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‘We are on the cusp of really being able to deliver true omnichannel performance’: Yahoo’s Herbst-Brady
With fast-past development of the next era of the internet showing no sign of slowing, Mumbrella's Kalila Welch sat down with Yahoo's head of global revenue and client solutions, Elizabeth Herbst-Brady to discuss how the heritage tech player has reinvented itself to sustain relevance as we enter Web 3.
“If you look at the history of what we’ve always tried to do as a service, it goes without saying that when you can create immersive connective environments, that’s better for customers and consumers,” says Yahoo’s head of global revenue and client solutions, Elizabeth Herbst-Brady, when considering the digital giants evolving role in the Web 3 context.
Having continually transformed its strategy to match the everchanging environmental of the internet since its establishment in 1994, the global tech player shows no sign of slowing down, having achieved 50% year-on-year growth on its demand side platform in 2021, with revenue also growing by 40%.
Elizabeth Herbst-Brady, head of global revenue and client solutions, Yahoo
The Yahoo brand has welcomed a renaissance after its majority stakeholder Verizon Media was purchased by private-equity firm Apollo Global Management Inc. for US5 billion (A$7.192 billion) in May 2021, with the new owners electing to retire the Verizon Media brand, moving the company forward under the Yahoo banner. The deal was completed in September of 2021, with Verizon retaining a 10% stake in the company now known as Yahoo.
“We are excited to be joining forces with Apollo,” said then Verizon Media CEO Guru Gowrappan at the time. “The past two quarters of double-digit growth have demonstrated our ability to transform our media ecosystem. With Apollo’s sector expertise and strategic insight, Yahoo will be well positioned to capitalise on market opportunities, media and transaction experience and continue to grow our full stack digital advertising platform.”
Herbst-Brady credits the new ownership journey with having set the path for fine-tuning Yahoo’s offering, allowing the company to “really double down and focusing and servicing a full ecosystem”.
She adds that Yahoo’s new CEO, Jim Lanzone, who joined the business from his stint as Tinder CEO upon the completion of its sale to Apollo in September, had “provided sort of the stability and the focus” that allowed Yahoo to “focus on doing what they needed to do”.
What is it that Yahoo needed to focus on? According to Herbst-Brady, ‘omnichannel’ marketing is where Yahoo’s strength lies.
“What we’re hearing from customers is that they really want to be able to understand their marketing media ecosystem holistically. So not just television, not just digital out of home, not just display, but want to be able to think about so we call that omnichannel. The unified stack idea is that we work with both advertisers in agencies, and then on the other side, with the publishers to make sure that they maximise the technology that’s running.”
Locally, Yahoo has bolstered its omnichannel offering with a number of partnerships that have allowed it to integrate with new platforms beyond the confines of its own sites.
In March this year, the business launched an APAC-wide partnership with privacy-led data company, Near, which sought to help advertisers increase performance on campaigns by targeting and retargeting more precisely when using Yahoo’s demand-side-platform (DSP).
In the following month Yahoo entered into a partnership with global omniscreen advertising and analytics company, Samba TV, to provide advertisers with a holistic cross-screen view, connecting traditional offline television audiences with the online world.
The business has also recently expanded its local programmatic DOOH partnership with OOH provider JCDecaux, adding an an omnichannel integration that would enable marketers to plan, target, derive insights and measure campaigns across multiple channels.
Moreover, Yahoo’s new global partnership with hospitality group Marriott International will eventually expand to include travellers in Australia, helping advertisers to target tourists directly by becoming the exclusive supply-side-platform access point for Marriott’s new travel media network.
This new omnichannel approach for Yahoo is complimented also by the business’ very own creative agency, Yahoo Creative Studio, an innovative branded content studio that specialises in emerging tech and immersive media, headed up locally by Zoe Cocker. Working with clients to create branded AR and VR experiences, the agency’s US counterpart created a number of works for New York Fashion week, including for designer Maisie Wilen, creating a holographic experience available through QR code, and with designer Rebecca Minkoff to make a collection available through NFTs.
Locally, the agency collaborated with crypto artists to bring Web3 to the masses via the creation and promotion of original Non-Fungible-Token (NFT) artworks for a series called ‘Future Shock’. The campaign culminated at the Future Art Is Vivid showcase event during Sydney’s VIVID festival.
With investment across so many channels, I asked Herbst-Brady if there was any one key aspect of the business that was a focus for Yahoo.
“It’s the three legs of the stool,” said Herbst-Brady. “We are a publisher, so we really understand what publishers need and we’ve built this fantastic technology that allows advertisers or agencies on behalf of advertisers to connect with consumers. I think the differentiator for us is that we sit in the center and that we are able to drive performance.”
She adds that “the other piece that’s really interesting is the fact that because we have first party data we’re able to really accelerate our measurement solutions.”
In terms of the platform’s historical investment in ad tech, under the Verizon Media name, and whether this would be something that Yahoo would continue to pursue, Herbst-Brady says Yahoo’s focus at the moment is “about the harmonising of the entire ecosystem off the backs of measurement.
“We are right on the cusp of really being able to deliver true omnichannel performance.”
Finally on the big question of whether the metaverse really is the next big thing for advertisers, Herbst-Brady holds the middle ground, recognising it’s importance but stopping short of freely singing its praises.
“I think it’s very dependent on what a brand is trying to accomplish,” she says. “I think immersive environments, they can give a lot of opportunity, but it has to be in the right place at the right time.”
“You’re gonna want to explore how to engage and be relevant to a consumer – and I think that never stops. And if you’re a brand of relevance, you have to continue to, but you have to also stay true to what are your actual goals?”
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