Yahoo! looks to bolster advertiser offering
Yahoo! UK has unveiled a newly-merged commercial and creative team under the Yahoo! Studio brand as it looks to boost advertiser and client spend.
Yahoo! Studio is led by Krane Jeffery, who joined as head of advertiser solutions in February following eight years at Carat, and will focus on promoting branded content opportunities to advertisers.
The new 18-strong team was formed following a company-wide strategic review that Yahoo! said resulted in “under 10” redundancies in the UK. Yahoo! said it is now actively recruiting both commercial and creative personnel.
The company’s restructure follows the arrival of James Wildman as Yahoo!’s MD and VP sales for the UK in January when the company also disclosed that it would cut 1% of its global workforce.
“Yahoo! Studio is the central plank of our UK approach and is just part of a radical restructure of the team,” said Wildman. “This is a significant shift in how we are working together and not just a cosmetic change. Promoting opportunities such as branded content is a core competency of Yahoo!’s already but until now it hasn’t been a specific focus.”
He adds: “It has been structured to better identify how they [brands] can integrate content as part of their wider campaigns,” added Wildman.
Yahoo! is integrating its commercial and content team having identified its breadth of products, from Yahoo!’s editorial output to its Right Media ad exchange, as unique in the market.
Wildman told Marketing Week’s sister title new media age the company had identified brand advertisers that normally focus on TV campaigns as a key segment of the market for Yahoo! given its portfolio of short-form content such as the exclusive online highlights rights to the Barclays Premier League.
Separately, Yahoo! is investing in a “media planning interface” aimed at improving how agencies can book and track campaigns, while Wildman added that the company is on track to launch its Search Alliance with Microsoft in the UK next year despite the initial set-backs.
“We’re engaging with agencies at the moment to explain how everything will work and we’re trying to learn lessons from the US,” said Wildman.
This story first appeared on New Media Age. For more digital stories and analysis from NMA click here now
