Dex One Sales Down 20% Year Over Year
Dex One – the new brand for phone directory company, R.H. Donnelley – has reported (PDF) that they sold 20% less dollars worth of advertising in 2009 than 2008.
They’re projecting that 2010 will be better than 2009. Not through growth, but by declining at a lesser rate.
Dex One . . . cautiously projected that the rate of decline in ad sales would improve in 2010, from being down 20 percent in 2009 to down between 12 percent and 15 percent this year.
One tactic Dex seems to be relying on to boost the use of their print product is what I’d call spamvertising, where they encourage people to let competitor’s books rot on their doorsteps.
Thanks to Nick for sending this in.
“If it says Dex, love it. If it doesn’t, leave it.”
What I’d rather see Dex promoting is a campaign that says, “If you’d like a Dex, order it. If not, you won’t have to deal with our print spam on your doorstep.” Opt-in for the win.
March 6th, 2010 at 1:17 pm
I find it very hard to believe these numbers unless 2008 was a big drop off from 2007, etc. My restaurant client just renewed a bold-faced listing. A restaurant! If there’s a case for anyone to buy display advertising in a YP book, it’s restaurants.
But there is no case for anyone to buy YP advertising anymore. The Yellow Pages can’t dig you out of a sales slump anymore. Only b’cast media, social media and online advertising can do that, and DEX still doesn’t understand online advertising.
Ironically, my client is doing very well with social media, but wasn’t mentioned in any recent social media/restaurant articles in the local media. But the ability of social media “gurus” to shape those stories is probably something best discussed in another comment thread.
March 9th, 2010 at 4:39 pm
UrbanSpoon completely wipes away the need to use a phone book for finding a restaurant. Why would car dealers, restaurants, doctors, lawyers, or any other top category need to be in the phone book? Also considering how they put double double trucks in front of your ad.. you have to spend more than it is worth to get the positioning of national brands… what a waste of an investment if you ask me. It is also not measured correctly.