Paradise gains in phone-book race

See the full Pacific Business News article:
Paradise gains in phone-book race
July 25, 2003

The three-year-old Paradise Yellow Pages is gaining ground in Honolulu's phone-book race with Verizon's long-time SuperPages commercial directory. Stacking the two side by side over the past three years, the Paradise version is growing fast while Verizon's seems to be holding ground after shrinking for two years. With a second directory making such headway into the market, some local businesses are choosing to expand their advertising to include two books instead of one in order to ensure exposure to a wide range of potential customers. Other businesses are content to stick with the one book they feel drives them the most business. .

A race for space
Taking the two companies' different design factors into account, PBN calculated Paradise and Verizon to be head-to-head in total revenue-generating space for this year's editions, which just reached homes and businesses. Verizon's distribution still outpaces Paradise Pages more than 2 to 1 on Oahu, however, and still owns the neighbor island market, although Paradise is making an entry there in 2004. Paradise Media Group LLC was launched by two former Verizon (then known as GTE) employees in 2000. "Verizon had the monopoly in the marketplace," David Akina said of his motives for starting a competing publication with co-founder Terry Hepler. The book has grown fast since its genesis. "We've more than doubled our growth," Akina said. "We've probably even tripled it. Now we're ready to go to neighboring islands." A new phone directory for the Big Island is already in the works and should hit Hawaii's doorsteps in January 2004. The distribution will be 125,000. Verizon's distribution on Oahu is about 1 million and about 3 million statewide. Paradise's distribution on Oahu is 485,000 this year. At Paradise Pages' launch, Akina priced his listings lower than Verizon's in every category, by as much as 50 percent to 60 percent, he said. He said prices have come down in the yellow page market as a result. Verizon spokeswoman DeAnna Kriege agrees prices are down but disagrees it's because of Paradise Pages. Prices came down a few years ago due to a post-9/11 economy, she said, and are now comparable. Paradise Pages' first edition was sold prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, with the book hitting the streets in the summer of 2001.

Directory features differ
Verizon, the communications giant that also sells phone and wireless services, has published its yellow pages in Hawaii for at least 50 years. In addition to the phone book, Verizon also launched a Web site directory, superpages.com, in 1996. As for the Paradise Pages, Akina said they aim to differentiate the product based on customer service and layout. While Verizon uses five columns for its ad listings, Paradise uses four. Akina said the print sizes in Paradise are also two to three times larger, along with more space in between for a cleaner look. Both offer coupon pages and a restaurant guide. Verizon publishes its white and commercial pages separately, while Paradise puts them in one book. Paradise features a hula dancer on its cover in this year's directory, along with a local mall guide, maps and, catering to the interests of locals, even a Las Vegas guide. Verizon unveiled its 30th-anniversary cover by Hilo artist Kathleen Kam this summer. Kriege said what sets Verizon apart is its donations to local charities in Hawaii, including a $25,000 grant to a Books for Babies literacy program at The Queen's Medical Center.

By the numbers
Verizon's Oahu book has shrunk steadily from 1,054 yellow pages in its 2000-2001 edition (when it was still GTE) to 1,032 pages in 2001-2002 and 960 pages in 2002-2003. It made a slight recovery this year to 1,005 pages. Paradise started out with 586 yellow pages in 2001-2002, grew to 714 pages in 2002-2003 and tallied 866 pages this year. Its coupon pages also grew from 50 to 166 over the past three editions while Verizon's coupon pages remained steady at 44 this year. The page headers in the yellow pages of each directory -- the space at the top of each page that denotes the category and page number -- has been taking up more space year after year in each book. When page-header space was taken into account in the sum of revenue-generating yellow pages, Paradise had just a slight edge over Verizon this year: 984 pages vs. 982. That count does not take into consideration the variations in type sizes used by the two books.

Businesses mixed on books
Local Hawaii businesses often advertise in both directories, though some have decided to choose one or another. They gave mixed reviews on which is more effective. Attorney Charles H. Bower, who has been in practice more than 30 years, says he advertises in the Paradise Pages because clients have been coming to him through that directory. "It appears a lot of people are using Paradise," he said. "Each year, there have been more." He opted for a full, two-page ad in the Paradise phone book this year after taking out a full, one-page ad last year. He also paid for a smaller, two-column ad in Verizon. Gen Nishimura, president of Chemi-Pure Termite & Pest Control, on the other hand, said according to his log, more clients are coming to him via Verizon's directory. To maximize the exposure of his family-owned business, he put a full-page ad in Paradise and a half-page ad in Verizon. The full-page ad in Paradise, he said, cost less than the half-page ad in Verizon. Kimberly Owen of Owen & Owen Photographers said she relies mostly on the company's Web site to bring in business. But she took out an ad in Verizon's directory because she thought people would have the tendency to go to the longer-established phone book. She did not advertise in Paradise Pages. For a specialty store like Aloha Hula Supply, it made sense to take out a small ad in both directories, said co-owner Cori Kop. Yet, for other businesses, choosing Paradise was a matter of local pride. "I would choose the new guys because they're local, it's pretty and they're more about service," said Gary Kewley of Surf News Network, which has a trade agreement with Paradise. "They're just more motivated. Verizon's going to have some catching up to do because they had a monopoly. Now they don't."

Reach Nina Wu at 955-8038 or ninawu07@yahoo.com