Change your World Event!
Yahoo!’s Business & Human Rights Program has initiated the Change Your World series, regional events focused on how women are using social media, digital media, technology and the Internet to change their worlds. The inaugural event, Change Your World Cairo 2012, hosted by the BHRP along with Yahoo! Maktoob and in partnership with Vital Voices, took place at the Fairmont Nile City, Egypt on January 18 2012. The summit brought together women in leadership from across the Middle East and North Africa to showcase and share lessons learned on how women are using technology, the Internet and social media platforms to create positive change in the world. Moderated by award-winning journalist and human rights activist Mona Eltahawy, the summit focused on four primary areas: women's leadership in governance and politics, women's rights/human rights and social justice, journalism, and entrepreneurship. Participants included:

• Maria Al Masani, social media pioneer and founder of Yemen Rights Monitor;
• Fida Ouri, deputy director of NISAA FM in the West Bank, one of the first all-women, non-political radio stations in the Arab world;
• Shereen Allam, Egyptian entrepreneur, co-owner of Eco-tek and founder, Association for Women's Total Advancement and Development;
• Lara Ayoub, Jordanian digital media pioneer and digital media director, Al Ghad and Al-Waseet
• Dalia Ziada, Egyptian women’s rights activist and blogger who has been hailed by the international media as one of the most influential women in the world;
• Lamees Dhaif, Bahraini journalist and human rights activist

Summit sessions included “Technology and Economic Empowerment,” “After the Revolution: E-lections and E-governance,” “Journalism, Women and the Internet” and “Safety Online for Women and Activists.” There was also a screening of excerpts from ‘Women, War & Peace,’ the documentary series that tells the stories of women in conflict zones around the globe. The event concluded with a session entitled “What’s Next? Continuing the Conversation” – a facilitated workshop to elicit ideas for tools, platforms, technology and media to foster and promote entrepreneurship, political leadership, journalism and women’s rights. View the agenda or a short summary video of the event here.  
Change Your World events will be held this year in Brazil and India.

Since the first real time bidding (RTB) exchange platforms were introduced a few years ago, there have been changes occurring in the online advertising industry. Today it successfully delivers billions of monthly impressions for advertisers, but how is it really changing the industry?
 
In my view RTB has grown rapidly because it benefits everyone. It means improved yields for publishers; increased returns on ad spend for advertisers; improved client performance and the next step towards an automated sales process. Reduced costs and improved efficiencies are powerful incentives as well.
 
It currently represents a small percentage of overall online EU ad spend, but the uptake in the US over the last couple of years is a good indication of what we can expect in 2012 and beyond. The expected growth in RTB spend this year in Europe is likely to follow the same trend as in the US last year – 140 to 150% growth year on year (Source: IDC, 2011)
 
Trading desks and small agencies
From what I’m seeing in the market currently agency trading desks are really leading the charge with RTB and there’s no doubt this trend will continue, but alongside that the smaller agencies and independents are able to move faster to take early advantage of the opportunities that real time offers. They may be working with smaller budgets but they are nimble enough to capitalise on this advanced form of ad buying.
 
Skills to deal with data
One way I’ve seen the industry change is the technical ability of those entering it. New recruits to this sector are now likely to be astrophysics and expert mathematics graduates; such is the level to which RTB and data-based audience buying draws on ability to work with numbers.  Whilst I would not go so far as to say that human relationships are no longer important, we are seeing a trend of an automated trading layer being introduced.
 
Direct response advertising is never going to be ‘plug and play’ and has always been heavily built on data, but RTB exacerbates this further and is the reason why we’re seeing so much technical ability coming into the industry. Many in our optimisation team are maths and science grads, and we see agencies valuing these kinds of skills too. There is always going to be a place for an optimisation specialist who understands the advertiser’s objectives, knows how to analyse user behaviour and has access to data and targeting opportunities that can be utilised to create bespoke segments for advertisers.
 
Yields for publishers
I mentioned earlier that RTB has meant improved yields. There was a fear in the market from the publisher side that RTB would deflate their eCPM (effective cost per thousand) which is used to measure the effectiveness of a publisher’s inventory being sold. But actually the reverse is happening based on the richness of data on audiences available and the quality of demand from advertisers.
 
