Published November 2004

MacGregor enters Everett directory market

By Kimberly Hilden
SCBJ Assistant Editor

For almost two decades, MacGregor Publishing Co. has been building a market for its telephone directories across Western Washington, from Anacortes and the San Juans to Arlington and Bellingham. Now, the Mount Vernon-based company is expanding southward.

This month, MacGregor will be mailing 110,000 copies of its first-ever Everett & Vicinity Directory to residents and businesses in Everett, Mukilteo, Lake Stevens and Snohomish. And in May, MacGregor will push farther south with its publication of the South Snohomish County Directory, which will cover Bothell, Edmonds, Lynnwood, Mill Creek and Mountlake Terrace, said John Brierley, MacGregor’s vice president of sales.

Image courtesy of MacGregor Publishing Co.

“We started off with two books and now we have eight. Eventually, we’d like to paint the whole world plaid,” said Brierley, referring to MacGregor’s distinctive tartan design displayed on each one of the company’s “Plaid Book” covers.

MacGregor entered the directory industry in 1985, when owner Linda MacGregor purchased the Anacortes Directory. In the years since, the company has added directories for Skagit Valley, Whidbey Island and Bellingham/Whatcom County. Five years ago, the MacGregor tartan made its way to north Snohomish County.

“Nationwide, phone directories are a $15 billion annual advertising business,” Brierley said. “For many years, it was dominated by the big incumbents. Twenty years ago, independents started to challenge the business, offering ‘scoping’ that served the community better.”

Through localized “scoping” — covering a smaller market area — MacGregor’s “Plaid Books” connect local businesses with local residents, Brierley said.

Along with residential and commercial “yellow pages,” MacGregor directories include a Newcomers’ Relocation Guide, with phone numbers for utilities, chambers of commerce, licensing offices and emergency services.

But the “Plaid Books” are also an everyday resource, Brierley, said, noting the area maps and street indexes, tide tables and seating charts of regional events venues such as the Everett Events Center, Husky Stadium, Qwest Field and KeyArena.

The books also include:

• Profiles of each community covered in the directory.
• A health-care index within the yellow pages that puts medical specialty jargon into layman’s terms when cross-referencing for ease of use.
• Kids’ Pages, with puzzles and riddles.
• Cooking tips for safe food preparation as well as ingredient substitutions and measurements.
• Recipes.

“We put our minds together (thinking), ‘What can we add to these books that bring value to people?’” Brierley said.

While MacGregor’s full-size directories will be distributed by mail, the company’s “Wee Plaids,” smaller versions of the directory, will be available at local chambers of commerce, he said. The company, which has won “Publisher of the Year” honors from the International Association of Directory Publishers, also has online listings of its directories at www.plaidnet.com.

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