VIDEO: Yahoo's EVP & CMO Elisa Steele discuss the brand's creative direction

Yahoo first announced the details behind its major marketing blitz in September, its first rebranding push in seven years.

The campaign launched the same day its redesigned homepage went live. At the time, the US$100 million ‘It’s Y!ou’ campaign created by Oglivy was intended to highlight Yahoo’s ability to create an integrated web experience and establish itself as the one-stop site for global audiences.

Yet, the campaign was met with criticism, especially in the US, where audiences didn’t fully grasp the ad’s concept. Earlier this year, CEO Carol Bartz even admitted to reporters that the campaign was less effective than the company hoped, noting that “we didn’t have a really good call to action”.

The mixed reaction to the original ad reportedly prompted Yahoo to appoint Omnicom’s US-based agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners to lead its creative, digital and planning initiatives, assuming duties that were largely handled by Ogilvy.

Since the campaign’s launch in September, the number of unique visitors to Yahoo’s sites have reportedly dropped 2.6 per cent to 155.6 million in April, and total page views on its properties have fallen 11.4 per cent, according to comScore.

According to Steele, the next phase of the ‘It’s Y!ou’ campaign looks to fill in the blanks left after the first initaitve.




The second phase of the campaign will reportedly cost $75 to $85 million. It additionally features a video as that takes a swipe at rival Google. The ad, which appears on the Yahoo corporate blog, starts with a blank home page with an empty box, markedly resembling the Google site, with a voiceover saying: "There’s nothing to look at but a box and a button. When you look at this homepage, nothing looks back at you. You come to this place so you can leave."

Steele notes that Ogilvy is still the lead creative agency for Yahoo in Asia, and the company’s online media buying worldwide is still handled by Neo@Ogilvy.