Looking forward
RTB continues to grow significantly and all the statistics attest to that point. Those involved need to be aware that once you move into an RTB world, one of the key distinguishing factors will be data. There’s lots of third party data out there that can be bought in the open market where some of the data will become de-facto requirements.  However, in my opinion, true differentiation will come from media buyers (or anyone providing services to end clients) who can harvest their own data for the purposes of targeting more effectively. There are numerous examples out there that I’ve seen, but certainly here at Yahoo! we spend a lot of time and effort refining our own data modelling and harvesting.  700M+ users globally creates a lot of data – and products such as true search retargeting (where we own user query volume - unlike many others), lookalike modelling of fully-declared information and more which are critical advancements for us in 2012.
 
Of course, the big flaw remains – if everyone is being judged on a last click / view model, then data mining to help drive more value further up the funnel (prospecting) is largely negated in value as retargeting scoops the last click or view. Obviously the attribution model needs to be addressed, but that’s a blog for another day….

A Very Public Proposal This Leap Year  
Renault partnered with Yahoo! UK to find the best marriage proposal
Renault Twingo partnered with Yahoo! UK to run a competition to find a woman that was willing to propose to her boyfriend on February 29, Leap Year, as part of the tradition for women to pop the question.
The winning idea was won by Jane who proposed to Tim while taking in a view of the architecture across London, with people appearing in T-shirts spelling out the question.  The proposal was filmed and the footage was aired on the Yahoo! UK home page on February 29.  Renault also gave the couple a brand new Twingo as a gift!
Check out the full proposal video!

Microsoft and Yahoo search alliance launches in the UK
(Extracted from New Media Age, February 22, 2012)

Yahoo search marketing accounts and search traffic will start to be migrated into the Microsoft Advertising adCenter from today, part of the long-awaited Microsoft/Yahoo search alliance.

The migration, due for completion at the end of April, will result in UK search advertisers being able to buy from a combined Yahoo and Bing audience through a single ad platform, Microsoft’s adCenter.

The alliance is already live in the US, Canada and India but the companies have finished the transaction of all searches globally, meaning that all search coming via Yahoo, including mobile, is powered by Bing.

Cedric Chambaz, Microsoft marketing manager, UK, said, “Starting around 19 March, we expect to progressively start serving adCenter ads to Yahoo searchers. The entire Yahoo paid search volume is expected to be transitioned to adCenter within approximately two weeks from that date.”

Yahoo search marketing accounts and search traffic will start to be migrated into the Microsoft Advertising adCenter from today, part of the long-awaited Microsoft/Yahoo search alliance.

The migration, due for completion at the end of April, will result in UK search advertisers being able to buy from a combined Yahoo and Bing audience through a single ad platform, Microsoft’s adCenter.

The alliance is already live in the US, Canada and India but the companies have finished the transaction of all searches globally, meaning that all search coming via Yahoo, including mobile, is powered by Bing.

Cedric Chambaz, Microsoft marketing manager, UK, said, “Starting around 19 March, we expect to progressively start serving adCenter ads to Yahoo searchers. The entire Yahoo paid search volume is expected to be transitioned to adCenter within approximately two weeks from that date.”

What moment in 2011 stands out in your mind? The space shuttle launching into space one final time? An earthquake and tsunami that, in a matter of minutes, devastated a country? A royal wedding destined to be talked about for decades? As we wrap up the year, Flickr has pulled together a Year in Photos 2011 Gallery that covers several of the moving, emotionally charged, and surprising images that captivated us this year. Some of these images were captured using the most sophisticated digital cameras to date, while others were taken using the latest smartphones. Regardless, each photo captures a moment perfectly. Of course, this wouldn’t be possible without the help of our Flickr community, who helped us reach new heights in 2011, including more than 6 billion photos now stored on Flickr and more than 200 million images now available through our Creative Commons  service. Many thanks to all of the Flickr members who provided photos for this collection, and here’s to 2012 and capturing even more memorable moments.

