R.H. Donnelley 1998 Annual Report
Directory Advertising Services
Strategic Marketing and Business Development
Strategic Marketing and Business Development at R.H. Donnelley has responsibility for the company's initiatives in new media and new market expansion. Donnelley made significant progress on both fronts.
Opens Doors to New Media, New Markets
and New Opportunity
New Media Initiatives
Strategic Marketing and Business Development helped Donnelley launch three new Internet initiatives in U.S. markets over the past year, in New York, Cincinnati and Las Vegas.
Donnelley also continued to expand YPTV into new markets in 1998. YPTV is an innovative multimedia product that combines yellow pages advertising with local cable TV spots. YPTV transforms a local business's yellow pages ad into quality 15-second commercials for broadcast on local cable channels, such as CNN, A&E, TNT, ESPN and MTV. Each commercial is customized for the advertiser, who chooses from a variety of video, audio and music treatments.
YPTV provides customers with a cost-effective way of enhancing their presence and maximizing their investment in their print advertising. Each YPTV commercial carries leading and closing references to the directory where the ad can be found.
New Market Expansion
In November, R.H. Donnelley formed a landmark joint venture with China United Telecommunications Corporation (China Unicom) to publish yellow pages directories and to offer Internet directory services in the People's Republic of China.
China Unicom is one of only two national telecommunications providers in China. The joint venture will begin by introducing yellow pages directories in four key economic and regional centers in China, the first scheduled for publication later this year. The four-city introduction will be the springboard for a more extensive plan to penetrate other major cities in China. The joint venture with China Unicom also owns ChinaBiG, the first bilingual and most comprehensive Internet directory covering China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao. Combining print and Internet advertising will provide a highly attractive offering to customers in the initial directories.
"A year ago, China wasn't even on our radar screen," says Lyle Wolf, senior vice president for Strategic Marketing and Business Development. "We are quickly opening new doors of opportunity for R.H. Donnelley."
Strategy for Growth
These initiatives are aimed at accelerating R.H. Donnelley's long-term growth by expanding RHD's scope and scale as a marketing and sales organization serving the multiple-media advertising needs of local businesses in targeted markets around the world.
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