MKTG532 BRAND MANAGEMENT ASSIGNMENT 1 GUNCHA ANNAYEVA

COMPANY:

Yahoo brand gained popularity with the rise of the internet as a platform for advertisement,
search engine, e-mail service and others. It has been so strong that could buy Google and
Facebook in its peak years, 2000’s but rejected the acquisition and now it is an acquisition of
Verizon. The company that roared in 1990’s is about to become outdated sub-brand.

After dotcom bubble collapse 2005 year became the starting point of its current decline. The
problem, possible reasons, and brand equity is studied further.

Administration at Yahoo did not know what the website is all about because it was too
generalized with little scope and failed to keep on track with modern demands.

"We're not a search company. We're not a display [advertising] company. We're a broad-based
internet technology company that serves up the most interesting content on the internet to 600
million people," she later said. (www.bbc.com)

Even CEO’s failed to understand what was the mission of the company. “The company needed to
reinvent itself - but even Mr Yang's replacement, Carole Bartz, admitted she had struggled with
the question of what Yahoo is when she took over in 2009.” (www.bbc.com)

Fail to update Yahoo’s strategy with required market demands, results in an old-fashioned brand
association.
“However, Mr Kramer said that over time the concept of web portals had become
"outmoded".(www.bbc.com)
Possible reasons
- Inner discord between board of directors and eventual resignation of one of the founding
members, Mr. Yang.
- Threat of new entrants: those are Google and Facebook and other promising startups like
WhatsApp and Wechat. Mobile was an aspect that skipped Yahoo’s radar.
(https://hbr.org/2016/06/the-decline-of-yahoo-in-its-own-words)

Interaction between brand equity and Yahoo’s decline

Brand equity grows from brand recognition and loyalty. While Yahoo is a world known brand,
many users do not really know what the brand stands for. The attempt with “It is You” campaign
in 2009 with 100$ million worth turned unsuccessful.
All above-mentioned issues that Yahoo started facing since 2005 after the dot com bubble crash,
are primarily due to big miscommunication.
“Neither company said much about the brand's future once the $4.83 billion deal closes early
next year. In announcing the deal Monday, Verizon merely said that the new Yahoo properties
will become part of Verizon's AOL business, which the phone company bought last year for $4.4
billion.”
- Yahoo brand had a strong popularity when internet was just beginning: “The enthusiastic name
has been synonymous with the internet's rise in the 1990s, but now that the internet has matured,
it's not clear whether Yahoo as a brand name will survive.” (https://phys.org/news/2016-07-
verizon-acquisition-yahoo-users.html)
Although there is obvious decline in Yahoo’s revenue and consequently brand equity, it keeps as
position of a second widely used e-mail service in America: “In the U.S., Yahoo is the second most-
popular email service behind Google's Gmail. It's even more popular in Europe and Latin America.
Because of that, it makes sense for Verizon to keep that brand affinity intact, eMarketer analyst
Paul Verna said.” (https://phys.org/news/2016-07-verizon-acquisition-yahoo-users.html)

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The above timeline shows the stages of growth and obvious loss Yahoo has gone through. In the
future, Yahoo may return its market value as in better days. Here are some of my
recommendations to improve Yahoo’s brand marketing programs:
Use brand resonance network and focus more on customer demand and make decisions
regarding further strategic actions in cohesion with it. Also due to Yahoo’s already existing clients
database, I would recommend study them. Learn about their habits, demands and preferences
and create new brand image with the updated knowledge on costumers. For theory to apply, the
customer – based brand equity model pyramid can be used to develop better and modernized
Yahoo brand image in the market.

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Reference

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35243407

https://www.quora.com/What-went-wrong-with-Yahoo-It-was-once-worth-almost-125-billion-
but-today-sold-to-Verizon-for-5-billion

https://www.theneweconomy.com/business/the-tragic-demise-of-yahoo-the-internets-first-
great-brand

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/what-went/2016/04/19/854a6194-066f-
11e6-a12f-ea5aed7958dc_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.1e6a58ca2caa

https://hbr.org/2016/06/the-decline-of-yahoo-in-its-own-words

https://www.marketingweek.com/2016/12/16/yahoo-brand-go-now/

https://phys.org/news/2016-07-verizon-acquisition-yahoo-users.html

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/dotcom-bubble.asp

https://valuer.ai/blog/50-examples-of-corporations-that-failed-to-innovate-and-missed-their-
chance/?cli_action=1556548479.19

https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Yahoo-s-brand-not-likely-to-command-premium-in-
8398873.php

https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/a-tale-of-two-brands-yahoos-mistakes-vs-googles-
mastery/