Switchboard, a provider of directory technology and locally targeted e-marketing solutions, started a national advertising campaign yesterday for Switchboard.com, its free online directory.
Switchboard will advertise on CBS properties using $7.5 million in advertising credits from CBS. The credits had been given as part of a stock-for-advertising deal between Switchboard and CBS that ends after this campaign.
Switchboard said it aims to attract Internet users to Switchboard.com while helping to create a mindset that “online directories are a powerful Internet utility.” The tagline of the campaign is: “Switchboard. It's the yellow pages. Electrified.”
“Our goal is to educate Internet users that when they need to locate a business, product or person that Switchboard.com is the place to go, offering a compelling alternative to traditional print yellow pages and costly directory assistance calls,” said Elaine Haney, vice president of marketing and operations at Switchboard.
This campaign complements a marketing effort that ran from October 1999 to May 2001. That campaign used $20 million in CBS advertising credits to promote the company in print, television, radio and outdoor advertising. Switchboard said traffic numbers on its site showed an increase of 20 percent to 30 percent in visits during the campaign. Weekly page views rose from 7 million last fall to 15 million this spring.
Switchboard worked with The Garfield Group, Newton, PA, to develop both campaigns.