See the Year in Photos 2011 on Flickr.

Hello, world! We’d like to give a big welcome to our new Yahoo! Mail markets and languages around the world.
Yes, that’s right – today we’re announcing the international expansion of Yahoo! Mail to 27 new markets and 22 new languages. 700 million of you have already come to know and love Yahoo!, Yahoo! Mail and all of the different experiences we have to offer, but we have been focused on extending Yahoo! to even more of you worldwide.
With today’s news, Yahoo! Mail is now in more than 70 markets and 46 languages worldwide. Moreover, by adding these languages and markets today, we’re now able to reach a potential 226 million new people across every single continent.  Or to put it another way, with a push of a button (or two) approximately 90% of the world’s Internet population can now use Yahoo! Mail in their native language.
Some of the new languages and markets coming on board:

• Ten new languages in Asia, including eight new languages in India alone.
• Twelve new languages in Europe, including Serbian, Hungarian, Bulgarian and Croatian.
• Several new markets around the globe, including South Africa, Belgium, Austria and Portugal.

Since launching Yahoo! Mail earlier this year in May, we’ve been continuously focused on delivering a faster, safer and easier online communications experience, expanding into markets like Arabic with our Maktoob launch, and now we’re delighted to offer it to all these new countries. Check it out, have fun, and let us know what you think!

James Carroll, SVP Global Products Development

Yahoo!’s EVP of the Americas named one of world’s leading media strategists 

Just twelve months after joining Yahoo! as the Executive Vice President of the Americas region, Ross Levinsohn has been recognized by Ad Age as a 2011 Media Maven. The annual Media Mavens awards fete the world's leading media strategists for their creative thinking, leadership and innovation. At an event in New York today honoring the award winners, Levinsohn was in very good company with honorees from brands like Apple, P&G and Warner Bros.

During his year-long tenure, Levinsohn has created a strong track record for championing unique content experiences and new partnerships that benefit Yahoo!’s consumers and advertisers. He’s committed to pushing the boundaries and ensuring Yahoo!’s continued leadership position as the premiere digital media company. Here’s a look back at some of the company’s key accomplishments under Levinsohn: 

• Yahoo! remains the top-ranked site in an amazing 13 U.S. categories, including sports, mail, news, finance, entertainment-news, shopping, TV, real estate, autos, instant messaging, and photos. 

• The Royal Wedding was the largest video event in Yahoo!’s history, surpassing the funeral of pop star Michael Jackson by 21 percent, and totaling 27 million video streams and 2.6 million live video streams over the 24-hour period from Friday to Saturday. 

• The death of Osama bin Laden marked new traffic records on Yahoo! News, surpassed only by March’s earthquake in Japan. More than 45 million pages on Yahoo! were viewed about bin Laden’s death those two days—more page views than these Websites got for the entire month: NPR, Salon, TechCrunch, The Atlantic, or Google Reader. 

• Yahoo! had all the top 10 original shows on the Web in August. Calling Yahoo! "the broadcast network of the digital age," Yahoo! Media Network senior VP Mickie Rosen announced a slate of eight new video series aimed at the 13 million women who watch Yahoo! video.

• To commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11, Yahoo! partnered with National September 11 Memorial & Museum (9/11 Memorial) and co-produced a memorial microsite which included tools for users to tell their own stories.

• Yahoo! and ABC announce a new partnership that will bring both consumers and advertisers a treasure trove of premium video content.
• Yahoo! is named the official, and only broadcast destination for “A Decade of Difference” –a concert celebrating the philanthropic work of President Clinton and The William J. Clinton Foundation, featuring an all-star group of the most influential and socially responsible artists, including Bono and Lady Gaga. Yahoo!’s Decade of Difference microsite received more than 200 million page views. 
•Yahoo! announced a partnership with Microsoft and AOL to offer each other’s premium non-reserved online display inventory to their respective advertising customers. 
• Yahoo! was the official live-streaming partner of the premier of “Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1”, churning out wall-to-wall coverage of the scene at L.A. Live’s Nokia Theater, including star arrivals and fan reaction. The live stream was syndicated internationally, ensuring that fans all over the world could get a glimpse of the event. An exclusive “Breaking Dawn” trailer on Yahoo! shattered records with 2.9 million streams in a single day.

