Montreal-based Yellow Pages Group and publishing giant Transcontinental are set to launch a hybrid guide that combines a glossy magazine with a yellow pages directory in mid-March. Annie Marsolais, director of corporate communications says: ‘This is a ‘guide’ – it’s not a magazine, and it’s not a directory. But it’s a brand new thing [combining both].’ The guides will be available in the Toronto and Montreal markets, and the first issue will be themed around home renovation specifically. The hybrid pub will be branded as special editions and bundled with Transcontinental titles Style at Home (in Toronto) and Décor (in Montreal). The front half of the book will be dressed as a 100-page glossy mag, with the back half boasting 120 pages of home reno-specific Yellow Page directory listings. Marsolais says 40% of the advertisers signed on to the project are new clients and both companies’ ad sales are being kept separate for the editorial section and the Yellow Pages listing, respectively. Marsolais adds: ‘this provides different, more targeted vehicles for advertisers.’ The guides will be available door to door (via a list culled from prior research targeting neighbourhoods most likely to do home renos), through subscriptions, and at newsstands. Another guide is slated for September of this year themed around caring for aging parents. Marsolais says the companies will gauge response from the two pilot issues to determine frequency.
