Yahoo! says personalisation is the key
Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz says innovation, personalisation and video content remain at the heart of the company’s ongoing strategy to be at the centre of online lives.
Speaking at the Yahoo! conference in London today (28 April), Bartz outlined a vision of the internet search company which focuses on creating a personalised online experience for users that she dubs the “Web of One”.
She says: “Yahoo! wants to be give you the information you need in a format that you want. The homepage should be unique to you. Yahoo! can gather up what’s important to you and be the ’Web of One’”.
She adds that data is the key to personalisation and that in the future Yahoo! would be able to personalise the homepage for users by knowing what they do on the internet.
Separately, Bartz says the deal Yahoo! announced this morning to show highlights of the English Premier League online for the next three seasons (2010-13) is “an example of the kind of video content Yahoo! is bringing to its users to increasingly engage.”
Yahoo! also revealed that it will launch an advertising campaign later this year that will focus on Yahoo!’s search services and drive people to its homepage.
James Tipple, European head of marketing says the campaign will be more of a “call to action” than the $100m global brand building campaign Yahoo! launched last year to support its relaunch and new positioning.
Bartz also urged the industry “not to count out Yahoo! as interesting” adding that there was innovation to come from the company this year as a social platform, with location-based services and acquisitions.
