People – May

It has been a while since we updated our regular blog sponsored by Hawthorne Executive Search .   It is all about people in the Yellow Pages industry. If you have news you want to share about someone that is involved in the Yellow Pages industry (including retirees) that we should all know about, drop us a line and tell us how they are doing. Send your submissions to ken@yptalk.com.

Herb Gordon

The industry suffered a big loss when Herb Gordon, retired former president and CEO of the Association of Directory Marketing (ADM), passed away unexpectedly of a heart attack on Saturday, May 4, 2013.  Herb is survived by his wife, Annemarie, three sons, nine grandchildren, two sisters, and a large extended family.

Herb led ADM (which merger with what was then the Yellow Pages Association – YPA – more info) for eighteen years, retiring in June 2009, after the merger.  During his tenure, he served on the Boards of ADM, the YPA (now Local Search Association), and Association of Directory Publishers – the only person in the industry to have the unique honor of serving on all three boards.  He served at a time when the industry was just starting to experience unparalleled change.

For more go to our recent YP Talk article by clicking here.

 

Jeff Hoyer

Local Market Launch, the Santa Barbara-based startup that is driving new standards of quality and service in local presence solutions for national brands, multi-location businesses and SMBs, announced today that Jeff Hoyer has joined the company as Vice President of Sales. He will lead the company’s sales efforts, with a focus on channel partner development among local media companies, including directory publishers, newspaper publishers and broadcast companies, as well as digital media agencies and certified marketing representatives (CMRs).

“Jeff will be a tremendous asset as we continue to grow our channel partner network,” said Brian Coryat, founder and CEO, Local Market Launch. “His deep expertise and proven track record in the directory publishing, business listings management and SMB digital marketing space make him a valuable addition to our leadership team.”

Hoyer is a local media solutions veteran with significant experience in executive management, sales strategy and execution, online marketing, SEM/SEO, advertising sales, customer and client relationship management and leadership development.

“Accurate business listings data is the foundation of today’s local digital economy, as consumers increasingly engage with local businesses through social networks and mobile devices,” said Hoyer. “Helping local businesses, national brands targeting locally and multi-location businesses manage their listings data efficiently and effectively has to be an essential element of any local media company’s digital marketing solution set. Local Market Launch has developed a solution that is truly ahead of anything currently on the market in terms of data quality, focus on the customer experience and ease of ongoing management. I am excited for the opportunity to bring it to the marketplace.”

Prior to joining Local Market Launch, Hoyer was SVP, Sales & Marketing at Name Dynamics/Universal Business Listing. He also served as VP, National Sales for R.H. Donnelley/Dex Media, where he managed a national team of 30, with P&L responsibility of $420 million in print, online and PPC products. Previously he was Group VP, TMP Worldwide, managing four VP/GMs and a portfolio of national clients.

 

Richard Wall

Dex Media’s Richard Wall, Vice president for Enterprise Application Engineering has been named “One to Watch” by CIO Magazine.

The CIO Executive Council’s annual Ones to Watch award identifies the rising stars in IT. To be honored, these future CIOs must have demonstrated leadership, driven innovation and delivered value to their business.

Wall has led organizations within IT at many companies and has experience across several disciplines including architecture, development, production support, and quality assurance. He is responsible for application development and maintenance activities at Dex Media, including all applications supporting Lead to Cash processes, mobile and online applications and websites representing Superpages.com, search platforms and traffic distribution integration to search partners, customer portal, and Business Intelligence Systems (BIS) applications

 

Bill Dinan:

Telmetrics’ President  and LSA Board Chairman Bill Dinan is scheduled to speak at SMX London on Mobile Search Best Practices.

With mobile advertising spend continuing to increase, leading call measurement provider Telmetrics announced that Bill Dinan, president of Telmetrics, was scheduled to speak at SMX London on the “Paid Search Advertising in a Multi-Device World” panel.   SMX London is a premiere U.K. event for search marketing and other online advertising professionals.

Dinan will address mobile search best practices including tailoring and localizing ads to incorporate mobile consumers’ category-specific usage patterns and preferences. The presentation will include insights from the recent xAd-Telmetrics U.K. Mobile Path-to-Purchase Study, which was based on an online survey of 1,500 U.K. smartphone and tablet users conducted by Nielsen.

 

 

The Facts Are The Facts, And They Are Not in Dispute

I borrowed this title from actor Kevin Bacon’s statement in the “Few Good Men” movie, but it applies in this case.  I’m sure you see them all the time too.  I get 4 or 5 of these types of incoming comments each week.  Most are bogus or just pure spam.  But these two made me laugh since they are contrary to what the call tracking data is telling us about print Yellow Page usage:

“Yellow Pages are obsolete”

The following comment was posted on the YP Talk comment area:

I was googling “why do yellow pages still exist” and I was delighted to find this hilarious article desperately defending them instead. It’s like reading someone trying to defend the slide rule. Sorry buddy, but technology has made yellow pages obsolete. They provide no value, but they do kill a lot of trees. Mobile phones with internet access are now dirt cheap and ubiquitous, providing the same information to people. Even my grandmother has a cell phone. Nobody in their right mind would use the yellow pages, other than as kindling or paper weight.

