Yellow Pages Group New Zealand has announced the debut of “Yellow mobile” on the Telecom and Vodafone Live! networks. 

According to New Zealand’s Business to Business magazine:

“Yellow Pages Group Digital Media Director Blair Glubb said Yellow mobile will complement the company’s existing range of advertising solutions which already cover the print, online and voice (via the 018 and 0172 directory assistance services) channels. ‘Yellow mobile will help businesses connect with the huge numbers of New Zealanders who want to find businesses and their products and services while they’re on the go. This is a big step towards our vision of reaching every New Zealander every day.’ ” 

While YPG-NZ could have gone with a more sophisticated approach, it has opted for a simple application that provides users with flexibility in how they want to interact with Yellow mobile.

“By texting a keyword, category or business name and a location to 018, subscribers will automatically receive a text message with contact details of the business most relevant to their search criteria. For example ‘Café Valentino. Christchurch’ or ‘Plumbers, Ellerslie.’

“As well as containing contact details for the business, the return text message will also include a link to a full set of search results on the Yellow mobile WAP portal (a WAP capable handset is required to use the link).” 

With a high penetration of mobile users, New Zealand is an ideal location for mobile local services. Mobile was an area lacking in YPG-NZ’s portfolio and was a stumbling block to its goal of reaching “every New Zealander every day.” The key to the success of this venture will certainly be in selling existing advertisers onto the mobile platform with incremental investment.