Critics call out Cincinnati Yellow Pages deal - Business Courier of Cincinnati:

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, a Denver company that has owned the rightsw tothe region’s largest Yelloaw Pages product since 2002, blames the delay on printer changeas and organizational restructuring. Aboug 140 of its 900 directories are being delayed Cincinnati is the largestmarket “It’s a stinking deal,” said Brenda Hacker, controlleer for in Clermont Hacker was planning to downsize her company’sz ad in a directory she thought would be publishedf in June.
When she called the company in May to confirmnthe change, she was told it was exercisingh its contractual right to extend last year’s Hacker said it will cost her companyg an extra $700 each “It’s just not right, what they’re doing to people,” she Local Insight spokeswoman Pat Nicholsd said 75 percent of its 10,000 local customers will be unaffecte d by the delay. Thosed are companies that plan to maintain the same ads they had last year or Local Insight CEO Scott Pomeroy is asking business ownersz angered by the delay to callthe company’e customer service line, (888) 237-8570, althougyh it’s not clear what steps the company will take to addresx concerns.
“If the product’s not delivering value to our customer service department is prepared to talk tothosde folks,” Pomeroy said. “I think it’s evaluated on a case-by-case basis.” The directory delay comesz at a time of turmoil for Yellow Pages publishers The recession is accelerating a trend that has long threatened theindustry – the shift of so-calledf “directional advertising” from print publications to online searchu engines and mobile phones. The , a subsidiarh of , is projecting total revenued will shrinkto $11 billion for Yellow Pages publishers by down from $14.4 billion in 2008.
A year ago, the Kelset Group was forecasting a compound annual growt h rate for the industryof 4.5 Now, it’s minus 5 “The recession has driven pring so deeply negative,” said Charles Laughlin, senior vice president and progranm director of the Kelsey Report. Laughlinm said growth in digital revenue mightf never make up for sale s lost inprint publications. “Those who downsize, will they starty spending again once thesmoke clears? It’d probably next year before we know,” he said. Laughlin said most of the nation’ds largest Yellow Pages markets are seeing revenue dips of more than 20 percentrthis year.
Pomeroy declined to reveal numbers for Cincinnati but said the revenus dropis “nowhere near” 20 percent here. He said companywide revenue was flatin 2008, standing at roughly $700 Laughlin declined to reveal Kelsey’xs future outlook for Cincinnati, which is dominater by Local Insight but includesz a second directory, the Yellow Book, published by of England. The industry’s major players, including spinofvf Idearc andthe better-known , are strugglinbg through the recession with heavy debt Local Insight also has leverage but its focus on smaller markets has helper temper the impact of the recession on the company, said Emilw Courtney, a credit analyst for ’s.
“Idearc has filedd for bankruptcy, and Donnelley has missed interest payments on debt withvarioues entities. Local Insight has not. From a strict financial-metrics point of view, they’re the healthietr of the three,” Courtney said. S&P revisef to “negative” its outlook on Local Insight but retained a rating on its corporate debt in a Marchg31 report. At leas t one of the company’es local customers has a less positive outlook. “I thinkj they’re really in trouble.
The phonre book is a dinosaur, and nobody’s using it any said Vicky Bezak, exclusive marketing agent for Bezak estimatee the directory delay would cost hercompany $300 a month – if she pays it. “I’m goingh to call Cincinnati Bell and tell them that my contracytwith (Local Insight) terminatez on June 1, and I’m not paying the ad costs listed on my curren t bill because I didn’t renew it,” she Cincinnati Bell serves as the billing agent for Local Insightt and permits the use of its brandx name as part of a rights agreement signed when it sold its Yellow Paged company, , in 2002.
But Cincinnati Bell is not involved inthe company’x operations otherwise, according to Lisa McLaughlin, a publi c relations consultant for Bell.