It's been in the "dead zone" for that long due to their lack of financing, which they believe has been solved. The ad campaign will solve that. Also, their main traffic is done on the individual .com websites. Thedirectory.com is mainly for signing up for their service.
Did you search the Hello directory websites? For one example HelloNewYorkCity.com http://hellonewyorkcity.com.w3snoop.com/ Has 115 unique visitors each day, revenue of $183/year. That's just one of the thousands in the Hello Network. Try your city, Hello(your city).com Like HelloHouston.com