Yahoo’s top Digital Marketing predictions for 2010
By Director of Marketing at Yahoo!, James Tipple.
I believe that we will see signs of recovery in the European economy during 2010. The outlook for Internet businesses over the coming year is particularly positive.
With regards to numbers of users and broadband penetration, the Internet continues to grow healthily in the UK and throughout Europe.
Analysts estimate that there are more than 1.6 billion people using the Internet, which amounts to only 25 per cent of the world’s population so clearly there is still a huge potential for new Internet users in emerging markets, most of which are young and come from non-urban areas.
Globally there are 4.5 times more mobile users than PC users, and inexpensive mobile devices, which serve as windows to the Internet, are gaining significant traction in less developed regions. The vast majority of people in emerging markets will first experience the Internet on mobile devices.
In parallel with this, in the developed world, mobile advertising is gaining in popularity as an efficient and effective means for brands to reach their target audiences.
Fundamental changes in media consumption mean that the future for us engaged in the advertising and marketing industries will depend as much on experiences and dialogue as direct messaging.
Over the coming year, savvy brands, more than ever before, will be focusing on how they can speak directly to their consumers and provide them with relevant information.
The speed of 21st century communication and the democracy of modern technology – spurred on by the proliferation of social media – enables data to be posted online by almost anyone, virtually instantaneously.
Industry research regularly validates this point and ad spend follows the consumer online. Although Internet advertising has taken a hit in the past year, I’m hopeful that the market has already ‘bottomed out’ and that we will start seeing renewed growth from 2010.
I am not alone in this belief – in October, eMarketer and Carat released figures projecting that online advertising spend will grow by 8.3% in 2010, outpacing growth in cinema, TV and outdoor. Conversely, print spend was expected to continue its decline.
For us here at Yahoo!, a big priority for Q1 2010 will be the continued rollout of the ‘It’s Y!ou” brand campaign in the UK and extension into new territories, including Brazil, Canada, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea and Taiwan. The concept behind the campaign is the power of the Internet as unleashed by ‘you’.
Our customers have told us that what they value the most is an Internet experience that this simple, personal and relevant to them.
With this campaign, we go beyond straightforward advertising to explain how Yahoo! delivers on its promise of providing personally relevant online experiences. We will also be working on further enhancing our home page, providing new functionality for our users and an even more personalised experience.
I am particularly excited about some of the new developments in our industry that will enable us to better serve our customers and offer an even greater level of personalisation in the coming year.
Yahoo!’s founding principle was to provide consumers with a better, easier and faster way to organise their lives online and find content that is relevant and interesting to them.
By sticking to our core values we are confident that we will continue to grow our business during 2010.
