The national rollout of full-colour Yellow Pages directories printed by RR Donnelley has started in Nottingham.

The full-colour directories are the culmination of 18 months of trials in Dundee, Bournemouth and Taunton.

Yellow Pages directories will next go full-colour in the Chester & North Wales, Coventry and Derby areas. The full national rollout will take 12 months to complete.

RR Donnelley is not the only supplier to spend large sums of money to produce the full-colour directories; pre-press supplier Pindar Set which handles the repro for Yellow Pages from its sites in Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, Edinburgh and Scarborough has increased its data storage capacity and improved its database systems.

Advertisers will pay a 75% premium for full-colour advertisements, 50% for two or three colours on yellow background, and 60% for two or three colours on white knockout.

They can opt for up to three colours from a palette of 15 on either white or yellow, or the full-colour process, which allows the use of digital photographs.

Yell confirmed its full-colour plans at the official opening of RR Donnelleys Flaxby Moor plant in June (PrintWeek, 22 June).

Story by Gordon Carson