Tech Times | Hello, Yello - Same great mobile app complements newly rebranded group

Judging from the popularity of ad campaigns spanning various local districts, it seems by now that most Jamaicans have noted the rebranding from Jamaica Yellow Pages to Yello. Although the company's interactive and innovative mobile app, launched in summer 2015, is by no means new to the market, Tech Times predicts that this local search engine will remain a favourite.

Product manager at Yello Media Group Keisha Maria Cools-Lartigue, in an interview, said, "It (the rebranding) is just to show that the company is more than a directory - which is what we're known for traditionally, a product that still works - but we've extended beyond the directory."

About the mobile app, she explained, "We have different segments of consumers; you have persons who believe that 'this phone is my sun and I revolve around it'; (they) prefer having the app on the mobile because it's more on the go."

 

Key features of the app

 

- 'Search', which is forefront, provides a list of all the companies that would fall under the search term once entered by the user.

- 'Around me' feature, which yields search result page with businesses listed around the user's physical location.

- 'Creative business' section for activities like booking artistes, etc.

- Profile page on companies with turn-by-turn navigation, ratings and reviews where available.

- Option to share company profile via social media.

- Additional everyday items like local news, movie times, flight times.

- Ability to change display layout from wheel to ribbon or grid.

- Ability to refine search results to 17 other Caribbean countries.

 

For every interest

 

"It's not just connecting you to a business, it also connects you to things that people want to do in their daily lives," explained Cools-Lartigue, pointing out the inclusion of items like a news feed, movie listing and flight information. She continued, "The news is important, (but) we don't have the core competence to give you the news the way you want it, so we've teamed up with The Gleaner and THE STAR. As it relates to the movie times and the flight times, the app is centred around finding information but finding it in a different way; finding things that they (the users) are interested in in their daily lives."

 

For other Caribbean markets

 

Possibly the coolest feature of the app is the user's ability to refine search results to any of 17 other Caribbean countries. According to Cools-Lartigue, "What many people may not know is that we (Yello Media Group) actually operate in 18 countries across the Caribbean, and in all those countries we have local information."

 

Getting listed

 

Cools-Lartigue explained, "We're actually right now embarking on a programme to ensure that everybody is listed, because you don't have to be a formal company to advertise with us. We say no to nobody - in fact, we have a free business listing on our yellomg.com, so if the man selling coconut down the road wants to be listed with us, all he has to do is to just go on to yellomg.com, register for a free listing, and once registered and we've approved that it's a local Jamaican business, he will be up."

For unsuccessful searches, she said, "If you're not seeing somebody there, it just could be that we haven't got to them or they haven't heard about the fact that it's actually free."

She said, finally, "We're constantly updating our platforms. It is not about launching today and the product stays where it is. It's literally launching today and saying this was the best we could deliver today; and tomorrow, how can we make the best that we delivered yesterday even better. We're currently working on updating and upgrading the app."

The Yello mobile app is available for download on Google Play Store and iTunes for free. Visit www.yellomg.com to find out more.