Speaking Sensis

You may have heard of TrueLocal. In their words, they are an online business directory. As such, they compete directly with Yellow Pages® for the advertising dollar of local businesses.

So it’s not surprising to see them attack the value of the Yellow Pages® Book, which is used by millions of Australian buyers and sellers, in order to hopefully pick up some extra business for themselves.

For a business that has been in the market for a number of years now and has had limited success (Roy Morgan shows truelocal.com.au had an average of 249,000 users a month in the year Oct 08 – Sep 09, compared to 2.5 million a month for yellowpages.com.au),  it’s not surprising to see TrueLocal go on the offensive. They did it in June 2009 with a dedicated website and direct marketing campaign, they’re doing it now and we expect they’ll do it again.

But what is surprising, is that for a business whose parent is News Ltd, and synonymous with print publications, they make claims such as:

Gone are the days when these delivered directories were the only way to find a plumber, accountant or doctor. Some people still use them, absolutely. And they’re important for those who don’t have internet access. But [Clover] Moore is right in saying that today most Australians find businesses online – in fact 91.4 per cent do, according to a survey done by TrueLocal in conjunction with Coredata last year.

If you’ve looked at one of News Ltd’s 108 free, weekly, advertiser funded local newspapers recently, you might have noticed the classified ad section – where people might look for a plumber, accountant or doctor – is brought to you by TrueLocal.

And these 108 local newspapers are distributed to Australian homes each week– with no known way for people to be able to opt-out.

But what’s even more surprising, is that in the Victorian regional centres of Ballarat, Geelong and Colac, News Ltd and TrueLocal believe print directories are a valuable resource for the local community. So much so that they produce their own and deliver them to homes and businesses.

It seems TrueLocal will tell people anything to get one up on Yellow Pages® and further their own interests.

At Yellow Pages®, we use independent and credible research to demonstrate the value we deliver. You could say this is talking to our strengths or letting our results speak for themselves, rather than focusing on what our competitors are doing.

But sometimes you’ve just got to call a spade a spade and make sure the truth does get in the way of what some might consider a good story.

Yellow Pages® facts

Usage – the Yellow Pages® network (Book, Online and Mobile directories) is searched 13 million times by 4.5 million Australians each week. This includes 8.5 million searches in Yellow Pages® Books ⁱ.  We also give people the choice to request not to receive a book by calling us on 1800 008 292.

Carbon neutral –Yellow Pages® and White Pages® print and online directories have been certified carbon neutral through the Australian Government’s Greenhouse Friendly™ program. The carbon emissions created through the production of our directory products will be offset through Greenhouse Friendly™ accredited providers and projects in Australia.

Recycling – 96% of directories were recycled (75%) and re-used (21%) last yearⁱⁱ.

ⁱ Roy Morgan Single Source Australia, 14 years and above, last 7 day average, July 2008–June 2009.

ⁱⁱ DBM Consulting, Sensis 2008/2009 Recycling Measurement Program, June 2009].

With the 16th Annual AIMIA Awards fast approaching, voting has opened for the all new People’s Choice Award.  The People’s Choice category is exactly that – it’s your turn to vote for the finalist you feel deserves to be a winner of their respective category!

The finalist with the most votes wins and the exciting news is, of course, that our very own Yellow Pages® iPhone app is in the running. Get in quick to cast your vote on the digital industry’s brightest creations of the past year. Click on a link to look at the entry and cast a vote for your favourite. There is only one vote per person so make it count! Voting closes at 10.00 AEDT Friday 26 February.

To cast your vote go to:  http://www.aimia.com.au/awards/peoples-choice/

As announced on 3 February, Yellow Pages® is a finalist in the Best Mobile Service or Product Category. I will be frocking up to attend the ‘The Amys’ on Friday 5 March to find out who in the industry will be awarded for their exceptional work (and of course have my fingers crossed for Yellow Pages®). I look forward to seeing many of you there and I will bring you all the news, gossip and pics in the coming weeks.

 To learn more about the AIMIA awards click here http://www.aimia.com.au/isp/icms.isp?page=6636

On a stunning Melbourne February morning, I had the pleasure of attending a photoshoot at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne.  Sensis brought together 17 men and women from Victoria’s emergency services who served during the Black Saturday fires for the cover shot for this year’s Melbourne Residential White Pages®. The cover of the Melbourne White Pages®, due out in May, will feature members of Ambulance Victoria, Metropolitan Fire Brigade, Victoria Police, State Emergency Services, Department of Sustainability and Environment, and Country Fire Authority.

Some of these heroes came off holidays to attend the photo shoot and others came from outside of Melbourne and directly from 14 hour work shifts. Coordinating the photo shoot itself was quite a feat. The event attracted interest of Herald Sun and Channel Nine, who grabbed the opportunity to photograph, take footage and talk to our cover heroes on the eve of the one year anniversary of the tragic Black Saturday fires. When you bring together the cream of the crop of emergency services in Victoria, it is a pretty special event. 

The group included Vicky Dunelly who served in King Lake for the Ambulance Service and was awarded a service medal at the Australia Day Awards and has also been named Volunteer of the Year. Another courageous character attending the shoot was Pat Leddin from the Kilmore Unit of the SES who lost his home while he was out fighting fires. With our covers theme for White Pages® and Yellow Pages® directories this year being Courageous Australians, it was fitting for us to recognise the great courage of the people who served during the Black Saturday fires and it’s hard to think of a better example of courage than the work of emergency services people during the Black Saturday fires.

Distribution of the first regional Yellow Pages® and White Pages® to feature courageous Australians on the covers begins this weekend in Tamworth, Dubbo, Bathurst, Albury and Launceston. The extraordinary Australians to be honoured this year include people aged from five to 78 years of age, with amazing stories from people who risked their own safety to help others, overcome personal hardships, and in many cases shown bravery that inspired others in the community, and even saved lives. All of the cover hero announcements will be published on http://www.whitepagescommunity.com.au/ White Pages® community site in line with book distribution throughout the year.

Today is an exciting day for me. Actually, it is an exciting day for Sensis. Today we announce that our Yellow Pages® and White Pages® print and online directories are certified carbon neutral through the Australian Government’s Greenhouse Friendly™ program.

We have achieved this by offsetting the carbon emissions of our directories through Greenhouse Friendly™ accredited providers and projects in Australia. I am working for the first major directories company in the world to have its print and online directories certified carbon neutral, which makes me feel pretty good. Our carbon neutrality announcement wasn’t referring to our businesses operational carbon footprint (fleet, facilities and flights) – we’re taking responsibility for the full ‘cradle to grave’ impacts of the print and online directories. That’s the production, use, disposal and distribution of the directories. We’re talking around 175,000 tonnes of carbon emissions.

We know how many tonnes we’re taking responsibility for because we”ve commissioned environmental professional services company URS Australia to undertake a full life cycle assessment on the directories. In addition to offsetting the carbon emissions through Greenhouse Friendly™ accredited providers and projects in Australia, we are also announcing our target to reduce our operational carbon emissions by five per cent year-on-year. This means we’re working with people across the entire Sensis business to embed an understanding of what sustainability is and how they can reduce emissions in their areas of the business.

It’s great to be working for a company that is committed to taking a leadership role in corporate sustainability. Read more about this exciting news here: http://about.sensis.com.au/Sustainability/Environment/Our-Commitment-to-Climate-Change