3/6/07

Embarq Pushing BestRedYP.com

Who is Embarq?

"Corporate Profile; Embarq Corporation (NYSE: EQ) provides a suite of communications services to customers in its serving areas. Embarq, which is expected to rank among the Fortune 500, brings common-sense ideas, reliable service and a renewed commitment to the communities it serves. Embarq focuses on offering its customers practical, innovative products and competitive pricing. The company has 20,000 employees and operates in 18 states offering local and long distance voice, data, high speed internet, wireless, and entertainment services."

UMmmm, I don't understand. Corporate speak is not my specialty so I went to the common man's place to find all answers under the sun Wikipedia!

"Embarq Corporation, or EMBARQ, was formerly the local telephone division (LTD) of Sprint Nextel. It is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol EQ.
The company is the fourth largest local exchange carrier in the United States (below the Baby Bells) and the largest independent local provider, serving customers in 18 states and providing local, long distance and high-speed data services to residential and business customers. The Las Vegas, Nevada metropolitan area is its largest market. [1] The company consists of approximately 20,000 employees.
Telephone directories for EMBARQ customers are published by R.H. Donnelley.
Approximately $3 billion in debt incurred from the Sprint Nextel merger was transferred to the new company. The company is estimated to have approximately $6 billion in revenues.
EMBARQ trademarks are the property of a subsidiary named Embarq Holdings Company LLC, commonly mistaken as the actual name of the publicly traded holding company, Embarq Corporation. It began trading on the NYSE on May 18, 2006."


Ahhhh that's better and now I understand the connection to R.H. Donnelley. Embarq owns BestRedYP.com and the online Yellow Pages site is published by R.H. Donnelley who last year bought LocalLaunch and are clearly moving into local search in earnest.

Why this ridiculous lead up? Well today I saw a Google AdSense ad on another blog advertising Embarq's BestRedYP.com. It seems odd Embarq is pushing their directory this way. Maybe they are taking the tact Local.com took when they jump started their local search engine in 2005. The company spent a ton buying traffic via AdWords and according to the company the marketing plan was successful. I can't imagine BestRedYP can catch the same wind as Local.com. The name is not catchy and the interface is old school, not intuitive and a bit clunky. I'm not saying it's not a good directory but I am suggesting it's not going to get bookmarked by too many.
Embarq is well capitalized so they can afford to test away. I can't see any benefit in placing clients there yet but I will keep an eye on the site and how it is being marketed.

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