New CEO To Transform Yahoo! With IMC Strategy

This week Carol Bartz, the new CEO of Yahoo!, announced major changes at the ailing company. While most reports of the restructuring noted Bartz’s shift to a more “top-down” managerial approach and paring down excessive layers of management, we here at Medill IMC think some aspects of the restructuring signal a promising shift toward a more customer-focused organization.

They certainly need it. Aside from narrowly escaping a takeover bid from Microsoft last year, Yahoo! has been losing market share in search to Google for years. Its diverse products– from Flickr to Delicious to Yahoo! Finance - lack consistency. And what’s with the name, anyway? Something about yodeling?

It helps that they’re creating a CMO position, which they’ve apparently never had. But the changes go deeper. In Bartz’s words from the Yahoo! blog:

“We’ll be able to make speedier decisions, the notorious silos are gone, and we have a renewed focus on the customer.”

Clearly, integration is a core goal at the new Yahoo!, along with a renewed focus on the customer with the creation of a new Customer Advocacy group:

“After getting a lot of angry calls at my office from frustrated customers, I realized we could do a better job of listening to and supporting you. Our Customer Care team does an incredible job with the amazing number of people who come to them, but they need better resources. So we’re investing in that. After all, you deserve the very best.

We’re also leaning on this team to make sure we’re all hearing the voice of our customers (consumers and advertisers). I’m singularly focused on providing you with awesome products. Period. The kind that get you so excited, you have to tell someone about them. Whether on your desktop, your mobile device, or even your TV.

And that takes a real understanding of what you want/need/love/hate, how you’re using our products, and what you find simple, intuitive, easy and fun. Who wants innovation for innovation’s sake if it doesn’t make your life easier, more efficient, more productive? So expect us to hear you better and take better care of you.”

Time will tell if Yahoo! can channel these noble intentions of integration into actually being able to serve its customers' needs. But they've taken the first step in realizing that not being customer focused is, for them, no longer an option. For us who live and breathe IMC every day, this will be a company to watch.

Or, as Bartz says, “Look for this company’s brand to kick ass again.”

-- Colleen Maley