In an interview earlier this fall, Levinsohn told Ad Age, "I don't want to look back and say, 'Gosh, we had a chance to be innovative and bold, but we just felt comfortable and scared to do something different.'"Today’s award and the list of accomplishments above indicate he doesn’t need to worry about that. 

Just over a year has passed since Yahoo! established its full-fledged office in Cairo, Egypt. That’s not much time, but given the eventful recent months in the country, Egypt’s Yahoos have grown closer to each other, the company, and what it stands for, and one of the things that has truly contributed to this bond is the Yahoo! Employee Foundation (YEF), which helps employees make a bigger difference for the causes they care about.
My name is Mohamed Sabe and I am the Arabic Editor in Chief for Yahoo! Middle East. I was chosen to be the representative for YEF in Egypt in January 2011, only two months after joining the company.Despite starting the year with less than forty employees in the Cairo office, new Yahoos were determined to do good as soon as they found out that Yahoo! encourages its people to make positive contributions to their community.
However, YEF initiatives had to be halted due to the Egyptian revolution, and the office had to be shut down for several weeks for security reasons. In spite of this setback, as soon as things were back to normal, we were again focused on planning for our first initiative and working with local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to decide on what would be the best way to contribute to development in Egypt. Little did we know that our first initiative would cross boundaries and reach beyond Egypt.
In mid-July 2011, a severe drought hit the entire ‘Horn of Africa’ region on the Eastern side of the continent, resulting to this day in over 29,000 deaths among children under 5 in Somalia.
Given the magnitude of this tragedy, local initiatives took a back seat and YEF Egypt members decided that contributing to the well being of Somali families was crucial, and in mid August we approached the Union of Arab Doctors who were collecting money to buy food supplies and send them to Somalia.
Four hundred Egyptian Pounds (67 US dollars) was all that was needed to support a Somali family for a month, so we started a collection campaign that lasted for two weeks.
Around thirty Yahoo! employees (out of sixty in the Cairo office) contributed their money to this cause and we ended up collecting 6,550 Egyptian Pounds (around 1,100 US dollars). While the amount may not seem like much, it meant that we ended up helping over 16 Somali families overcome this crisis for a month.
I remember walking through our small office in Cairo collecting donations and seeing the spirit that Yahoo!’s employees in Cairo displayed in competing with each other to give more money and encouraging each other to contribute. It was really breathtaking!
I personally believe that the beautiful and collective spirit of this small startup office had a strong impact on us. This great start for YEF initiatives in Egypt only increased the appetite of Yahoo’s employees to contribute more and encouraged new Yahoos to take part in upcoming projects.
YEF Egypt will next be teaming up with local NGOs who work on supporting orphans and developing education.
From where I stand, I can proudly say that the culture of doing good and contributing positively to the community is alive and growing in Cairo’s Yahoo! office.
To learn more about YEF or find out how you can make a difference, check out http://howgoodgrows.yahoo.com/.
Best Regards,Mohamed SabeArabic Editor-in-Chief Yahoo! Middle East

Livestand is now available! A personalized living magazine, Livestand weaves together content from leading third-party publishers and Yahoo!'s global media network to create a visually stunning and deeply personalized digital experience tailored to each people's interests and passions.

Visit Livestand on Facebook! 
Hear from one of the Livestand Engineers
Like most engineers, Daivak Shah likes building things from the ground up. So naturally, when presented with the opportunity to help create Livestand for Yahoo!, Daivak jumped at the chance. The Senior Engineering Manager for Livestand describes the initiative a “content eco-system,” weaving together the vast amount of content that Yahoo! has at its disposal into a rich, custom-tailored experience for consumers, advertisers and publishers. Being able to take an active role in building this game-changing user experience has kept Daivak invested in Yahoo! “I feel passionate about what I’m building and I’m enjoying what I’m working on.”

