Speaking Sensis

Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com commented recently that, “we build new tools and these tools change behaviour” which I found rather interesting. Whilst Jeff probably wasn’t referring to the park assist button in my car which means I’ll never have to reverse park again (god bless technology!) he could easily have been referring to the ubiquitous iPhone revolution on our doorstep and the apps that are fundamentally changing the way we access information.

Virtually everything is now available via an app and don’t they make life easier? Touch an icon, get the info you want.

Enter Whereis® Navigator, which recently launched an iPhone app allowing Telstra customers with iPhones access to the premium GPS navigation product at the tip of their fingers. The Whereis® Navigator product includes features like voice guided turn-by-turn directions – basically turning your iPhone into your very own personalised nav device. Pretty cool huh?

As someone with absolutely no sense of direction I’m a huge fan of navigation technology and it seems I’m not alone – thankfully!

We have just completed a study about Australia’s navigation habits and it looks like Jeff Bezos is on the money when it comes to navigation – technology has indeed changed consumer behaviour. Australians are passionate about GPS and the many benefits it provides; security on dark lonely roads, time-saving by avoiding traffic or finding the nearest and cheapest fuel are a few examples of how us Aussies are relying on the technology today. This change in behaviour means more people are throwing out their old printed maps and street directories and embracing GPS technology in all its forms – built-in car systems, portable navigation devices and, of course, on mobile.

So next time you’re in the car wasting time stuck in traffic, or aren’t sure where the nearest petrol station is as your gauge gets closer to hitting empty- remember you now have easy access to Whereis® Navigator.

Whereis® Navigator is free to download. Charges may apply if users elect to continue use of Premium Features.

Whereis Navigator is free of all data charges on the Next G™ network. Once you have downloaded the app, data usage is free for both standard and premium features.

Restrictions on driver use exist in some States and Territories and you should check local rules.

When I think about the authenticity of maps, I remember being a kid and creating my own treasure maps, pouring coffee over them and then getting Mum to burn the edges so they had that “real” buried-for-hundreds-of-years look.  

While the team at Whereis® don’t rely on coffee (well not in that sense anyway) and we certainly don’t get mum to burn the edges of our maps, we are committed to making sure their authentic and we drive thousands of kilometres across the country each year to keep them that way.

On our travels we record everything a driver might see in the city, regional centre or country town, such as the numbers of lanes, speed limits, turn restrictions, driveway entrances to service stations and road gradient.

As Australia is made up of more than 1,000,000kms of roads and highways with an ever increasing population, new roads, developments and suburbs popping up at a rapid rate, the process of capturing, interpreting, cross-checking and integrating data for Whereis® maps never stops.  

It’s a pretty common misconception that Australian roads don’t change that much and when people ask us about this, they are often surprised to learn that each new release of Whereis® mapping software actually captures between 10,000km and 15,000km of new roads and re-verifies 235,000km per year through continuous research.

In addition to this, our latest Whereis® map, Version 16, also comes with more than 610,000 points-of-interest, customised alerts like speed and school zones, more than 237,000km of roads with addresses, thousands of up to date information from sign posts, extended lane guidance, rail crossing alerts and loads more.

The other common myth is that in-car GPS systems update themselves automatically.  As convenient as that might be, today’s in-car GPS systems, just like our childhood treasure maps, don’t update themselves and the map software has to be manually updated. Thankfully, it’s very easy to do. 

All you need to do is keep the engine running while you pop the data DVD in your GPS device and let the new map data update the system.

So next time you getting your car serviced, either ask that your mapping data be updated or simply order your new software online and do it yourself at www.whereismaps.com

Who knows perhaps with accurate and authentic map data from Whereis® maybe you’ll find that elusive hidden treasure after all…

With the end of the year almost upon us, Sensis’ CEO, Bruce Akhurst, provides his first bi-monthly update.

Hi.

I thought it might be good to end the year by starting something… a regular report that I hope will give you a deeper insight into how Sensis is working to improve the value we offer all Australians.

New ways to help you find, buy and sell
Sensis is committed to helping you find, buy and sell. Our services help you find the suppliers you need right when you need them. In doing this, we help thousands of local businesses find their lifeblood – customers.

Our innovation programs reflect this commitment. How can we make our services simpler and more informative for buyers? And how can we build the value and simplicity of our advertiser services?

On this front, we’ve been particularly busy in the last few weeks. We launched the White Pages® app for iPhone recently. I was very happy to see that it reached the #1 free app in Apple’s App Store very quickly. This caps off an exciting quarter for our mobile sites, with usage growing off the scale. We launched White Pages® Mobile four months ago and it’s already delivering over 400,000 visits a month¹. At about the same time, we also launched the Yellow Pages® iPhone app. Since then, Yellow Pages® Mobile usage has more than doubled to over 650,000 visits a month²… in just a few months!  Clearly, Australians are connecting with these new generation mobile services and that’s great for advertisers. Our network strategy means that Yellow Pages® advertisers – print and online – can be searched through mobile and therefore can benefit from mobile usage growth.

We’ve also recently commenced delivery of the 2009 Yellow Pages®. This year’s book includes a more informative front cover and an expanded information section. Both of these enhancements were specific requests from Australians who participated in research we conducted earlier this year.

