YELLOW PAGES TO GET WEB-LINKED BAR CODES

By: Jonathan Angel R.R. Donnelley Signs Deal With AirClic


(Adweek Magazines' Technology Marketing) Pennsylvania-based R.R.
Donnelley & Sons churns out a high proportion of the nation's
phone directories, as well as large-circulation titles such as
TV Guide. Now, thanks to a new partnership, ads in these
publications have the potential to become interactive.

On Wednesday, R.R. Donnelley announced it has linked up with
AirClic, provider of a "global, open platform" for bar coding.
The printer has become the directory publishing industry's
designated reseller of "Scanlets," AirClic's special barcodes.
Scanlets, which include not only the barcodes but also numbers a
user can copy down or enter into a phone, will be featured in
yellow and white pages advertising. As a result, directory users
will easily be able to access more detailed information on any
product or service.

"R.R. Donnelley will revolutionize the benefits customers can get
from yellow pages globally," said Phillip Riese, CEO of AirClic.
"Today, for example, if you need to make an appointment to have
your car serviced you find a repair shop in the yellow pages and
call. With AirClic's technology through the yellow pages, you'll
be able to find the nearest repair shop, know whether they do the
work you are looking for, and ... make the appointment or perhaps
find out that there's also a special on tires."

Previous bar code-based solutions have not been popular with
consumers. However, Donnelley and AirClic hope to solve this
problem two ways.

First, the numbers in the Scanlets can be entered manually into
any mobile device. Second, the initial marketing focus will be on
B2B, where directories have their strongest utility.

AirClic sells several different readers on its Web site. For
example, a $20 barcode reader reads Scanlets while tethered to a
PC's serial port. A $50 reader stores up to 100 Scanlets offline,
then uploads them to a PC once connected to a USB port.

Under Wednesday's agreement, AirClic will supply the global
infrastructure necessary to link print to the Internet including
the registry that links codes to URLs, rendering capabilities so
that Web pages can be viewed on virtually any mobile device, and
a range of other business services. R.R. Donnelley will deliver
this to their directory publishers via their Web-based
advertising code management system.



Copyright 2001, Editor & Publisher.