As the regional director of public policy in APAC, I have many conversations with regulators on best practices in the Internet space. During these conversations, I am always proud to profile the leadership that Yahoo! plays in the area of Internet safety and the websites we have launched around the world.  As a team, there are many of us working hard on this and the results in APAC are world-class.
One of the most important projects that has happened this year was the launch of Yahoo! Safely in Vietnam, to promote online safety among children and young people in Vietnam. The launch roped in Vietnamese celebrity Ha Anh (also Unicef’s local Ambassador) and up-and-coming local boy-band “365” as Yahoo! Ambassadors to help spread the word. Leveraging the Yahoo! Safely website and plans to extend to offline activities such as a “train-the-trainer” programme, road shows and school visits, the initiative is the first of its kind in Vietnam.
Yahoo! is the first Internet company to establish a presence in Vietnam when it entered the market in 2007 and enjoys a very positive brand image. The launch of Safely in Vietnam, to me, was testament to Yahoo!’s commitment and responsibility to the market. Vietnam is a burgeoning new-to-net market brimming with huge potential and business opportunities – and everyone wants a slice.  31% of the population is currently online, and Vietnam has experienced the fastest growth in Internet in the region in the last 10 years. Yet, online safety is largely overlooked.
While online safety is important all across the world, it is critical in emerging markets in Asia as the majority of new users are youth aged 15 and above, where the Internet is an uncharted landscape, not just to them, but to their parents and educators.
Yahoo! has robust online safety programs in every major market. Above Yahoo! Safely which has been launched is in most markets, there are also online safety initiatives in the region outside the umbrella that push strong similarly strong agendas.
In India, the online safety programme led by colleagues from Yahoo! India comes under Learn with Yahoo!, an initiative to educate users about the Internet, and like Vietnam, targets new-to-net users. In Taiwan, a mature market where Yahoo! enjoys a 98% reach, the Internet Security Program for Children aims to educate users as early as elementary school.
Reaching out in India
India’s online safety program kicked into high gear when its school program, upon travelling to 27 schools in Delhi last year, found that while 98% of this school’s growing audience knew about the Internet and considered it a destination for learning, fun and entertainment, net safety was not a feature on the kids’ radar. Awareness about Internet safety was virtually non-existent.
This insight shaped a new focus for the team, who took the safety message outside of the original program framework. Harnessing the reach and popularity of animated cartoon characters, Yahoo! India aired vignettes on Internet safety on kids’ channels such as Cartoon Network and Pogo, with the characters sharing tips, along with an interactive quiz on TV through SMS, to effectively get the message across to kids and parents.
Now, Yahoo! India reaches 82% of the Internet audience in India and is a market where users are growing exponentially. Today, above leveraging kids channels and school programs, Internet safety tips are shared across 2,500 Internet cafés in 50+ Indian cities, helping a brand new audience make smarter, safer choices online.
Keeping Kids Safe Online in Taiwan
In Taiwan, Yahoo!Kimo’s partnership with the government and academy brought to bear its Internet Safety Program for Children in 2009. It is estimated that 1.6 million Taiwanese children under 12 use the Internet. The project addressed kids aged 12-14 and touched on three main areas: managing time spent online, befriending strangers on the Internet and giving out too much personal information.
The campaign started in Taipei with camps, blogs, online material and an ambassador programme, and extended islandwide the following year. Materials were developed for classroom use, and Yahoo!Kimo travelled to 2,650 elementary schools across the country to spread the message. This year, teen idols were invited to speak on the program together with the launch of fun videos and competition. And the kids noticed – making over 100,000 downloads of the material. Yahoo! Kimo’s efforts have seen them win the Taiwan PR Awards- Corporate Social Responsibility Campaign of the Year, and  the Outstanding Award – Education, in the annual CSR awards presented by Global Views, a leading current affairs publication in Taiwan.
And the online safety push isn’t over in Vietnam. In July, the PC for Life campaign, in partnership with Dell and Intel, saw 2,000 youth journeying across the country on foot to spread the word on internet safety, and educating villagers along the way on how to use the Internet. The Yahoo! Safely partnership with Unicef also saw an MOU signed, partnering on various children issues.
To say the least, I’m very proud to be working for a company which understands the need to better the community it serves.
Kuek Yu-Chuang, Yahoo! APAC’s regional director of public policy


