Yellow Pages

One of the areas technology has affected most is how we find things. Long gone are the days when you hauled the Yellow Pages out of a cupboard and worked your way through the alphabet.

Although Yellow Pages had already migrated online, the strong connection with the big phone book meant that people didn’t associate the brand with the digital space. This became even more pressing with the launch of its mobile app.

Online search is a crowded space. To launch the Yellow Pages mobile app, Taxi had to zero in on something that was relevant to search, and equally relevant to Yellow Pages’ existing equity.

The point of convergence was the local expertise central to the Yellow Pages brand equity. Want a jeans store in Denmark? Google it. Want the best mochachino you’ve ever had on the other side of town? Find it with Yellow Pages, which has the heritage of being a trusted local resource.

First, the brand identity was updated to signal change and ensure the logo felt at home with those of its competitors.

The creative told the stories of three characters who use the app for their individual – and local – needs. The trio included Randy, the muscleman, who requires a little help to show off his physique; Luke, the photo crasher, who is always in search of a new gathering to crash; and a hopeless romantic who, after a stranger’s glance, plans the rest of her life. All rely on the local expertise of the Yellow Pages.

Microsites were created where users could insert themselves in the stories of these strangely compelling characters. Yellow Pages was the first brand in Canada to use a new technology which let Luke literally “crash” the site of the user’s choosing. 

App downloads nearly tripled from pre-launch levels of 10,000 a week to close to 30,000. Television strongly differentiated Yellow Pages from other brands and increased interest by 26%. Traffic to the microsites was 227% above plan, non-users increased awareness of the app by 21% and belief that Yellow Pages is moving into digital increased 271%.

Yellow Pages is now well on its way to finding a strong presence in the digital space.