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September 6, 2007
Industry Leaders to Consider
Green Strategies for Yellow Pages at The Kelsey Group’s ‘Directory
Driven Commerce 2007’ Conference
The DDC2007 agenda
will examine the opt-out movement, clarify disinformation about
environmental impacts, and consider market forces that may reduce
the number of printed directories.
Princeton, NJ (September 6, 2007) --
There is a burgeoning movement to create some form of “opt-out”
system that would enable consumers to ask that printed directories
not be delivered to their homes or businesses. The main proponents
of this include environmental groups, state legislators responding
to consumer complaints, local municipalities concerned about stress
on the solid waste stream and consumer groups. While no bills have
passed mandating such a program, momentum is building in favor of
opt-out or some other solution aimed at giving consumers control
and reducing solid waste.
The greening of the Yellow Pages is an important
industry issue that will be examined by Kelsey Group analysts and
industry leaders at the upcoming Directory Driven Commerce 2007
conference (DDC2007: The Future of Yellow Pages), Sept. 17-19 at
the Hyatt Regency Reston, Reston, Virginia.
“There is no question that the proliferation
of U.S. directory titles has led to an abundance of directories
landing on consumers’ front steps, which has commanded the
attention of consumer and environmental groups,” said Charles
Laughlin, senior vice president and program director, The Kelsey
Report® and managing editor, The Kelsey Group. “That said,
there is a measure of disinformation in many of the arguments for
opt-out. For example, the impact on the solid waste stream is often
exaggerated, since directories are made largely from recycled content
and are recyclable.”
In addition, there are those who argue that print
directories are obsolete, which is not true, according to Kelsey
Group research. Printed directories are still consumers’ first
choice for finding local businesses, and therefore, print Yellow
Pages remains a legitimate local media.
On day three of DDC2007 the opt-out subject will
be a key point of discussion during the Global Yellow Pages Leadership
Panel. This session will gather a diverse group of leaders in the
global directory industry to examine the full range of issues addressed
at the conference—from the future role of search engines to
the form the print product will inhabit five years from now. This
panel of industry thought leaders will opine on the key challenges
facing the global Yellow Pages industry over the near term, including
the environmental backlash, print to online migration, the push
for performance-based advertising, the verticalization of search,
and the transformation of sales channels.
About DDC2007: The Future of Yellow Pages
DDC2007, The Kelsey Group’s annual Yellow Pages conference,
is recognized as the objective and definitive event on the future
of this high-margin global industry. The program encourages audience
interaction and features 50 speakers who will participate through
presentations, one-on-one interviews, panel discussions and research
sessions. Keynote speakers include Warren Kay, managing director,
strategic alliances, Yahoo!; Geneviève LeBrun, vice president,
marketing, Trader Corp.; and Scott Pomeroy, president and CEO, Local
Insight Media. In addition, the program will feature a live one-on-one
interview with Kathy Hipple, CEO, Ambassador Media Group.
Association partners for DDC2007 include Association
of Directory Marketing (ADM), Association of Directory Publishers
(ADP), International Classified Media Association (ICMA), Search
Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) and Yellow Pages
Association (YPA). Conference sponsors include Acxiom, AgendiZe,
Amdocs, BooRah, Call Genie, eStara, FoneMine, i411, Idearc Media,
Ingenio, Local Matters, Local.com, Localeze, LSSi, Marchex, MDS,
Mixpo, Telmetrics and Web.com. For more information about DDC2007,
visit www.kelseygroup.com/DDC2007.
About The Kelsey Group
The Kelsey Group is the leading provider of research, data and strategic
analysis on directories, small-business advertising and online local
media. Founded in 1986, the company has built a reputation as the
premier analyst firm covering the directory publishing community
and the emerging local search marketplace, providing advisory services
(The Kelsey Report® and Interactive Local Media), publishing
(Global Yellow Pages™), consulting (more than 400 individual
assignments) and conferences (68 events).
For more information contact:
Eileen Pacheco
eileen@tango-group.com
(781) 556-1026
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