San Francisco established another first this week. According to change.org, San Francisco became the first city in the nation to change the distribution of phonebooks from opt-out to opt-in. I mean, can we all scream hallelujah?! How I hated tripping over those books when they arrived on my doorstep, felt angry that I was getting them in the first place and experienced waves of guilt as I carted those monsters straight to the recycling bin. Finally the archaic business of printed phone books has to abide, like the rest of us marketers, to opt-in rules. Consumers no longer have to receive 5+ pounds of precious paper unless they are living in the stone ages and actually request them.

So I applaud the Board of Supervisors for the passing an overwhelming 9–1 vote, to pass its “Yellow Pages opt-in ordinance,” a program that will save San Franciscans $1 million taxpayer dollars every year and end millions of pounds of paper waste. To those of you that live outside of SF, fight for your own rights when it comes to unwanted pounds of paper on your doorstep and spark your local officials to make the same move.

We know that self-selection is the key to happy consumers and successful marketing. Imagine all the good will and brand loyalty that Yellow Pages could have achieved if they had evolved with their consumers, recognized their need for less paper and moved to a self-selection model by choice. Consumers today want to be heard, they want to self select and they want to suport brands that listen to them. That’s why I love engagement marketing, we invite consumers to participate on their terms in ways that surprise, delight and even sometimes empower them.

Cassie