Yellowbook is the first of the YP publishers to formally enter the group buying space with a new site called Weforia. The company has launched a sales effort in three pilot markets: Phoenix, Boston, Ft. Myers.
Yellowbook’s Mike Wilson told me that he felt a new site and brand would be more effective than launching this on Yellowbook. However the deals can and will appear equally on Yellowbook (on the home page or business profile pages). The deals will also be distributed in mobile and on Yellowbook’s mobile apps.
Wilson cited the SEO benefits and “best of both worlds” aspects of launching the new brand, while syndicating deals to Yellowbook.com.
The sales teams in the three market started selling on Monday. Wilson was “stunned” by the early response he told me. “Deal flow doesn’t appear to be a problem,” he said. The deals will go live to consumers in mid-to-late September.
Asked about how group buying might affect Yellowbook’s other products Wilson said, “We don’t think that group buying is a wholesale replacement for other marketing efforts. It’s imperative that [advertisers] be in other places.” He said this was validated by focus groups of SMBs, where they said they wouldn’t abandon other forms of marketing for group buying exclusively.
Some sales reps are being dedicated to this exclusively. However Wilson said that in the end this will be part of a larger portfolio mix.
Wilson also told me that this sales strategy was part of a larger effort to fine tune sales efforts, which involves adjusting the “canvass” model where it makes sense on a market-by-market basis.
Wilson believes that SMBs will use group buying as an “infusion,” quarterly or semi-annually but not more frequently.
I asked Wilson about an increasingly competitive daily deals landscape and how Yellowbook felt it was positioned. Wilson said that the Yellowbook sales force has an advantage. He also said that if there was a price/margin war, Yellowbook could win. “We can stomach a price war and tighter margins far more so than the startups can.”
Wilson added that Yellowbook might even consider acquiring group-buying sites depending on things played out. But he was especially pleased by the fact that Yellowbook is the first of the national traditional media companies with a local sales force to get into the segment.
Update: YPG in Canada has also launched a daily deals program, so they were actually first. Yellowbook is the first US publisher to do so.
August 25th, 2010 at 5:17 pm
A stand alone brand is the way to go, especially for long standing media. It gives them a chance to innovate outside of their brand and create lasting memory with consumers. Also it greatly reduces pre-conceived notions consumers may have.
August 25th, 2010 at 5:22 pm
Totally agree. And as they’re showing with their strategy, the YP property can get the benefit of the deals they collect on the daily deal site.
August 25th, 2010 at 8:37 pm
What is a ‘weforia’ ? Is it a play on euphoria?
August 25th, 2010 at 9:42 pm
We + Euphoria
August 26th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
[...] Yellowbook launched deals under a new brand “Weforia.” Even though these daily deals will see distribution on [...]
August 26th, 2010 at 6:55 pm
[...] also Greg Sterling’s post, “Yellowbook First US YP to Do Group Buying“, which has a few other interesting [...]
September 16th, 2010 at 1:13 pm
[...] Yellowbook’s deals site Weforia has gone live. I wrote about it when it was announced a few weeks ago. Superpages is also emphasizing coupons (though not daily deals) on its newly [...]
September 29th, 2010 at 2:54 pm
I work for yellowbook and my only concern is our email list. Sure we may have the ‘feet in the street’ but we need to make sure people are seeing the deals. Look at start up markets so far. No one have touched the deals. I feel like we just bought a beemer without the engine in it. Look I’m all about joining this market, I just hope that once it comes available for me to sell, people are aware of weforia.
January 27th, 2011 at 1:54 pm
[...] All the major YP publishers are now doing or considering some form of daily deals. Most aggressive among the North American publishers have been Yellow Media/YPG in Canada and Yellowbook in the US. [...]
February 11th, 2011 at 4:43 pm
Weforia should offer nationwide deals & cross-promote between YB & the new site more effectively….they should go all out to promote this with a marketing blitz….to catch up with groupon they need to create buzz
July 18th, 2011 at 2:47 pm
[...] was the first of the North American publishers to launch daily deals. Yellowbook was the first in the US. Superpages also has deals/coupons (and is about to launch a daily deal email [...]
October 20th, 2011 at 7:14 pm
look like weforia still have limited coverage in term of cities.