Marketing Pilgrim

Yahoo! has definitely been the most active player this week and, as far as their announcements are concerned, I’d label one of them as “entertaining”, yet two as “quite interesting”.

I have found their optimism this week to be extremely entertaining since, let’s face it: given the current state of the US economy, one cannot help but be amused when a billion dollar company in their situation claims to be able to double their cash flow in as little as three years. Being optimistic is one thing, but given the current circumstances, their claims are not exactly what one would call realistic.

On the other hand, I do have to give them credit this week: first of all, their announcement regarding the fact that they are starting to develop their technology in the direction of understanding the semantics of the web is definitely worth looking into while, on the other hand, their recent partnership with Click Forensics is also something which could work in their favor.

As far as the issue of developing their search technology is concerned, it is indeed refreshing to see that they seem to be interested in moving away from the interconnectivity standard and, who knows, if they do their job right, this could give them an edge over Google. But that will prove to be quite a challenge, since it’s easy to understand how the technology in question can be manipulated, so that the folks over at Yahoo! still have a long way to go. It is however an important step which shouldn’t go by unnoticed.

On the other hand, teaming up with Click Forensics in order to fight against click fraud may just prove to be a decision they will not regret. Advertisers will most likely appreciate their intention and, from that perspective, this partnership can be considered the second thing that Yahoo! has done right this week.

Leaving the amusing intention of doubling their cash flow in three years aside, it has indeed been quite an interesting and potentially productive week for Yahoo! and, given the way things have developed during the past weeks, I’m convinced that they may be surprised themselves. Of course, they have some serious financial problems which simply can’t be overlooked, but it’s refreshing to see that they at the very least seem to be taking a few steps towards the right direction. Will they be able to show consistency?

Best wishes,

Alan Johnson

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