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February 2008 - Strategy Magazine
Who to watch

Ideas man: Yellow Pages Group's Bob Nunn

by Annette Bourdeau
page 20

Bob Nunn uses non-traditional tactics to keep Yellow Pages relevant, 99 years after its launch

Bob Nunn remembers his first day at the Yellow Pages Group well. It was Aug. 14, 2003 - the day of the "Northeast Blackout," as it's now known. With no access to lights, computers or even phones, Nunn had an opportunity to indulge in one of his favourite activities: dreaming up big ideas. He envisioned gathering as many of YPG's 400,000 advertisers as possible under one roof, to demonstrate that YPG's success is that they're all in it together. When he first pitched the idea, his higher-ups thought their new Toronto-based director of brand and user experience was crazy.

"The price tag was huge," says Nunn's boss, Jean-Pascal Lion, VP marketing at

Montreal-based YPG, who laughs as he recalls being shocked by Nunn's seemingly outlandish suggestion. But Nunn was able to make a strong case for organizing a thank you event for the advertisers, and quickly won internal approval by proving there could be metrics applied to such an exercise to gauge its effectiveness. It didn't hurt that YPG's CEO, Marc Tellier, is a big advocate of taking risks. "If you give him an idea, he says, 'Make it bigger,'" says Nunn.

Nunn's vision came to fruition last fall in the form of a year-long "99 ways to say thank you" campaign, developed with Toronto-based agency The Hive, which was positioned to celebrate YPG's 99th year in business. Invitation-only events at arenas in Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto featured performances by Jay Leno and the Barenaked Ladies, while Quebec advertisers were entertained by comedian Mario Jean and singer Daniel Bélanger in Montreal. When asked if YPG plans to do something on such a broad scale again, Lion chuckles: "Eventually, or something else. He has lots of ideas, my friend Bob."

Nunn, a self-described "brand mechanic," was drawn to YPG because he saw the opportunity to make a big impact. The seasoned ad man, who's woven his way from agency to client side at the likes of BBDO, Manchu Wok, Doner Canada and Firestone Canada over the years, has seen the rise and fall of the interruption model of mass media advertising, and is inspired by brands that have been built without it. He points to the success of massive brands like Starbucks, Google and YouTube, which have all achieved iconic status largely through word of mouth and by delivering unique brand experiences. "YellowPages.ca is just crossing the 10 million unique visitor mark - that's a lot of interaction with my product," says Nunn. He felt he could make a big difference at YPG by improving its relevance and maximizing the synergy between its print, online and mobile offerings.

One of his early efforts on the mobile front was the 2005 guerrilla launch of HelloYellow, a free, voice-activated mobile search application. It appeals to drivers searching for local businesses from their cars, so Nunn and his team, which included Montreal-based AOR Cossette, crafted a street effort that entailed yellow-clad promo teams at Esso stations around the Greater Toronto Area giving out free gas top-ups. "It's very contextual - 75% of our ad spend goes on proven methods," Nunn explains. "With the other 25%, we get a little crazy."

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