Meet The New Dex, Same As The Old Dex

Have you heard the news?

My one-and-only-ever former corporate employer has now officially emerged from it’s bankruptcy:

http://www.bizjournals.com/triad/stories/2010/02/01/daily6.html

The new company has a new name (“Dex One Corp.”), a new stock symbol (“DEXO”) and some new members of its board.

Unfortunately, it still has the same CEO that led the company to its demise, along with the same old, tired “sounds-great-but-frankly-no-one-believes-you” mantra that they’re mission is to help local business owners.

This is, of course, generally good news for the beleaguered and beaten-down yellow pages industry.

But I don’t see the news that really matters to small business owners:  That the yellow pages publishers have changed the way they treat their advertisers.

Until I see that any of the major yellow pages publishers show any signs of educating their ad designers, sales managers and account reps on the use of Direct Response Marketing principles and strategies, I just don’t see their yellow page books and internet programs breaking out of the boring blur of sameness and actually starting to do a good job of attracting customers, clients and patients for their advertisers — at least enough to make paying their outrageous advertising rates a really smart investment.

Which is good news for local business marketing consultants like myself, since business owners will continue to need help from outside the yellow pages industry to invest their advertising dollars wisely and get the best possible return on their investment.

Of course, I could be wrong.  I guess we’ll see if there’s really anything “new” about this corporation other than just a name and stock symbol.

My prediction:  Same games played by the reps and managers, same boring books full of poorly-designed ads, same over-priced, under-performing, inflexible internet offerings, same “we still think we’re a monopoly” annual rate hikes and strong-arm sales and credit tactics, same “me me me” focus that puts the interests of the company and its employees above those of their advertisers instead of seeking win-win solutions.

Of course, I hope I’m wrong.  As I’ve often said, the yellow pages industry can put me out of a job anytime by just starting to do the right thing by their advertisers.

My gut tells me that won’t be anytime soon…

What are your thoughts? Let me know with your comments below.