Business and Society 2.0

Truvo, a Company formally publishing Yellow Pages, making the transition to the online data search and their  interest on data quality. An interesting presentation DDMA / TRUVO: Datakwaliteit from DDMA

People think paper making is a great energy consumer. In fact it was some years ago, but technology has played is role, things changes but the idea stays the same. Looking more closely, we will see some interesting facts and figures about paper making and the usage of energy. On average it takes 500 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity to produce 200kg of paper, the average amount of paper that each of us consume each year. "The European pulp and paper industry is strongly in favour of renewable energy and has declared an intent that commits the industry to increase the share of biomass-based energy in its total primary energy consumption from 49% in 2001 to 56% in 2010"(1). Does 500 kilowatt-hours sound a lot? Well, let´s look to other energy consumption of our day to day life. 500 kWh is equivalent to: • Powering one computer continuously for five months • Burning a 60w light bulb continuously for one year • The energy consumed by a typical household leaving its electronic e...

It is a prejudice the idea that paper is bad for the environment. In fact, the pulp and paper industry is one of the few that makes really sustainable products. The exception is coming from countries not yet commited to protect their forest resources, but they are decreasing. This is not the case in Europe were the forest area is increasing each year. The rate of replanted trees in good managed forests are three to four times more than the cutting pace. This means that the forests are growing and also renewed by young trees which absorb more CO2 from the atmosphere then older trees. Beeing paper a wood product it will store carbon with its lifetime. In adition, most of the forests are certified by independent and non profit organizations. Two of the most known entities that certifies that paper used is coming from sustainable forests are: - the Forest Stewardship Council ( FSC ) and - the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification ( PEFC ). According to FSC, "the amount...

Chris Smith wrote for Search Engine Land " What Could Save the Yellow Pages? 10 Ideas ". From his article he has the opinion, in spite of the usage decline of printed Yelow Pages (YP) and that well known companies like Idearc and R.H. Donnelley are facing great difficulties, the Yellow Pages companies can survive. I take his ideas numbers 2 and 4, to reduce environmental impact and improve Public Relations, to comment a bit more. To reduce environmental impact by reduction on the number of books distributed is a false question and it is a myth I would like to reformulate. What is important for YP industry is to optimize the distribution of books, ideally distributing to those that really use the books or have potential to use them. If there are areas or households that have potential to use the printed directories, probably boomers and matures will have more propensity to use the print then youngers (1), YP should delivey to these potential users/buyers and on the contrary th...

Well some people discover new ways and formulas to get printed products alive. In the case, Home Pages, in the market since 1997, are launching new Directories for small cities and communities. The business is growing, but still to be proven if this is sustainable for the long range. It is published in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin, with around 40.000 independent businesses. The strategy is to cover just a small community with very attractive prices. If the business is mostly done locally, then for the advertiser does´nt make sense to invest in a book with a large scope and circulation. If for the advertiser the target customers are within an wider scope they can invest in several books. Reference http://homepagesdirectories.com/

To ilustrate this mobile marketing feature that integrates print to online publishing, Goss International introduced the technology called RSVP. According to Brian Lawler, " the product is a two-dimensional bar code in a small graphic (about 1 cm. square) with a small logo included. The bar code is printed into an advertisement, and can be read by a scanner or (and this is the differentiating part) a cell phone camera. The idea promoted by Goss is that the RSVP code will become a well-known symbol for market bargains, sales and discounts. Once the code is captured, the cell phone can send the customer to a web page, or alternatively, the RSVP code initiates an event that sends a digital coupon back to the cell phone. It can b e low-sophistication, or high-sophistication". Brian continues explaining "the idea is that you could be reading your newspaper, and could photograph an advert featuring an RSVP code with your cell phone. The cell phone would then receive a digital ...

Generally speaking there is a believe that most people does not use the Yellow Pages printed books and otherwise prefer to use some sort of electronic information search. However a marketing research conducted by LinkDirect (1) and mentioned by Peter Rand that "only one every 1.000 UK consumers has opted out of home delivery of printed directories" (2). Rand cited the "results of a delivery conducted in Gloucestershire in 2008, after an opt-out campaign undertaken in the area by an environmental group" (2) showed that only 0,24% has opted for not receiving the directory. The study also demonstrates that of these 0,24% opt outs, 18% were older people and 17% younger people, more or less the same percentage, which is against our previous ideas that only older people wants the printed books and youngers only use Internet. Middle age people with high income rates 14% of opting out for receiving the printed book, gives an indication that age is not really a diferentiator...