Yahoo commits to mobile with huge marketing drive

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Yahoo is preparing a pan-European mobile marketing push, with a spend believed to be £250,000, to drive traffic to its new mobile home page.

The significant budget, which Yahoo declined to confirm, marks one of the largest ad spends on mobile and underlines the internet ad giant’s commitment to the platform.

Mobile marketing agency Inside Mobile is understood to have beaten-off competition from rivals AKQA and Ring Ring Media to be tasked with creating, planning and buying Yahoo’s mobile ad campaign.

The Q2 drive directs people to the new Yahoo Mobile home page, first unveiled at Mobile World Congress in February and designed to pull together Yahoo’s range of services.

Charles Sword, head of mobile advertising for Yahoo Europe, said the aim was to encourage repeat visits and improve stickiness.

“Marketing via mobile is the most effective way to achieve our goals. At the highest level we’re looking to drive an engaged audience to Yahoo,” said Sword. “We want to make sure people understand the benefits [of Yahoo Mobile] and that when they visit we can satisfy those needs.”

He added that the campaign would communicate practical benefits such as staying connected, up to date, personalisation and discovery.

As part of the push, Yahoo plans to extend available commercial opportunities to include successful online ad formats. Brands are being approached to roll out integrated editorial campaigns such as blogs and sponsored content.

Sword said it was vital to allow advertisers to engage closely with Yahoo’s audience.

“Until now advertisers have not had the opportunity to exploit content and bring value to the user. We want to enhance the experience by offering useful or exclusive branded content,” he added.

Yahoo is understood to have appointed mobile agencies Incentivated and Inside Mobile to a roster it has tasked with delivering mobile ad services for advertisers (nma 18 December 2008).

In January Hugh Griffiths, director of MSN Mobile, claimed Microsoft’s rival portal was the largest non-operator mobile site.

This story first appeared on newmediaage.co.uk

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