• by Aaron Baar , November 21, 2008

Yellowbook.com shows off its new interactive features--such as rating local businesses--through a new advertising campaign that allows users to choose and rate the ending of the company's latest TV commercial.

"The futuristic aspects in the new television commercial represent Yellowbook's commitment to continued innovation, and importantly, to helping consumers find what they're really looking for--wherever they search--today as well as tomorrow," says company rep Louise Thatch. The campaign builds upon a tagline introduced in May, "Say Yellow to the future."

The spot, directed by Vadim Perelman, who directed the movie "The House of Sand and Fog," depicts a futuristic world in which a man breaks up with his girlfriend via an interactive television screen. As he's breaking up with the woman (using lines like "I need time for myself"), his scantily clad new love interest walks around behind him. The dumped woman uses the screen (by waving her fingers in the air) to find businesses such as "relationship counseling," "chain saws," "personal trainer" and "pawn shops." A voiceover asks viewers to visit the site to choose the ending they like best.

"Within the new TV, the interactivity provides the entry point to see and learn about more options on yellowbook.com," Thatch says. "By engaging viewers to rate potential endings, the campaign provides an opportunity to extend the rating experience from the television creative to business listings on our site."

On the Web site, users are given three choices: Healthy Heart, in which the heroine finds new love through a personal trainer; Vindication, where she encounters her former boyfriend in a store while trying on a sexy cocktail dress, and Satisfaction, where she pawns the items he left in her apartment. Users are also asked to rate those endings.

Also on the landing page, users can rate and review local businesses (as well as read the ratings of others), find and download Yellowbook applications for their mobile devices and view video ads of local Yellowbook advertisers.

"[Adding] ratings and reviews provides a forum for users to share comments and experiences about a business with other users," Thatch says. "Mobile is another example of providing vital local business information to Yellowbook users regardless of where they are."

In related news, AT&T Inc.--which publishes Yellow Pages--is renaming its advertising and publishing unit AT&T Advertising Solutions, to better reflect the scope of services it provides, including Internet, TV, print and wireless. In addition, the company's YellowPages.com has been renamed AT&T Interactive to account for its local search capabilities that include online and mobile platforms.