DISQUS

yikes · 2 months ago

Who's to say all GSP has to offer is an ad campaign?

Josh Copeland · 2 months ago

I've been hot on this same subject since seeing a video interview of CMO Elisa Steele on Yahoo's own blog this morning. In it, she described the genesis of the new campaign and the insights that led to its final executions..

Two things confound me:
1) The insight or "Unifying factor around the globe from consumers is that they really want to use the web more easily to navigate their life." The introductory TV spot does not show any examples of this happening nor any explanation of it.
2) "Yahoo doesn't have an issue with awareness around the brand." If they had no problems of awareness, why the giant global spend? Why use awareness-supporters like tv so heavily?

As some have said, their campaign may ring hollow with too many of their current supporters, and I wonder if it starts with a marketing team that doesn't truly connect its insights with its actions...

Wade · 2 months ago

Right you are Alan. A true change to the Yahoo homepage would get my attention much faster than any ad campaign could. Just saying. (As would eliminating the Obama-bashing AP headlines Yahoo loves so much. But I digress...)

Alan Wolk · 2 months ago

@Yikes: Even if they offer something beyond the typical print or TV-based campaign, I'm not sure what effect it would have. Or are you suggesting that Goodby get involved in product development and R&D, the two areas Yahoo needs to work on before they can advertise in any medium?

@Josh - welcome aboard. You raise some interesting points, but I suspect it all hooks back to not having the right product: if Yahoo wants to help consumers "use the web more easily to navigate their life" I'm not sure how the current site does that or why it's preferable to say Facebook or Google.

As I'd noted, the reaction from the tech press (and I'm talking consumer tech press, not the hardcore geeks) to Yahoo's new offerings was underwhelming. So while the Ogilvy campaign could have done a better job of directly communicating the message Yahoo wanted, the proof points still seem to be absent.

@Wade - the change to the home page was fairly dramatic... it just did not seem to be the sort of change people wanted. The main ding I saw in reviews (both user and blogger) was that it took too many clicks and that the ads were both confusing and in the way.

Josh Copeland · 2 months ago

Thanks for the response Alan. At the heart of your argument, I totally agree with you. Even if Ogilvy had completely nailed Yahoo's brief, it was still going to be advertising a product that the industry is very "meh" about.

I wonder how well the agencies will play together in the "Brand Advisory Board" that Yahoo is setting up for Ogilvy, Goodby and Landor. Considering the agencies are under two holding companies, it *seems* like Yahoo's way of pitting agencies against each other to fight it out. And the "best work" isn't always the product of such fights...

Promotional Products · 2 months ago

I would have to agree with you that there is not one specific way to turn Yahoo! around and Goodby is going to have there hands full, but I'm sure they are prepared for it. I think that Yahoo will have to somehow create some sort of niche in their brand if they want to reconstruct their image and get new page views.

dailybiz · 1 month ago

I would argue that magic advertising words do matter, it's just that they matter at the margins. They can't save a bad product, but the right words can make the difference between similar products.

I wrote up a post in response. Interested in your thoughts.

http://dailybiz.wordpress.com/2009/11/02/magic-...

customtshirts · 1 month ago

Nice Content. Great idea to promote your product or services is to use customized gifts such as Custom T-Shirts, customized sanitizers and many more.