Have you ever used the Yellow Pages? I bet you had a reason for using it and even before you started flicking through the pages you knew exactly the outcome you wanted to achieve. To find a plumber to fix a leaky tap or an electrician to wire some new power outlets perhaps? Whatever the problem the yellow book had the solution, or rather, it connected you with someone who had the solution.

Now consider a page in a newspaper, there are headlines, news items and, of course, advertisements. But there is a big difference between an ad in a newspaper and an ad in Yellow pages, and that is consumer intent. The reader of the newspaper is highly unlikely to have picked it up in the hope that he or she might find a plumber or electrician.

Newspaper, TV and radio ads are designed to interrupt what we are doing. Through sophisticated calls to action, they attempt to coax and entice us into believing we have a real and immediate need for the products or services being promoted. However, when you pick up a copy of Yellow pages, you have already identified a need, without the collusion of third parties, and are pro-actively taking action by doing something about it.  Read more...