Yellow Local
Yellow
Issue 23 | June 2012
Agency
Colenso BBDO
Creative Team
Creative Chairman: Nick Worthington; Executive Creative Director: Steve Cochran; Digital Creative Director: Dan Wright; Planning Director: James Hurman
Production Team
Agency Producer: Jen Storey, Emma Tait; Digital Designer: Alex Waskiewicz; Digital Developer: Peter Bardsley; Photographer. DOP/Cinematographer: Simon Tutty; Designer: Renee Lam, Tias Somers; Sound Design: Franklin Road; Production Company: The Downlow Concept
Other Credits
Group Account Director: Paul Wilson; Account Director: Rachel Turner; Senior Account Manager: Angela Vance
Date
May 2011
Background
In the new digital age, Yellow Pages books had begun to lose relevance. They needed to move users and Yellow advertisers onto Yellow digital platforms.
This included users of their smaller local directory books.
Yellowlocal.co.nz was not one but 205 individual websites, each tailored to a specific neighbourhood of Auckland.
The task was to raise awareness of the new sites and to promote them as being genuinely local.
Idea
What the new product did was allow locals to talk to locals, not just neighbourhood business advertising their wares but it allowed locals to post messages, review and recommend local services.
The advertising campaign set out to do exactly the same.
Hundreds of messages were collected of exactly the sort that yellowlocal.co.nz was designed to host and then used in the advertising.
A neighbourhood mechanic got his own billboard; a girl promoting her babysitting services was put on local TV.
Many of the messages were so particular to a neighbourhood, they could only be understood by the people who lived there.
There were 300 separate executions, each of which directed consumers to the website.
Results
The campaign clearly explained the new websites to Aucklanders. In doing so, it saved a flagging restaurant on the brink of bankruptcy. It helped Paris the dog get a crucial hip operation. And it brought together a short salsa dancer the short partner she had been looking for.
There were 110% more visitors to the sites than targeted.
Our Thoughts
This hard-working campaign certainly can't be faulted for being overly clever. By putting regular folk and their everyday messages front and center, it turns the Yellow Pages into a helpful and approachable digital bulletin board, making them relevant once again.