My response, while trying to be somewhat diplomatic was as follows:

 Thank you for your commentary. It’s comments like this that show exactly why the print yellow pages still work as you clearly had already decided on the answer you wanted to hear before you even did your Google search.

I can only assume you missed the article which showed that 76% of all adults do still use the printed YP each year. Or the one about how 85% of those people who do use a book make a purchase once they pick it up. Or that advertisers are seeing AT LEAST a $10 to $1 return for their advertising investments. Perhaps you also missed the article about how call tracking results for print ads have shown INCREASES in the number of calls over the last two years. But even if you had seen that, I doubt you would believe it.

So maybe the better approach with someone like you who appears to only believe what they see at the end of the arm, how do you think all that mobile stuff got there, especially the parts from local businesses??  Answer: yellow page reps working with those businesses that get them listed where ever their clients might be. Print, online, mobile — that’s the definition of “Yellow Pages” these days…

I had really wanted to be much wittier in my response, but the facts are the facts….

How shallow can I be:

This other one came across my radar screen and it sounds like it was a man on the street type interview from an Aussie city.  They are easy to do – let’s find a cross section of people who don’t fit the demographics of a typical small business in the print or online Yellow Pages, who probably aren’t experiencing the life events that drive usage, and then ask them leading questions:

Do People Use Yellowpages Anymore? – YouTube Do People Still Use The Yellow Pages?  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_psVGi-pEQc

Note how many of these people commented that page 1 of a Google results page is the extent they will go when looking for local businesses.  I don’t know about you, but if I’m spending $15,000+ on a new roof, need an experienced dental surgeon, a local limousine service for a special night out, or have to have my air conditioning system repaired, I don’t think I’m going to limit myself to the just the results Google choses to give me on the first page of a search.   That seems a bit shallow to me.  What about you??

Looks like a perfect opportunity for one of or two industry associations to develop a similar video which shows the exact opposite, with real people who spend real money for real products and services – that’s the real power of yellow……

 

 

Herb Gordon, Former ADM President/CEO Has Died

There are always people who you run across in your personal and business careers that make a lasting impact.  For me, Herb Gordon was one of them.  It saddens me deeply to tell you that Herb Gordon, retired former president and CEO of the Association of Directory Marketing (ADM), passed away unexpectedly of a heart attack on Saturday, May 4, 2013.  Herb is survived by his wife, Annemarie, three sons, nine grandchildren, two sisters, and a large extended family.

Herb led ADM (which merger with what was then the Yellow Pages Association – YPA – more info) for eighteen years, retiring in June 2009, after the merger.  During his tenure, he served on the Boards of ADM, the YPA (now Local Search Association), and Association of Directory Publishers – the only person in the industry to have the unique honor of serving on all three boards.  He served at a time when the industry was just starting to experience unparalleled change.

It was during the time that he was on the YPA board that I got to work directly with Herb.  Simply put, he was a gentleman no matter how passionate a discussion got, he was a masterful politician keeping the peace between publishers and CMRs who were always at each other’s throats, and he was a passionate supporter of the national channel.  I can say I didn’t always agree with him, but I did have a great deal of respect for him no matter his views.

Previously, Herb held senior management positions at Ketchum Communications, including president, Ketchum Yellow Pages, and executive vice president, Ketchum Specialized Services, and was a member of the company’s executive committee and board of directors.

Herb was a well-educated man.  He was a graduate of Tufts University and the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program.  And he was a patriot, having served as a U.S. Air Force missile officer from 1960 to 1965, working on the country’s first inter-continental ballistic missile unit.

Following his retirement from ADM, Herb continued to write the NMD Flash newsletter.  He enjoyed finding articles of interest for readers and kept up to date with the industry.  In his spare time, Herb played tennis (a lot of tennis as he wasn’t a big fan of golf), cheered on Pittsburgh sports teams, traveled, played bridge, researched WWII history and enjoyed gardening.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, May 11, 2013, 11:00 a.m., at St. Andrew’s United Presbyterian Church, 801 Beaver Street, Sewickley, PA 15143.  Contributions may be made to the Salvation Army, 700 North Bell Avenue, Carnegie, PA 15106; or the American Cancer Society, 320 Bilmar Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15205.  Remembrances may be sent to the family at 310 Maple Lane, Sewickley, PA 15143.

Herb was a unique man in with a great enthusiasm and passion for life, and equally as enthusiastic and passionate about the industry.  People like Herb aren’t replaceable.  So he will unquestionably be missed.