Microsoft or Google - what might be the Yahoo employee perspective? While guaranteed outcomes may trump the unknown for investors, a different logic seems to apply for Yahoo employees thus far. That’s understandable at this early stage of the process. It was assumed that Yahoo would occupy its current industry position for a long-time, fighting infinite rounds with Google. Being part of that battle within an independent Yahoo has carried a huge sense of purpose for employees. It’s only natural to want to see this set-up continue, especially since the web remains in its infancy and Yahoo is still the # 2 player. I’m not saying that the fight won’t continue as vigorously under new ownership. But it will be different.

The prevailing view on tradeoffs for employees has gone something like this — the ambiguity of a Google deal buys time and preserves the dream, whereas the Microsoft option brings certainty of the “not-so-fun” variety. I’m interested in opinions that dig into these assumptions and will offer ideas to kick-off that thread.

Teaming-up with Google on search buys independence but introduces unresolved issues about long-term positioning of the business. Yes, Yahoo would continue to operate an independent search product as well as it large web apps network such as email, jobs, movies, travel, personals, social bookmarking, photo sharing and finance, while better monetizing search through Google. That sounds great in theory because the only thing changing is that Google’s under the hood of search advertising. The user experience that we know as “Yahoo” would remain in-tact.

But two related issues surface as a result of such a partnership. Read more »

• The Letter Where Yahoo Makes Its Case to Shareholders
• Will Yahoo Feel the Love?
• Yahoo Weighs Outsourcing Search Ads to Google
• Yahoo Partisans Go Online with Buyout Opinions
• Murdoch's News Corp Negotiating Alliance with Yahoo
• A Media Buyer's Perspective

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Ad Meter is a great cultural artifact which has been around for 20 years. It uses a live panel to record second by second sentiment about Super Bowl commercials. It works like this: 234 panelists use a device to continuously rate how they feel about ads in real time. An ad is given its highest average score at any point (second) in the length of the commercial by these panelists. I wonder why they take this approach (an ad with high highs and low lows can still win). Local avails are excluded from the eligibility for obvious reasons. Whatever you might feel about the method, it’s a uniquely fun and accessible diversion that is a loose gauge of the mainstream meme.

As you might guess, the highest rated ads are those which are most entertaining, tell a compelling story and engage the viewer. Like a show within a show. The top five from 2008:

Super Bowl commercials are the zenith of branding advertising venues and stand at the opposite end of the spectrum from search engine marketing. Of course both ends have a role and purpose in a marketing portfolio. Different spend allocations make sense depending upon the nature of a product category. In the SEM and direct response world, popularity and ratings are easy to measure - they’re measured in ad performance. That is ultimately revealed by cost of acquisition (COA).

But as brand advertising acquires some of the characteristics of direct marketing approaches such as SEM (and vice-versa), I’m left to wonder, is this the best we can do? I wonder why no one has disrupted the idea of Ad Meter (within a broader context). Read more »

• Ad Meter 2008 Homepage from USA Today
• Full List of Ads and Performance
• Nielsen's Take on Ad Ranks
• Adweek's Super Bowl XLII Site
• Game 17 vs. Commercials 3
• Apple's 1984 Classic

Filed under: Online Advertising, Search Marketing, Web Apps, Traditional Media | No Comments »

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