The logical interface stays in the lead
Finland's directories have undergone more changes in the last couple of years than they have in decades. From being almost an institution, the telephone directory has become a normal competitive product for which a distinct brand has been constructed. The new situation has prompted operators in this field to develop their products and operations, providing users with a better service.
Eniro is the leading directory service on the Nordic media market, with about 5,600 workers in its central market areas in the Nordic countries and Poland. The target groups are households and businesses needing numbers and addresses, as well as advertisers. Apart from telephone directories Eniro provides search and directory services via number and mobile-phone services, and on the Internet. In Finland, Eniro's telephone catalogue is the most-used printed directory in the Greater Helsinki area. At the national level Eniro comes second only to its competitor Fonecta. Both companies each own more than a third of Finland's Yellow Pages company.
"The telephone catalogue has maintained a steady position as the number one directory service. Research shows that eight out of ten Finns use the telephone directory regularly. In many localities, it can be regarded as the most visible local medium, and this is what interests advertisers," says Eniro's Marketing and Communications Manager Pirjo Kaasinen.
Home delivery competitive
From the user's point of view the telephone directory's greatest asset is its diversity of content. Advertisers, meanwhile, are interested in the number of users and the extent of local exposure.
"For the price of a single advertisement you get exposure the whole year. A special feature of the telephone directory is that a consumer seeking services here has generally already decided on a purchase, and wants to compare the alternatives. Eniro is continuing to invest strongly in marketing the telephone catalogue," Kaasinen says.
Business Manager Mika Willisi maintains that the telephone directory is still the most logical choice of interface, not just for finding phone numbers, but also for business details and maps.
"For us it remains a particularly important product. Eniro's aim is to profile itself as Finland's most-used telephone directory, with users with purchasing power. From this point of view, our most important areas of distribution are in the greater capital-city area and in Pirkanmaa (municipalities surrounding Tampere). In these areas we selected Hansaprint as the printers for our directories," Willisi says.
Eniro publishes about three million directories a year, for 32 localities covering all of Finland's municipalities. Distribution is door-to-door, to every household or business. As well as the conventional directories Eniro publishes Kaupunki-info (City information) and Yritystele (Business phone directory), with a combined distribution of about a million copies.
Since Eniro's distribution network is large, reliable production schedules are a prime prerequisite.
"Hansaprint has been able to respond best to our needs over our largest distribution areas. It is quite a challenge to load 60 lorries with telephone directories in the correct order for delivery to the door. This demands effective co-operation between ourselves, the printing house and the postal services, and others we have selected to be links in the distribution chain," says Eniro's Operations and Production Manager Kari Nurminen.
"The process is made simpler by the fact that Hansaprint not only does the printing, but also the layout of the directories, in addition to maintaining databases and an invoicing service. In practice you could say we are in daily contact with each other," he adds.
Closer co-operation under discussion
"So that the directories will better satisfy the needs of households and businesses, there will be a greater emphasis on colour printing and inserts," says Business Manager Willisi.
"Development-wise, it would of course be ideal to have a single partner who would deal with all of our products," he says speculatively.
