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Other top markets are being invaded by Donnelley, based in Purchase, N.Y., the largest non-Bell marketeer of Yellow Pages in the U.S. Donnelley, a longtime sales agent for several Bell publishers, still sells advertising space for some 50 phone companies. Now the firm is aggressively courting customers in Pennsylvania, California and other states with 90 editions of its own, as well as numerous phone books co-published with other firms. Says Bob Dahut, general sales manager for Bell Atlantic, the holding company for Bell of Pennsylvania: "Donnelley is a formidable competitor. They've got the knowledge and the sales force."
Dallas-based GTE Directories publishes phone books in 42 states, from Alaska to Florida. While many of its competitors are concentrating on major cities, GTE is going after customers in suburban and rural areas. During the first six months of this year, GTE increased its directory revenues by 11% over the same period in 1986.
For many of the industry's publishers, specialized Yellow Page editions are a way to boost market share or carve out a new niche. In the San Francisco Bay Area, for example, Direct Language Publishing distributes four editions of its Asian Yellow Pages -- two in Chinese, one in Japanese and one in Vietnamese -- to the thriving immigrant communities there. Manufacturers in five Midwestern states can turn to Ameritech's Industrial Yellow Pages, a business directory so technical that the Ohio edition lists 22 different entries for ball bearings. And where but in the Los Angeles Children's Yellow Pages would one expect to find nine entries for doll hospitals?