Which is the Funniest Yellow Pages Group Ad From the Past 4-Years?
So last week I was at the Kelsey Conference in San Diego during the brand relaunch for Yellow Pages Group. With our brand relaunch, we also launched a series of funny television commercials. One of the those commercials is emerging as the one that seem to have gotten the most traction in YouTube and even has it own fan page on Facebook. The video I am referring to is the Oily Man video, see below.
Since I started working with Yellow Pages Group in 2006 we have produced (not me specifically, but our communications teams) some pretty funny ads for our Yellow Pages business and our Auto Trader business.
Here are my favorite 3 ads; 1 from our current Yellow Pages Group campaign and 2 ads from previous Auto Trader campaigns. Which one do you think is the funniest ad?
Yellow Pages Group Oily Guy (2010)
Auto Trader Research (2008)
Auto Trader “Big Fatty” (2006)
Want to see more ads. Follow the links below:
– Yellow Pages Group Ads on YouTube – 3 ads from 2010
- Cliff Your Ride Promotion on Youtube – user generated from 2010
- AutoTrader Ads on YouTube – 3 ads from 2008
First Look – Screenshots of the new YellowPages.ca
Last week I had the pleasure of posting screenshots on the new YellowPages.ca iPhone Application launch – check out that post to see those pictures, this week I get the pleasure of posting screenshots on the new YellowPages.ca.
Canada’s Largest Online Directory has just launched its most ambitious release. This release includes some new features that are sure to please users. I will follow this posting up with a more detailed look at the new features, but here are some screenshots and highlights.
Of course the best way to experience this new platform is to check it our yourself at YellowPages.ca.
New YellowPages.ca Home Page
You will notice some new features on the home page. Type-ahead, links to Deals, provided by RedFladDeals.com and new Dining Guide provided by Restaurantica.com.
Deals from RedFlagDeals.com
Dining Guide by Restaurantica.com
New Search Results Page
Here I did a search for Restaurants in Calgary.
On this page, notice a few items. At the top of the screen – towards the right hand side you will notice that I am now logged into YellowPages.ca using my Facebook Account. You will want to do this as this is what is going to allow you to rate and review businesses.
Another neat feature is when you have a listing that has lots of individual listings in a city, for example, big chain restaurants. Here is a search for Restaurants in Toronto and you will notice the listing for Mandarin Restaurant expanded to show me locations.
New Merchant Page With Ratings and Reviews
Here is a search for Monty’s Crab Shack in Calgary.
If you are the first to review this business, select the review this business icon and you will be presented with the following pop-up window:
Finally if you are looking at a listing that does not contain any enhanced content information, YellowPages.ca will suggest other places that are similar that contain enhanced information. Here is a search for Badass Jacks Subs and Wraps in Edmonton.
Focus on Mobile
New YellowPages.ca Mobile section featuring direct access to all the popular device applications such as iPhone, Blackberry, Android and Palm.
The Video Channel continues to get it home page exposure and is fast becoming the source of local video searches in Canada. Check out my original post for YellowPages.ca Video Channel Get Home Page Exposure.
In my opinion, the Online Services team at Yellow Pages Group did a great job pulling this together. From my perspective, always great to working with a team of incredibly talented individuals who can make big projects like this happen. I am proud of their work.
So what do you think?
Pictures – What’s Happening at the Yellow Pages Group Offices in Montreal (#yul) and Toronto (#yyz)
Posted earlier today via twitter, @yellowpages_ca, things are changing at the Yellow Pages Group’s offices in Montreal and Toronto. Check out the pictures below.
Toronto
Montreal
Canadian’s Flocked to CTVOlympics.ca in February
The February numbers of ComScore came out late last week and I was very curious as to the impact the Olympics had on the CTV Network. The results are incredible. According to ComScore, 6.951M Canadians logged onto CTVOlympics.ca in the month of February generated a whopping 28M visits for the month and 658M page views. The number of US citizens who logged onto CTVOlympics.ca was equally impressive coming in at 1.423M. The Olympics helped push the CTV network into the #8 spot for most visited Canadian online property and breaking 11M users network wide for the month.
