Colleagues Direct Marketing has won the contract to book and produce the first-ever loose inserts for Yellow Pages directories.


Yell, formerly the Yellow Pages Group, will launch the initiative this August in the Manchester Central directory, the first of the new cycle of 78 local directories.


Each directory will hold six inserts, single or double-sided and offer advertisers the opportunity to promote their brand values, seasonal promotions or detailed pricing information. An insert campaign will be available for Yells business to business directories in 2002.


Yell chief executive John Condron said: "Inserts are a totally new advertising medium for Yellow Pages, and offer the potential to reach over 27m homes and businesses in the UK."


News of the contract comes just two months after a management-led buyout of the Bradford and Bath-based Colleagues.


Media director at Colleagues Ann Gardiner said that the company had been courting Yell since August last year when it first learnt that Yell was considering inserts .


" Yellow Pages is probably in the top five in terms of expenditure," she said. "Using inserts in the Yellow Pages directories is new territory for Yell and will offer regional advertisers an opportunity to directly target potential customers."


The new directories will be delivered in bags to ensure that the directory arrives in perfect condition including the inserts.


Story by Richard Rhydderch