Yahoo! Safely around the world - click the link for your region to learn more:
Argentina : Asia : Australia : Brasil : Canada : Chile : Colombia : Deutschland : España : France : 香港 : India : Indonesia : Italia : Malaysia : México : الشرق الأوسط وإفريقيا : New Zealand : Perú : Philippines : Québec : Singapore : 한국 : 台灣 : ประเทศไทย : United Kingdom : United States : en Español : Venezuela : Việt Nam

Name: Kristi Lee
Job Title: Advertising Operations Executive (as of August 22nd 2011) (previously as Talent Acquisition Support Intern from April – August 19, 2011)
Yahoo! Since: April 4th  2011
 
What motivated you to join Yahoo!?

Global experience, comfortable environment, fun people, endless opportunities.
 
What do you do day-to-day, what does a typical day look like for you?

As a Talent Acquisition Intern:
I was the EMEA graduate recruiter, mainly responsible for hiring new graduates and interns across all offices in EMEA. I looked over the recruitment process from beginning to end, including developing a strategic hiring strategy, sourcing candidates, screening for talents, scheduling interviews, and producing offers. I was also involved with developing a strong partnership with universities across Europe.
 
As an Advertising Operations Executive:
Now I am mainly responsible for ensuring all creative material are scheduled and launched in a timely manner, monitoring impressions (page views) and revenue stats of ads, ensuring campaigns are delivered according to contract.
 
What cool things/projects have you worked on or been involved with at Yahoo!?

The coolest thing I’ve been involved in so far was participating in the EMEA HR Conference in Dublin in June 2011. I’ve finally had a chance to met my multinational and diverse team. The HR training workshop was great at encouraging career development and I’ve made an amazing move from HR as an intern to Ad Ops in 5 months at Yahoo!
 
What do you love most about being a Yahoo and what inspires you at work?

I love the “global-ness” of the company which allows me to meet people from all over the world.
 

Favorite Quote:
Who dares, wins.

When people ask me how I’m doing at Yahoo! lately, I tell them I think I have the best role at the company, and I’m not just being politically correct. As the head of video, I‘ve inherited an amazing existing business and an incredible team of professionals—so part of my job is just spreading the word about what we already do so well. The other part of my job is to take this existing success and build on it—and luckily, my team and I have the support of the entire organization as we attempt to make a bigger, bolder mark in the online video space. I am tired of hearing only Netflix, YouTube and Hulu named as the big movers in online video. We deserve to be among those ranks and I won’t rest until we are.

