Why does Yahoo! need an ad campaign?

Posted Sep 18th 2006 10:27AM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Press Releases, Competitive Strategy, Yahoo! (YHOO), Marketing and Advertising

Could it be that Yahoo! needs an ad campaign because it finds it difficult to compete successfully online?

Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO) announced this morning it is launching a marketing campaign. The integrated campaign will include television, radio, movies and online advertisements as well as free Dunkin' Donuts coffee (?!). It is labeled as a multi-million dollar campaign. The ads will debut Thursday, September 21 and the coffee giveaway is for Yahoo.com visitors on September 22.

According to Cammie Dunaway, chief marketing officer at Yahoo!, the ads emphasize their signature tagline and aim to revitalize Yahoo!'s brand, highlighting Yahoo's new home page, the new beta mail and the success of Yahoo! Answers.

The ads are humorous and playful. Theme: how life is without Yahoo's services and how it can be with Yahoo at your side. Cute. Well, I liked them. You can watch them here.

However, while marketing campaigns definitely have an important place in any company's strategy, this latest by Yahoo! looks a little like a desperate move. Can't compete with rivals on the same level (whether it's technology or being deemed passé)? Then turn to commercials.

With Google taking over the online search market and other Internet portals eating away at Yahoo!'s market share, Yahoo! is trying to build awareness with the commercials. The problem is that I'm not sure ads shown on TV are the way to go. Internet users get to sites more by viral marketing than commercials -- unless perhaps a specific service is provided, such as anti-virus, let's say. And a site becomes a favorite because it offers something unique, not because its yodel is heard night and day on the radio.

If we consider Google or MySpace, how much TV and radio advertising have they done? (Not to say they're not spending heavily on marketing, especially Google, but not like that). As McKenna (a marketer who helped Apple and Intel) said, "I can't say if it's good or bad, but I do know it's not the wave of the future."

Tags: goog, google, myspace, yahoo, yhoo

Print this

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

9-18-2006 @ 10:46AM

Jeff said...

I personally like Yahoo better than google. While both have a lot of similar products, Yahoo displays its "money makers" on its homepage while Google only shows its search engine. I know the search is Google's bread and butter and the massive content on Yahoo's homepage makes it a bit cluttered. So, I'm not sure if either model necessarily has a weakness, but it is nice they do try to be different.

9-18-2006 @ 11:43AM

Stephen said...

Yahoo has a very different audience than MySpace. You have to consider the demographic here, Yahoo has been consistantly successful with an older audience. An audience that isn't reached by online Virals. People in their 30s-40s are going to be driven directly to the site by this kind of advertising. Don't discount yahoo either, in terms of traffic for their email/content sites, the others are still biting at their heels.

9-18-2006 @ 11:57AM

Melly said...

Jeff, I'm a great Yahoo! fan as well.

Stephen, as part of the "older audience", I also know that we're very set in our ways. If I always use the same site for something, I'd rarely change. Same holds true for others I know my age. So I'm not sure how successful this ad campaign will be.
In any event, I'm definitely not discounting Yahoo!, but Yahoo! has simply got to start competing better. Panama has to roll out soon or else...

9-18-2006 @ 3:40PM

Dan said...

I just signed up for a Yahoo E-Commerce website soon after the Ebay fee hike announcement. According to Auctionbytes.com’s survey Yahoo has signed up quite a few e-commerce sites. Yahoo has also seen a huge increase in auction listings too according to powersellersunite.com. Yahoo may be trying to capitalize on their newfound good fortune and are making a commitment to their users. I think it’s a great strategy. I would also take advantage of Ebay’s blunder if I was in charge of Yahoo.

9-18-2006 @ 8:20PM

Gary Bourgeault (thealphamarketer.com) said...

When you mention, "Can't compete with rivals on the same level (whether it's technology or being deemed passé)? Then turn to commercials." I would think if it was true in any business, then you do need to find other ways to present your product or service.

Another thing I think of when you say it is that we don't want to necessarily be competing on the same level, as it may simply make the entire space a commodity; which it seems search has become anyway.