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[February 19, 2015]

YP to "Make Every Day Local" with Documentaries Highlighting Celeb Hometowns and Favorite Businesses

YP, a leading local marketing solutions provider, is bringing local to the forefront with the debut of a new marketing campaign featuring celebrities in documentary style spots talking about their favorite hometown businesses. The "Make Every Day LocalSM" campaign, which launches today with makeeverydaylocal.com microsite, is part of YP's ongoing efforts to celebrate local business and showcase YP's ability to connect consumers to neighborhood businesses that help people every day.

"Make Every Day Local" follows a two year brand awareness campaign as part of a rebranding effort following YP's spinoff from AT&T. This campaign is different in that the content will be driven entirely by social media channels like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube (News - Alert). It will also feature influential local bloggers and user generated content about favorite businesses and include local VIP meetups where consumers can gain access to exclusive experiences with various local businesses.

The celebrity videos feature news anchors and reality stars Giuliana and Bill Rancic (Chicago), ESPN (News - Alert) anchor Hannah Storm (NYC), and country music artist Jake Owen (Nashville). They are being executive produced by barrettSF and directed by Christian Sorensen Hansen of Society, who has also shot acclaimed work for Audi, Travel Oregon, and Boston Scientific. The celebrity influencers were chosen because of their appeal to the YP "doer" audience, which show interest in sports, entertainment, music and food.

Each month, YP will release one new celebrity video on the makeeverydaylocal.com microsite, highlighting the erson's favorite local businesses. Monthly content will also include a mybookSM featured collection that complements the video and will live on yp.com, accompanying hundreds of existing mybook collections that feature a variety of businesses, including restaurants, home improvement and beauty shops.

The Rancics' local video story will be the first to appear on makeeverydaylocal.com. Bill Rancic, businessman and author, says "I think Chicago is great because of the people. Although it's a big city, you feel like you're in a small town. When you walk down the street, people say hello to you - there's always someone ready, willing and able to provide directions or advice, where to go eat or what to do."

Another facet of YP's "Make Every Day Local" campaign is the further development of locally-sourced editorial content through relationships with additional local influencers. The first group of bloggers are well-known foodies, including Lena Katz (New York), Tammy La (LA), Amy Sherman (San Francisco), Erica Key (Atlanta) and Kristin Luna (Nashville). Other influencers in home improvement and other local business categories will be added later this year.

"YP is passionate about helping businesses connect with consumers. The Make Every Day Local campaign is a reflection of what we are committed to day in, and day out," says Allison Checchi, CMO of YP. "We believe this campaign will resonate with locals in a way that inspires them to share their local love stories and images."

Finally, as part of the Make Every Day Local campaign, YP will host monthly VIP meet-ups that celebrate and showcase unique small businesses. The first will kick off in Atlanta, with NY and LA to follow. These are one-of-a-kind exclusive experiences with a local business such as a chef's table experience, meet the tailor at a local retailer, or extended shopping hours at distinctive stores.

The non-traditional marketing campaign, designed to encourage organic discovery, will be driven by social engagement on YouTube (youtube.com/yp), Facebook (News - Alert) (facebook.com/yp), and Twitter (@yp) with the hashtag #makeeverydaylocal. YP is teaming up with Insightpool, to help reach out to local social influencers to support the promotion of the videos and content, in addition to promoting the series on YP.com.

About YP

YP is a leading local marketing solutions provider in the U.S. dedicated to helping local businesses and communities grow. YP's flagship consumer brands include the popular YPSM app and YP.com, which are used by 80 million visitors each month in the U.S. (Internal Data, September 2014). YP solutions include online presence, local search, display advertising and direct marketing. YP solutions and services are backed by thousands of media consultants and customer service professionals in local markets across the U.S. with relationships spanning more than half a million advertisers. For more information on YP, visit us at http://corporate.yp.com. Follow us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/YP and on Twitter (News - Alert): @YP.


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