Yellow Book Ad Guru vs. Reality

A new series of ads for Yellow Book USA features actor David Carradine as the ad guru. Sales are down at Any Company, Inc., and they need help! To whom do they turn? Why, the oddly already-there ad guru.

He advises them to go online; to place their company on the Yellow Book website. (No, not Yellow Pages, Yellow Book. Are you as confused as I am?) The next quarter, the aloof businessmen are dancing about, while one announces, "Sales are off the charts!"

"Right now we're elated with the results of the campaign," CEO of Yellow Book USA, Joe Walsh says. "The ads are a quantifiable hit. There's no question about it."

Allow me to question it.

In a recent survey, only 9% of people polled thought favorably of the ads. 10% thought they were effective. That's strike one.

The ads are competing solely based on price: we are cheaper than other phone directories. Strike two.

Yellow Book USA is a line-extended brand with a me-too name. If one wants to search anything yellow, it'll likely be the other yellow guy. If one wants to search online, it'll likely be Google. Strike three.

Worse than any of those factors, the ad (and the company) do not exist in a little place I like to call "reality." If all one had to do, in order to generate business, was list themselves on Yellow Book, we all would have done it years ago. We don't need some fancy commercial to teach us this "new" lesson.

Also, if more than one widget company advertises with them, will sales be "off the charts" for all of them? Does the sheer volume of companies advertising in their publication create more demand for their category? Imagine this conversation: "Oh, honey, look at how many paper manufacturing companies are listed here. We need to buy paper from the manufacturer! I'm so glad that I was mindlessly perusing the Yellow Book instead of playing with the kids or paying the bills."

Their entire ad campaign falls apart upon even the most cursory scrutiny.

"Customer know what they want, but not where to find it," says the guru. If the customer has never heard of you, they are still going to pick a known brand over yours, even if the known brand does not fit their needs perfectly.

If they don't know what brand to use, they will most likely ask a friend or trusted business associate.

"Who did you use when your house got infested by spider monkeys?"

"We used Adam's Pest Control in Medina. They were great."

Our inquirer will go directly to Adam's Pest Control. He may use the Yellow Book online (or Google, frankly) to find the number.

Are sales, then, up because of the ad placement, or because of the positive word of mouth?

Is Yellow Book a good place to have your business? Perhaps. If you're a built brand, then yes, it would make sense to have your business listed in this directory, as well as the other Yellow guys down the block.

Will the ad or placement pay for itself? Prolly it won't. One must always think of their ad spends as insurance policies against their competition. If there is equity in their brand to insure or protect, then (smartly) advertise. If not, then focus your efforts on PR.

As a side note, I had to edit this article four times in order to remove the mixed up "Yellow Book" to "Yellow Pages" references. It's like Office Depot and Office Max: what's the difference? Ugh! I'm going to Staples! What's their number? Never mind, I'll Google 'em.

Sierra Mist vs. Sprite

Sierra Mist announced that they are going to include "an extra burst of flavor" in their beverage. Then, the other foot drops: but only for the summer. What does this mean? It means one of two things:

1) Sierra Mist is fine as is, and doesn't need an extra jolt. Think Classic Coke vs. New Coke.

2) Sierra Mist is actually ripping off their consumers (I know you're out there somewhere...all five of you), and not giving them the best product for their money.

Check out this irrelevant commercial:



Even if people try Sierra Mist with its extra boost, they are unlikely to continue buying once the extra goodness is gone.

Compare this to products that come out with a low price, hoping to get consumers attached to their product. Early on, people are curious, and willing to take a small risk. Then, when the company jacks the price up to that of the competitors, the new brand's sales drop off almost entirely.

Initially, people built a value for the brand in their mind. Brand XYZ water costs $0.99, they think, I'll try it. The next week, it costs $1.79. "Forget you, XYZ," the consumer says, "I'll go back to Evian, thank you very much."

(Those numbers are fictitious and for demonstration purposes only.)

Is Sierra Mist likely to make any headway on Sprite by their "extra boost" (or whatever they call it)? No. And having the likes of Jim Gaffigan and his zany crew only made for fun creative work, plus an ad agency who will likely get a bunch of awards at the One Show. After all, awards for an agency do not equal money in the advertised brand's bank account.

As a side note, when I went to search for "Sierra Mist," I accidentally typed in "Sprite." Talk about category ownership.