Back in 2005 when CTV won the bid (see article), the alliance lead by Bell GlobeMedia between CTV and Rogers paid $153M for the rights to broadcast.
Playing with some pure online math, this would mean that CTV paid $22 per unique online user or $5.46 per visit or $0.23 cents per page view. Which means to break even, from a pure online perspective CTV would needed to have monetized at $232 CPM.
Of course you can’t look at this from a pure online perspective, this was for the entire broadcast rights, including television which all accounts show did extremely well for CTV. Did CTV monetize this traffic well, I am not sure, but the raw traffic numbers are impressive.
Will WorldCup of Soccer have the same impact? We will see later this year.
Blippy.com – Will You Share What You Buy?
Through Facebook.com (my profile) we decided to share who we were, where we went school, our personal photos and more. Using LinkedIn.com (my profile) we decided to share everything about our business life and business connections. Twitter (my profile) allows us to share our 140 character thoughts. With FourSquare (my profile) we now check-in everywhere and share our location with our friends.
Now there is Blippy.com – the service that allows you to share your purchases. On the Blippy.com website the tagline is simple : Blippy is a fun and easy way to see and discuss what everyone is buying.
Here is a screenshot from my Blippy.com Feed:
At this point I am only sharing my purchased from iTunes. But if you want to share more of your purchases you have the following options:
Most of these services are not available in Canada but you have the option of sharing your credit card or banking transactions. As a Canadian you have the following financial institution support on Blippy.com – American Express, ING Bank, and Capital One (although it does not explicitly say Canada). Here is a screenshot of the financial institutions supported by Blippy.com:
This past week I was forwarded this site to my colleagues and friends asking for their feedback. Some of them thought it was quite innovative in terms of asking your friends for feedback on whether they liked or disliked a movie or song. Others thought it was inappropriate to share this information on the web and flat-out told me they never would post their purchases online. Other thought it was completely stupid that somebody who post this info and that others would actually want to read it. One thing for sure is that Blippy.com evoked a reaction.
I actually think this concept is interesting. Think about it – everybody shares with their friends and family what they like and dislike. Did you see that movie? What did you think of it? When people come over to my house, they ask us how do you like your massage chair or your 4-door fridge (these are 2 common questions we get from most people). You can read about my Inada Massage Chair purchase.
Does Blippy.com allow people from long distances participate in those discussions?
Could Blippy.com help you make better decisions by asking people in your network about a product or service?
What about asking a total stranger on Blippy.com what he thought of a restaurant you have not been to before?
Is this so different than facebook, twitter, foursquare or linkedin?
Could Blippy.com be the next social phenomena?
Will You Share What You Buy?
New YellowPages.ca Mobile Application Available
Available as of this morning in the iTunes Store is the brand new YellowPages.ca mobile application for finding businesses and people with some cool new features, such as auto category selection, map based viewing of results, more added content and a completely brand new user interface.
Here are some screenshots of the application:
In November I posted on my blog and update on the fact that there were over 1/2 Million downloads and 3 reasons why Canadian love this application (click to read the original post). This release of the application stays consistent with those 3 reasons which include;
Simplicity – this version of the application remains true to its core of key functions that allow a user to get to the information they need.
Content – with a focus on videos, photos and more content coming soon, it displays the information that users want to see to help them make better decisions
Usability – with this upgrade comes a more user centric focus.
What do you think? Does this application hit the mark? Would be interested to hear your comments.
Which Yellow Pages Group Employee Would You Invite For Dinner?
I am going to have a little fun with this post by displaying some videos of my working colleagues (including myself). Check out the videos and answer this question:
Which Yellow Pages Group Employee Would You Invite For for Dinner?
Tracy Smith speaks about YPGs Search Marketing Solutions Offer
Estee Langis talks about attending SES Toronto
Darby Sieben (myself) being interviewed by Greg Jarboe
Considering this is my blog, I figured I would give myself an extra plug. Here is my interview with Omar Sachedina talking about the Yellow Pages Answers Service.
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