In Yellow Pages® Online, we’ve recently launched a new advertiser product – Purely Mobile Business, or PMB. PMB is designed for mobile businesses, like mobile mechanics, looking to reach out to customers in the areas they service.

We also recently launched Category Search, which is a new product that lets advertisers combine Voice, Whereis® and Citysearch® advertising into a single, easy to use product. Response has been strong, with hundreds of customers choosing Category Search in just a few weeks.

The Whereis® team has just released 3D City Maps for GPS to sat nav equipment manufacturers. 3D City Maps bring the Sydney and Melbourne CBD areas to life by providing a real-time 3D city-scape. 3D City Maps should be launched in popular GPS units shortly, and more cities will be ‘3D’d’ in the near future.

Finally, MediaSmart – our online and mobile display advertising business – has released new targeting capabilities. Working closely with Telstra, we’ve developed a segmentation capability that ensures mobile display advertising is more relevant and targeted for both mobile users and advertisers… like helping a major bank deliver specific branch manager contact details to customers mobile phones based on their location. This is a genuinely unique capability and I’m pleased to say the support from marketers has been fantastic.

In the field
Right now, our Yellow Pages® regional and local consultants are out talking to advertisers, as are our White Pages® consultants. We’ve been backing them up with new products, comprehensive training and a much stronger focus on engaging with local communities.

This local focus led to the opening of a new office in Penrith on November 10 (with offices in Ballina and Coffs Harbour also opening soon). We were really pleased to open Penrith by announcing a new community partnership with Great Community Transport. At the same time, we’ve been increasing our support for local businesses by regularly sponsoring and speaking at local events – over 80 in the last few months.

1.5 million calls… and counting
If you ever wanted proof of the value of Yellow Pages®, here it is. As you may know, we’ve been running a metered ad program for two years now. This program helps advertisers track the number of calls they receive from Yellow Pages® print.

In January, we began monitoring the phone calls delivered by Yellow Pages® print to a small cross-section of display ad customers (a sample of less than 1% of our total customer base). By early November, the number of calls delivered to these customers by Yellow Pages® print passed the 1.5 million threshold!

Imagine how many valuable phone calls Yellow Pages® is delivering to all our advertisers. Imagine how many more enquiries there are when you add people who are bypassing the phone and visiting the store or office. And imagine how that number could grow even further if you included all the other Sensis and third party online, mobile and voice services that form the Yellow Pages® network.

Interesting movements in the advertising market
Recently, we’ve seen some interesting movements in the media sector. The September quarter IAB report showed 3.3% growth in the online advertising market compared to the September quarter last year³. While this is a marked slowdown on last year, the results were really buoying for Sensis, as they show we are growing our share of the market.

Another interesting observation comes from our Adstream business. Adstream sits at the centre of the ad industry by helping marketers, agencies and media outlets, like TV, radio and newspaper publishers, manage and distribute their ad content. We’ve seen renewed growth in enquiries to Adstream recently. Could this mean the ad industry’s on its way back?

Our people have spoken
The other day, we received the results of our latest employee opinion survey. This is a global survey undertaken by Towers Perrin and it covers some of Australia’s, and the worlds, largest companies. In the latest survey, Sensis exceeded the Australian norm (the average of all Australian companies) in every category. Our results also benchmarked well among the world’s best employers, with results in a number of categories exceeding global norms. This is fantastic news. We work hard to ensure Sensis is a great place to work for our present and future employees. These results tell us we’re on the right track.

Sensis Sustainability Report
Finally, if you’d like to know more about Sensis’ strategy, operations, performance and impacts, I’d recommend you check out the 2008/9 Sensis Sustainability Report, which has just been launched. You can download it today from our newly upgraded corporate site.

Until next time
So that’s it for now. Have a happy, relaxing and safe Christmas and New Year. I’ll be back to you with a further update in February. In the meantime, thanks for all your support. You can rest assured we’ll be pulling out all stops to keep improving our value to you.

1: Omiture Site Catalyst, November 2009;
2: ibid
3: PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Internet Advertising Bureau Online Advertising Expenditure Report, quarter ended September 2009.

Today, Sensis CEO Bruce Akhurst spoke at an American Chamber of Commerce luncheon on what he describes as The Age of Engagement.

Digital media isn’t merely cannibalising traditional media. It’s giving marketers new tools to work with and the ability to build deep, valuable relationships with customers.

The first presentation in this series looks at how local search is helping marketers support consumer purchase decisions in exciting new ways. And how the next generation of local search is being driven by the mobile phone.

The second presentation looks at social media. Be sure to check back as this presentation will be uploaded shortly.

Times might be tough in the media sector today, but there’s a lot about the future to be excited about.

This week, Bruce Akhurst, the CEO of Sensis, will be sharing his thoughts on the future in a two-part presentation: The Age of Engagement.

The first part of his speech – covering the rise of local search – will be delivered at an American Chamber of Commerce luncheon in Sydney this Thursday, 23 April.

And, in a departure from the norm, part two of this presentation, which covers the rise of social media will be delivered using – what else – social media!

So, pop back to the Speaking Sensis blog this Friday, 24 April. You’ll be able to view both of Bruce’s speeches.