Malcolm Gladwell ‘Re-frames’ the Yellow Pages

Tipping Point and Blink author Malcolm Gladwell just delivered the morning keynote at the Yellow Pages Association conference in San Diego. It was a terrific speech and, unlike many keynotes from noted authors and celebrities in similar situations, it actually contained valuable insights and “takeaways” for the people he was addressing.

Gladwell is a compelling storyteller. And he opened the talk with the story of David Sarnoff, an early RCA employee (and later founder of NBC) whose scrappy and industrious determination to promote a live boxing match on the radio in 1921, against his bosses’ indifference and even opposition, helped popularize the insurgent medium. Gladwell said that part of Sarnoff’s genius was that he “re-framed” the way people understood radio. Previously it had been a medium for news and classical music. But Sarnoff introduced the possibility of bringing live sports and real-time events “right into the living room.” This was a repositioning of the medium and illustration of what was unique and possible with radio vs. newspapers, for example.

Later in the speech, as he brought an entertaining and at times far flung discussion back to the yellow pages audience, he sought to distill the essence of what the industry does and the functions it performs for consumers and advertisers. This would be part of a potential “re-framing” of the understanding of what yellow pages are. An arguably more direct version of this point came in the Q&A discussion when he was asked how to reframe magazines and The New Yorker, where he works, in particular. Gladwell said that it was a “community” that offered certain kinds of “observations and insights about culture and ideas” and was delivered through a print magazine but could and should also be delivered in other forums as well.

During the talk, Gladwell introduced three “lessons” inherent in what he described as “successful business creation” — here it would arguably be reinvention. Those lessons formed the skeleton for the various stories and anecdotes he used to illustrate them:

• The importance of social connectors within organizations
• The role of “mavens” in the larger marketplace
• The importance of re-framing or repositioning to make products and services more directly appealing

On the first point: Connectors are important social entrepreneurs and critical figures within organizations, according to Gladwell. He says they help bridge isolation across groups and silos. Mavens are experts or trusted authorities who help consumers navigate the complex world of too much choice in the marketplace. And then re-framing, as discussed, helps sell or refresh a product or idea that might have been otherwise unappealing or inaccessible to consumers.

As those lessons and ideas apply to the yellow pages industry, Gladwell argued that connectors within the organizations could help promote better communication among groups within the publisher organizations. He added that the industry and yellow pages product(s) play “maven” roles with consumers, providing a trusted or expert source of local business information. We can certainly debate the merits of that point. While it was true at one time, there are others online that probably make a stronger claim on that role today. My reaction was that the industry plays or can play that role more on the SMB advertiser side. However it can redouble its effort to reclaim the mantle of trust among consumers, along the lines of some of what Scott Klein is trying to do at Idearc (e.g., SuperGuarantee).

After the session was over I had a chance to speak to Gladwell for a few minutes. We talked about the execution and culture challenges that the YP industry faces. He agreed that on the consumer side there were challenges and obstacles to be surmounted.

Gladwell had also said that the difference between Google and yellow pages is that Google didn’t have the same degree of “trust.” This was another point I challenged to a degree, arguing that while Google wasn’t trusted as a human might be it was seen as the most reliable and comprehensive source of many types of information online.

People in the room listening to Gladwell were very enthusiastic. The concepts he laid out and applied were quite relevant and, it seems to me, offer a jumping off point for further discussion and exploration within the industry. But the question always is whether this sort of enthusiasm can translate into action and execution.

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