YPG launches digital advertising arm Mediative

http://www.marketingmag.ca/english/news/media/article.jsp?content=20101026_202316_2212 Yellow Pages Group has launched a digital advertising and marketing subsidiary called Mediative to serve national advertisers and agencies.

Its services include SEO, SEM, social media marketing and location-based marketing consulting. YPG has signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Acquisio, in which YPG has held a 24% ownership interest since mid-2009, for Mediative to provide clients access to Acquisio's search, social and display advertising platform in Canada.

The new venture is a result of Yellow Pages laying out $60 million in acquisitions, including search engine marketing company Enquiro, national retail advertising firm Ad Splash Media and independent online advertising representation shop Uptrend Media. As a result, Mediative has burst out of the gate with over 150 employees across four new Canadian offices in Montreal, Toronto, Kelowna and Vancouver.

"We're launching a new brand outside the YPG umbrella to build a different, media tech culture," said Mediative president Patrick Lauzon. "Yellow Pages has never been a product that ad agencies have traditionally worked with. As the media world migrates to digital, there's been a huge opportunity to get going with these national advertisers."

Yellow Pages Group intends to leverage its network of print and online properties–including Autotrader.ca, RedFlagDeals.com and YellowPages.ca–to provide display advertising and audience targeting on Canada's leading online and mobile ad networks, as well as vertical ad products and solutions in the automotive, real estate and retail categories.

Mediative will also sell online advertising inventories for publishers including Future Shop, Best Buy, Walmart, Toys R Us, Martha Stewart, ET Online and the CFL.

"We have 11.7 million unique visitors that come to YPG properties every month, even before these acquisitions," said Lauzon. "Yet, we still weren't [connecting] with agencies or coordinated [enough] to be a display ad reseller. The initiation of [the acquisitions] was really, 'How do we regroup these properties and create a group that will go out and sell them?' "

With the addition of Ad Splash and Up Trend alone, Lauzon said Mediative has grown its ad space to 250 sites.

"Mediative is the next step in YPG's digital growth strategy." said Marc P. Tellier, president and CEO of Yellow Pages Group, in a statement. "We now have the products and team to serve advertisers looking for robust and cost-effective digital marketing solutions."