After those somewhat derivative TV ads, the next stage in Yahoo’s effort to drive awareness of its new personalisation features is Yodel Studio, an engagement marketing campaign aiming to “give the yodel back to the people”.
In sound stages erected at London’s Covent Garden, New York’s Times Square and Mumbai’s Phoenix Mill on Tuesday and Wednesday, the site is asking passers-by to record their own interpretations of Yahoo’s signature jingle. A website is also asking users to record via webcam.
Ultimately, this still fails to communicate exactly what Yahoo’s new features are or why anyone would use them over rivals’, but, as an branding exercise leveraging UGC, it’s far more likely to bring a smile to people’s faces than those TV ads.
Winning yodels, picked by vote, will be decided in November and featured in a new series of TV spots. There are seemingly plenty of city-dwellers only too happy to give up their lunch hour for someone else’s marketing campaign.
Artists like LeAnn Rimes, Jewel, Pixie Lott and VJ Nikhil Chinappa are participating at the live events. Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) is donating to charity for each yodel submitted, up to $100,000 in the U.S., £15,000 in the UK and $6,300 in India.