile Global Sales and Strategy; Pricewaterhouse Coopers‘ Daniel Eckert, Managing Director, Emerging Tech; YP‘s Melissa Burkhardt, VP, Search and Yield; Valpak President Michael Vivio; The Weather Co‘s Ryan Davis, VP, Local Platform; TvB‘s Steve Lanzano, President and CEO; Mediavest‘s Jason Dailey, SVP; Operative‘s Lorne Brown, CEO; and longtime industry leaders Robyn Rose and Warren Kay.

These industry leaders join previously announced industry leaders including keynotes from Facebook‘s Jon Czaja, Director, Small Business (North America); Geary LSF’s Karen Kovaleski, President and CEO; BizHive’s Dave Walker, Chairman; and Kenshoo’s Aaron Goldman, CMO. Other speakers include Grant Moise, SVP, Niche Markets, The Dallas Morning News; Ethan Selzer, VP, Retail and Regional Advertising, The Washington Post; Rick Hanna, CEO, Mspark; Travis Arthur, VP, ReachLocal; Corey O’Donnell, VP, Brand Management, Yodle; and C. Lee Smith, CEO, Sales Development Strategies (AdMall.)

Brand leaders joining us include El Pollo Loco’s Mark Belanger; Chick Fil-A agency rep Rod Ulrich (Richards Group); U-Haul’s Elnora Cunningham; Brooks Brothers’ Mike Walker; United Van Lines’ Keith Dailey (UniGroup); ServiceMaster’s Philipp von Holtzendorff-Fehling, VP and CMO; Rooms to Go’s Rob Crigler, VP, Digital Marketing; and All My Sons Moving & Storage’s Ormondo Gomez, CFO.

Tech and Agency leaders on the podium will include Advice Interactive Group’s Bernadette Coleman, CEO; Speakeasy’s Mike Orren, CEO; Where2GetIt’s Manish Patel, CEO; LocalBizNow’s Todd Webber, CEO; Simpli.fi’s Frost Prioleau, CEO; Location3 Media’s Andrew Beckman, CEO; MomentFeed’s Robert Blatt, CEO; Placeable’s Ari Kaufman, CEO; and SOCi’s Afif Khoury, CEO.

Will we see you in Dallas? You may register here.

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Apple has taken the crown for most profitable company in history. BIA/Kelsey Sr. Dir. of Industry Strategy & Insight Abid Chaudhry reminds us that of the 20 most profitable quarters of all time, fifteen were oil companies… the remaining five were all Apple.

Its monster Q1 was the lead off topic in an analyst roundtable today (video below). Apple’s current product picture was characterized by Chaudhry as strong growth potential in Asia where different buying patterns exist. He’s meanwhile bullish on the impending Apple Watch.

SVP and Sr. Analyst Charles Laughlin discussed YP’s latest announcement: the launch of cross-device ad targeting. This is increasingly critical in a multi-device world, and importantly brings the capability –previously celebrated by brand advertisers — down market to YP’s SMB base.

Lastly, I discussed Facebook’s mobile positioning as a preview to its Q4 earnings. The big story was its share of ad revenues that are mobile (it ended up announcing 69 percent). As its usage migrates to mobile, this revenue share is key for it to maintain confidence in public markets.

The full roundtable is below and stay tuned for another roundtable next week that will preview the research reports we are each working on in respective analyst coverage areas.

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YP is “not your grandmother’s Yellow Pages company” and is poised for real growth as the second largest mobile search ad company in the U.S. behind Google, said YP CMO Allison Checchi during a keynote address at Leading in Local: Interactive Local Media at San Francisco Airport.

Checchi noted that the company pulled in more than $1 billion in digital revenue last year (about a third of which comes from mobile), and that its network of mobile and online publishers helped deliver 40 billion annual impressions. “We are at Version 3.0 or 4.0 right now in the way we are serving consumers,” she said, noting that YP is moving quickly to add transactional capabilities and other new business models.

YP’s next steps will leverage the company’s real effectiveness for commerce. Internal data shows that YP searchers spend 20 percent more than other Web searchers, she said.

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YP is “not your grandmother’s Yellow Pages company” and is poised for real growth as the second largest mobile search ad company in the U.S. behind Google, said YP CMO Allison Checchi during a keynote address at Leading in Local: Interactive Local Media at San Francisco Airport.

Checchi noted that the company pulled in more than $1 billion in digital revenue last year (about a third of which comes from mobile), and that its network of mobile and online publishers helped deliver 40 billion annual impressions. “We are at Version 3.0 or 4.0 right now in the way we are serving consumers,” she said, noting that YP is moving quickly to add transactional capabilities and other new business models.

YP’s next steps will leverage the company’s real effectiveness for commerce. Internal data shows that YP searchers spend 20 percent more than other Web searchers, she said.

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The end of the year usually means a few things to us: the holidays; our annual predictions; and Leading in Local: Interactive Local Media, the industry’s flagship event.

This year’s event is especially hot — a 2 1/2 day extravaganza taking place Dec. 3-5 in San Francisco. More than 50 speakers have been recruited by the analyst team, and we’ve added some great extra-curricular activities, including a Tech Expo with top companies showing off their wares “Before The Bell” on Day 1; a Women’s Leading in Local networking event on day 2; and an International Roundtable.

Here’s our newest news: BIA/Kelsey Analyst Emeritus Matt Booth (currently CEO, Connectivity) is coming back to moderate one of two Executive Sessions with Google leaders. We’ll kick off with Managing Director of Global Channel Sales Todd Rowe, than go deep in conversations with Head of premier SMB partnerships Christine Merritt; Adwords Express Product Manager Francisco Uribe; Google My Business Senior Product Manager James Croom; and Global Business Leader for Google Shopping Max Frause.

We also have feature presentations set by YP CMO Allison Checchi; Deseret Digital Media CEO Clark Gilbert and President Chris Lee; Yodle CEO Court Cunningham; Pinterest Head of Partnerships Joel Meek; and Salesforce VP Randy Wootton.

We are also set with a great discussion between me and Business Book of the Year Winner Brad Stone, author of The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon. And then there are the feature presentations by First Data SVP Krish Mantripragada; InfoGroup CDO Matt Graves; and Go Daddy SVP Raj Mukherjee. And we’ve also got a great, seven company Superforum dedicated to local’s most important issue: “Make the Phone Ring.”

There’s so much more. Check out the Full agenda. Register here.

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YP, a local search platform for more than 80 million people across the U.S., announced that participating GrubHub restaurant listings will be integrated across YP’s flagship consumer brands, including YP.com and the YP mobile app. The integration will allow YP users to view menus and place orders directly on information pages for restaurants.

Consumers will now find a more seamless transaction within the YP environment when conducting local searches, finding menu items and ordering food from GrubHub listings. The goal for YP is to have more traffic to its owned and operated properties and to have a stake in point of sale transactions.

GrubHub Inc. is an online and mobile food-ordering company that connects users with local takeout restaurants.

This partnerships with GrubHub comes after YP announced it generated nearly 400 million in mobile advertising revenue in 2013. YP is continuing to strengthen their mobile offerings to attract consumers who are more mobile than ever before.

YP has a clear focus on evolving the consumer experience from a local search perspective.

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