Australia’s directories: five million great stories every day
Wayne Aspland | 30 July 2009
Earlier today, the Yellow Pages® earned a mention in Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s opening address to the 45th ALP National Conference. The story our PM told highlights the enormous social value these directories bring to the community.
You might be surprised to know that Australians turn to the Yellow Pages® and White Pages® directories about five million times a day1.
Every one of those five million or so searches is a story. It might be a story about contacting a loved one. Or getting in touch with a mate you haven’t spoken to for years.
It might be about an Australian getting the help they need from a business, organisation or government department.
And, just as importantly, it might be about a small business owner finding the customers that are so important to the livelihood of her business and employees.
What might not surprise you is that the people at Sensis love these stories. They’re the source of pride that gets us to work every day.
And it’s fantastic when we hear one of those stories recounted by none other than our Prime Minister.
In his opening address to the ALP National Conference yesterday, Prime Minister Rudd told the story of 18 year old Matthew Jenkins. Matthew finished school at the end of last year and had worked hard to find an apprenticeship… sadly without success.
Then Matthew saw a piece on the news about Mr Rudd’s visit to CO-WYN Building Contractors in Bankstown NSW. According to Prime Minister Rudd:
“Kev (Cohen of CO-WYN) said on the TV news that because of the government’s stimulus strategy, he was looking to hire. Matthew then set about hunting Kev down. But he had no idea of the name of the company- nor how he could find it. Nonetheless he grabbed the yellow pages, made a stack of random calls and hunted them down.“Kev was so impressed with Matthew’s attitude that he started work on 1 July as an apprentice carpenter. I’m told he absolutely loves it.”Good on you Matthew and CO-WYN. We’re really proud we could help.
1: Roy Morgan Single Source Australia. Average daily references based on last seven day references, April 08 to March 09. Base Australians 14+
