TAGAYTAY CITY- Naysayers predict that it is only a matter of time before
the yellow and white pages become but a distant memory of the past. The rise of the Internet
and the ubiquity of communication tools like the mobile phone especially in the last few
years have made it seem that this prediction is about to be proven true. Today, people
find little need to consult the directory to look for the number of relatives or friends
as the contact details of a person's acquaintances are now likely to be saved in his/her
mobile phone's memory. If they need to find a particular business' contact numbers, they
only have to log-on to that company's website to find not only their contact details but
also other information like their company profile.
But directory publishers like the Directories Philippines Corporation
(DPC) are not going gently into the night.
In a recently held conference in Tagaytay, DPC and other members of the
Association of Directory Publishers Corporation conferred on what they can do to ensure that
the directories industry and their products do not go the way of the once popular pagers
and beepers.
DPC and ADPAI president Ricardo Bautista revealed that one of his
company's strategies to cope up with the changing world is to further enhance the utility
of their existing products and services and generate "a demand for the yellow pages."
The newly released 2006-2007 DPC Yellow Pages for example, will also feature 35 colored
Metro Manila maps, alphabetical listings by location and icons that will aide users find
what they want faster.
The executive further adds that their company is taking advantage of
the fact that the Yellow Pages is still the one of the most effective advertising mediums
around. Citing how 64% of people who look for a particular product or service using the
Yellow Pages end up acquiring that service/product within 24 hours, Mr. Bautista stated
that the DPC's marketing plans are now further aimed towards helping their advertisers
maximize the return of their investments in the DPC Yellow Pages.
Another strategy used by the DPC and their respective foreign
counterparts is to utilize technology and take full advantage of their potential.
Instead of viewing the Internet and mobile phones as "the enemy", directory publishers
are now using them to provide consumers with new services that will complement their
existing product. In the recent years, the DPC and other ADPAI members have invested
heavily on hardware and software to create online and mobile versions of their more
traditional directories. The DPC's electronic yellow pages (www.eyp.ph) allows online
users to search through DPC's thousands of business listings while its Luk4 service
delivers information like the contact numbers of a particular business, movie schedules
and events directly to the consumers' mobile phones.
From a business standpoint, investing in online and mobile directories
makes perfect sense as statistics show that the number of Internet and mobile phones users
is continuously increasing. In the Philippines, the number of Internet users increased
from 300,000 in 1998 to 7.5M in 2005. Mobile phone users in the country on the other hand
comprise 44% (around 37 million) of the population.
Will online and SMS-based directories' profits be able to equal those
of the printed directories and keep the directory industry from completely vanishing?
It is still far too early to tell, but Mr. Bautista and his co-publishers are feeling
optimistic.
Directory Philippines Corporation can be contacted at DPC Place 2322
Chino Roces Avenue Makati City, Metro Manila 1231 Philippines. Their website address
is www.dpc.com.ph.