Today, the video market is crowded, chaotic and moves at a frenetic pace. And we wouldn’t have it any other way. With our scale, leading media properties and premium advertising business, Yahoo!, by all accounts, should be a leader in premium online video. After all, Yahoo! has been showing consumers what is interesting, important and entertaining online as long as any player out there. Leading in consumer media experiences is in our DNA and is our birthright.
So about that existing success: Today, Yahoo! produces and/or distributes up to 26 original video series on our network and reaches nearly 27 million people a month.* Yahoo! has ALL 10 out of the top 10 original programs on the web.* Yahoo! original programs are more visited than all of hulu.com. And recently, Yahoo! Studios received an Emmy nomination, an Edward R. Murrow award and a Webby Award for its original program “Second Act,” sponsored by General Mills.
And now, about the future: We are taking our success in original video and building on it, adding unique voices, known personalities and experiences you will only be able to get on Yahoo! A preview of what’s to come:
Female-Centric Programming Slate: The television networks were not alone in announcing their fall programming line-ups this year. Yahoo!, the premier digital media company, will be launching its own first full slate of original, premium, TV-quality web shows. Each of the eight new original shows is designed to reach a predominantly female audience and will cover a variety of lifestyle topics, such as healthy living, relationships, celebrity, entertainment, and more. The programs are being produced both by our award-winning in-house Yahoo! Studios team and by leading industry partners, including Ben Silverman’s Electus, Fishbowl Media, and Morgan Spurlock. What makes these shows especially exciting is that Yahoo! is financing production and will program and promote the shows as never before. With a creative canvas that enables advertisers to reach and immerse digital video audiences with relevant messages and out-of-the-box ad formats, marketers can now participate in “share of voice” buying along with audience-focused programming. This offering complements our existing offerings in video, which include award-winning branded entertainment programs as well as inventory targeting a specific audience in an unparalleled way.
A Decade of Difference: The Concert for the 10th Anniversary of the William J. Clinton Foundation: On October 15, 2011, Yahoo! will be the only place to watch the live concert event of the year: A Decade of Difference, The Clinton Foundation 10th Anniversary Concert event, featuring the biggest musical acts in the world, including Lady Gaga, Bono, the Edge and Usher. Yahoo! is bringing this event to a global audience in partnership with Control Room, the producers of other world-class events like LiveAid. This is sure to be an unforgettable experience and Yahoo! is the place to bring it to life for a global audience.
Original Voices Only on Yahoo!: We are continuing to expand our content offerings by working with unique global voices and world-wide partners to bring the best premium content and original programming to Yahoo! We have some exciting upcoming projects featuring top Hollywood talent and unique storytelling we will unveil in the near future!
We will succeed, but as importantly, we will fail. The web is about experimentation, and fun. We don’t need to be anyone else—Netflix, Hulu, YouTube—there is room for all of us; we can and should be a place for premium contextualized content and video.
Erin McPhersonVP & Head of Video * Source: comScore Media Builder Custom Report, US, August 2011, among a set including more than 75 original video programs, as custom-defined by Yahoo!, on the following properties: Yahoo!, YouTube, Hulu, MSN, AOL, Forbes, PopSugar, IGN, TMZ, New York Times, Smosh.com, ABC News, Sugar, Funny or Die, She Knows, CraveOnline.

Editor’s Note: This article is part of a series entitled, “In My Own Words,” that will give Yahoo employees the opportunity to share their own stories about Yahoo!.

Name: Laura White
Job Title: Agency Sales Executive
Date you started at Yahoo!: 01/11
 
What motivated you to join Yahoo!? 

Yahoo! is one of the key players in the digital marketing arena and a huge player on a global scale.   Being the 4th largest site in the UK it has undisputable scale but also isn’t the front runner so we constantly have to prove why Yahoo! is right for our clients and that challenge excites me.  The people, the products and career opportunities all motivated me immensely to want to become a Yahoo!

What do you do day-to-day, what does a typical day look like for you?

My morning generally starts with checking through emails and my calendar for meetings that day.  I tend to have one or two external meetings every day, identifying potential opportunities presenting Yahoo! solutions relevant to each of my clients.  My day also involves responding to short term requests from clients quickly and efficiently and also pulling proposals together for longer term briefs with the aim of providing the best service possible to my clients.  Forecasting is a vital part of the job so the average day tends to involve speaking to clients about potential for future campaigns and keeping identifying campaigns that may have not come in that need to be investigated further.

What cool things/projects have you worked on or been involved with at Yahoo!? 

I launched the first Magazine Ad in the UK for Unilever Persil on Yahoo! Lifestyle and our newest site, OMG.  We were responsible creative design and build, working with various agencies and another media owner on the content for the unit.  Being a media first for Yahoo!, this was an exciting project to be involved in and also quite challenging as the format is so new with a lot of testing and learning involved.  The unit looks fantastic and already resulted in an influx of other advertisers keen to run something similar so a success all round!

What do you love most about being a Yahoo and what inspires you at work? 

The general vibe at Yahoo! is to work hard and play hard which I love.  My team are all fantastic at their jobs and extremely supportive of each other and I’m learning new things from them every day.  The products and content that Yahoo! has invested is inspiring and makes our proposition much more interesting to sell.  We know there is interest from a variety of clients on what we have to offer which makes the selling part much more consultative which is the way I really like to work with my clients.

What do you enjoy doing outside of work?

I enjoy good food with my friends, I love musicals so try to see as many as I can and also being a Tottenham fan I can be found at White Hart Lane most weekends!

Favorite Quote:

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow” (Albert Einstein)