4 Things The New CEO Of Yahoo Should Do For Canada

BY: 

Dave Forde
January 9, 2012

Scott Thompson, welcome aboard as the new CEO of Yahoo, now with a few days under your belt its time to roll up your sleeves, but first we have a few request from your neighbours to the north:

  1. Hire someone local to run Yahoo! Canada
  2. Open the purse and allow for a proper marketing and public relations budget
  3. Stop firing people who bleed purple
  4. Bring back the lab
  1. As I said before, AOL, Facebook, eBay, Google, LinkedIn and Microsoft all have a local General Manager (or some title representing the role which runs these international brands locally), so why do you think you can run a different country (with two distinct languages remotely)?
  2. I recall a time when media used to get updates from Yahoo’s public relations team about new hires, product launches, just anything that gave us a sense for where they were today and more importantly going tomorrow. Suddenly that all dried up and they stopped investing in the brand north of the border, and the trouble for Yahoo just continued to spiral from there. Compare that to many organizations who understand the value of continuing to invest as it helps to ensure consumer confidence – and in the ad industry it is all about “eye balls.”
  3. The first time that I met David Bellemere, I thought he was a cocky son of a gun, but as I got to know him I learned that he was just such a passionate person about Yahoo that I think he actually would “bleed purple” (the same colours that Yahoo! uses for their brand). There have been a few others like David that despite the trouble the company has had over the last 4 years (or so), they stuck with it and continued to be brand ambassadors. That type of loyalty does not come often in the corporate world and is authentic and true.
  4. Fact – Toronto is the 3rd largest ICT Cluster in North America, and represents a large software development ecosystem. These developers are hungry to tap into API’s and build apps and other widgets, so it only makes sense to give them access and allow your platform to grow and be enhanced by the community.

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Dave Forde


Dave “The Connector” Forde has been involved in the marketing, public relations and technology industry across Canada for over 20 years in various sales and marketing roles, he launched The Connected One network of business sites which connects buyers to the right sellers. Profectio and PR In Canada covers news about the marketing and public relations industry each day helping professionals advance their career and businesses. He also serves as an advisor to a number of businesses across the country. Find Dave on LinkedIn and Twitter.


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