Yahoo to launch massive ad campaign

Starting on Sept. 28, the ads will run on a variety of media, including online, print and billboards. The marketing effort, which will begin in the United States, will soon be introduced in the United Kingdom, India, Brazil, Canada, France, Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Korea and Taiwan.

The campaign, to run for at least 15 months, is the most expensive marketing effort and the first that is global in scope since Yahoo’s inception 15 years ago.

Campaign objectives
The campaign is critical for Yahoo that is struggling to rev up its market share. Though the Sunnyvale, Calif., company has around 580 million visitors around the world every month, it is increasingly losing ground to Google in terms of advertising share.
While the previous ads have focused on search, the new ad campaign will center on creating an image for Yahoo as a spot on the Web where consumers can personalize their online experience.

The company "really is committed to being the center of people's lives online", Chief Executive Officer Carol Bartz said. "They want to be entertained, they want to be informed, they want their personal friends in their world to intersect with ... the big world for news, information and sports. That's exactly how we're positioning the company."

The slogans for the campaign are- "The Internet is under new management. Yours." and "There's a new master of the digital universe. You."

These slogans will reinforce improvements that have been rolled out by Yahoo.

Yahoo revamps services
Recently, Yahoo has introduced changes to its home page, email and messaging services. The Web giant’s home page will now allow users to combine third-party Web services like Facebook or Hotmail.

"The [new] home page is a powerful way to get a view into your life on the internet," said Yahoo's senior vice-president for Europe, Rich Riley, quoting surveys that recommend that 60 percent of Yahoo users in the UK prefer a one-stop shop to get all they want on the Internet.

Further, the company has also overhauled its search results page. The new page will not only give the usual search results and show sponsored links, but also a left-hand navigation that will also allow users to filter the results further on criteria like brands, prices etc.

"We expect more traffic, the number of unique users to go up... an increase in audience engagement and more repeat visits," which in turn will drive advertising income, said Riley.