The Phonebook: The Bestseller
Fonecta's Vice President, Printed directories, Lauri Kangaslahti says telephone directories' popularity has stood up very well to the communications revolution. "The phonebook is Finland's most-used directory, both at work and at home. As many as 91% of Finns consult the phone directory. One of our own customers uses our services to find contact details about 1.5 million times a day," Kangaslahti says.
Together with local telephone companies, Fonecta publishes a nationwide set of 16 local directories, and is also the clear market leader in Finland.
Better exposure pays off
Fonecta's telephone directory consists of the White Pages containing entries for households, companies and organisations, the Yellow Pages and the introductory pages. In the white pages entries are in alphabetical order, but in the Yellow Pages companies and services are listed in alphabetical order by category.
"Because the telephone directory is used in almost every Finnish home and business, it can be seen as the best of the local media. A national set of telephone directories also offers businesses an opportunity to cover the whole of Finland," Kangaslahti says.
He reminds us that the phone directory is also a cost-effective medium.
"For the media buyer the phone directory is a highly competitive advertising channel. For the price of a single newspaper advert you get extensive exposure all year round. You also have to bear in mind that a person using the directory's advertisement pages is usually already on the point of buying," he says.
Although increasingly fewer landline telephones are used in the home, this has hardly affected the information content of the telephone directories. Fonecta's telephone directories also include well over half a million mobile phone numbers. In the past year, use of Fonecta's telephone directories has grown by over 10%. This has been achieved through more effective distribution.
"We are delivering the directories in more and more areas direct to homes and businesses. In other areas the distribution works so that anyone who wants can pick up a copy from the nearest collection point. Free distribution has meant bigger print-runs," says Kangaslahti.
Precisely because of the large print-run and the expertise required, he sees Hansaprint as the best possible partner.
"In addition to the printed directory, Hansaprint's expertise extends to maintaining a databank and to electronic directory services. They have also been involved in further developing the directories to serve the needs of homes and businesses."
One of the key developments in the next few years will be four-colour printing, which it is hoped will offer advertisers added value.
"The better the contact details in the telephone directory are printed, the more customers will use them," Kangaslahti believes.
