It’s rare that we see an advertising campaign embrace a jobs-to-be-done approach as clearly as the one recently executed by Yellowbook and its partner, ad agency Gotham.
Printed Yellow Pages directories, such as those published by Yellowbook, were once the dominant source of local business contact information. The Internet, a constantly updated, interactive source of information, is now forcing Yellow Pages publishers to rethink their positioning and indeed, their relevance. Many consumers, it seems, continue to think of its iconic yellow-paper directory, for example, when they think of Yellowbook.
Desiring to change the way consumers think of its product, Yellowbook launched a new ad campaign last week. The first two television ads, which can be viewed here, show two individuals using a Yellowbook online site to seek basic solutions to superficial problems. The ads then reveal the true concern (job) that each individual is really seeking to address.
In the first ad, a kid searching for martial arts is really seeking self-confidence. In the second ad, a bride searching for help removing an old tattoo is really seeking a fresh start.
It seems possible that this window into the true inner concerns of the participants may elicit an emotional response from viewers who may, in turn, use yellowbook.com to find solutions to their own inner concerns. Despite this use of jobs in its advertising campaign, however, the yellowbook.com directory remains organized as a printed Yellow Pages directory, searchable by basic vertical category. Perhaps an opportunity exists for the site to implement a jobs-based search feature in the future — I wonder what price businesses would pay to be the first result returned by a search for "self-confidence"?