This article appeared in the 1996 Spring edition of The Strategic Solution, the newsletter of The Strategic Edge.

AMERITECH IMPROVES YELLOW PAGES

You need to rent a car, find a bakery, or call the nearest pizza parlor. Where can you go to find all this? The Yellow Pages, of course! Yellow Page directories serve as one of the most comprehensive listings of businesses and services available to the American consumer.

 

Ameritech Advertising Services, Troy, Michigan, is responsible for the Yellow Pages in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Ameritech has been aggressively studying how consumers use their Yellow Pages and what changes they can make to improve them. In particular, Ameritech has been focusing on what portions of a market receive which Yellow Page directory. Most major U.S. markets are too large to warrant one Yellow Page directory, so the metro areas are divided into several directories.

 

Ameritech wants to provide directories that optimize consumer convenience. For example, consumers on the north side of a metro area want a directory that lists businesses or services they are likely to frequent or use, rather than a directory that focuses on businesses in the south portion of the market. While part of this information is determined through "primary" research via consumer opinion surveys, a major aspect is the inclusion of "secondary" market research which provides a more objective overview of market forces.

 

The "secondary" market research is where The Strategic Edge comes in. The Strategic Edge has been assisting Ameritech Advertising in optimizing their directory coverages by providing market studies of a number of metro areas. The analysis focuses on consumer shopping patterns, business data, and a variety of demographic factors important in assessing general market forces.

 

A major tool The Strategic Edge uses in assisting Ameritech is Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Using Conquest Marketplace Information System and Atlas*GIS from Strategic Mapping Inc., The Strategic Edge has been able to analyze multiple markets in a timely and cost-effective manner that would otherwise be prohibitive. GIS has also allowed The Strategic Edge to perform analysis using multiple levels of geography, in combination with multiple demographic variables. For example, in one particular market, Ameritech was more concerned with definitions by zip codes, so all directories and demographic reports were based on this level of geography. In another market, census tracts were used, but applying GIS technology allowed for consistent demographic analysis between markets. GIS has enabled The Strategic Edge and Ameritech to "visualize" the directory coverages, rather than just relying on tabular data such as spreadsheets.

 

As people recognize the spatial aspects of their business data, applications similar to this Ameritech example will continue to proliferate. Further evidence of this is the feature article in the January 1996 issue of Business Geographics, which focuses on the telecommunications industry. Other GIS applications in telecommunications include target marketing customer segments for communication products and optimal site locations for cellular towers, to name a few. The Strategic Edge works with its communications clients to develop strategies addressing these and other strategic issues.

 

 

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