Here is a roundup of news summaries featuring news or announcements related to LSA members. If you’re an LSA member and want to be featured in coming editions of this post, email us with a link to your news. If you’re not a member, click here to learn more about LSA Membership.
Bloggers and Celebrities Share Hometown Recommendations for YP Campaign (March 18, 2015)
Adweek: “Formerly known as Yellow Pages, YP wants to remind people it’s a good source for local advice online as well as in hulking-book form. To do so, it’s been rolling out a word-of-mouth campaign with the help of online influencers . . . It includes online documentaries featuring celebrities Giuliana and Bill Rancic, country music artist Jake Owen and ESPN anchor Hannah Storm, who recommend fun things to do in their cities. In the latest video, released Monday, Storm shows off her favorite places in New York.”
Bloom Ads: Building Local Relevance with Personalized Media Plans (March 18, 2015)
LSA Insider: “Bloom Ads, Inc. is a fully integrated media planning and buying agency headquartered in Los Angeles, California. We caught up with Christina Swain, VP, strategy and development at Bloom Ads, to learn more . . . Our non-biased, innovative approach to media is our key differentiator. Each client’s media plans are custom crafted to deliver on their individual KPIs. No two plans are ever the same.”
Local marketer LocalVox buys MarketMeSuite so social management can become a to-do list (March 17, 2015)
VentureBeat: “Small- to medium-sized businesses are natural customers for automated marketing tools that emphasize word of mouth. That’s why local marketing suite LocalVox’ acquisition of social monitoring service MarketMeSuite and its launch of a simpler social response tool — both announced today — make sense. Buzz created from user-created reviews, for instance, can have a large impact on a local business, LocalVox president and CTO Trevor Sumner told me. ‘A one star difference in a Yelp review can mean a 5 to 9 percent difference in revenue’ for a small business, he said, citing the Harvard Business Review.”
Google Maps Upends Primary Data Suppliers – YP.ca Is Out (March 16, 2015)
Blumenthals: “It has been confirmed that YellowPages.ca (YP.ca) is no longer Google’s primary data supplier for business listings in Canada. But the story appears to be bigger than that and likely includes new terms in many countries whereby Google is now owning rather than licensing their business listing data. Google has, over the past year an half, apparently renegotiated a number of their worldwide business listing licenses with their primary data suppliers. This has lead to new deals and, in a number of cases, changes as to who provides Google with data.”
Dex Media Sells EveryCarListed.com to Newly Formed EveryCarListed.com, Inc. (March 16, 2015)
Press Release: “Today Dex Media, Inc. announced the sale of EveryCarListed.com (ECL) to a newly formed company EveryCarListed.com, Inc. The new entity is a Florida based LLC. The new entity is backed by a private financial firm and Tim Gamwell, a veteran of the auto dealer industry. He will serve as the new CEO. Jeff Noble will remain as president to guide the new organization from the Tyler, Texas office as new implementations and product offerings are slated for release in the coming quarters.”
UBL and Local Site Submit Parent Merge to Battle Yext Globally (March 16, 2015)
LSA Insider: “Roughly seven years ago before UBL launched I had a conversation with its founders about their idea for a single entry point online to distribute local business data to all the relevant consumer directories and touchpoints . . . Against that history and industry backdrop, UBL and the parent of Local Site Submit, Advice Interactive Group, are announcing a merger this morning. The terms were not disclosed and the name of the new combined entity hasn’t been definitively determined. Bryant and Advice Interactive CEO Bernadette Coleman told me that the combination brings together unmatched technology assets and a new capacity to serve a global market.”
Webinar: Consumers are Texting Business Landlines so Let Them (AdsLocal) (March 16, 2015)
LSA Insider: “A little known fact is that consumers are actually texting landlines and 800 numbers but businesses wouldn’t know that because these phone numbers don’t accept SMS messages. According to last week’s webinar, that is where AdsLocal can help. During the webinar, AdsLocal CEO Tony Philipp discussed how texting is changing B2C marketing in a major way. From the overall preference for texting over calling, to the real-time nature of communicating via text, Tony gave a glimpse into just how valuable texting can be.”
Yellow Pages Launches New Food and Dining Mobile App YP Dine as Company Accelerates Consumer Mobile Media Development (March 16, 2015)
Press Release: “Yellow Pages (Y), a leading digital media and marketing solutions company in Canada, announced today the launch of YP Dine, a new mobile app dedicated to the restaurant and dining sector. This marks the second app in a series of new consumer mobile media by Yellow Pages, designed to meet the unique needs of specific lifestyle sectors. YP Dine joins YP Shopwise, an award-winning smart shopping and deals app, as the second in the lifestyle app offering by Yellow Pages as the company continues its investment in mobile media, its fastest growing segment. The YP Dine app helps Canadians make dining choices based primarily on mood and/or activity.”
