Profectio » Yahoo Canada

The Lab: Matt Idema, Vice President, Strategy And Business Management, Yahoo! And country manager, Yahoo! Canada

Dave Forde — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:11:05 +0000

The Lab featuring the shakers, players and the innovators that we cover on Profectio and PR In Canada. In this episode I caught up with Matt Idema, Vice President, Strategy and Business Management, Yahoo! and Country Manager, Yahoo! Canada. Matt was in town as part of Advertising Week and I had a chance to catch up with him and discuss Yahoo! Canada and its new direction including the new Yahoo! Canada home page.

Click here for the interview.

[audio:http://www.profectio.com/wp-content/TheLab_MattIdema.mp4]

Here are a few key topics we discussed:

What Is Yahoo?
Yahoo & Rogers – The Content Deal
Yahoo & Microsoft – The Search Deal
Yahoo and the Quebec Marketplace
Are You Hiring?
When Will Carol Bartz Come To Canada?

It was good to chat with Matt and I’m exciting to see what’s next from Yahoo! Canada and their growing team.

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Week That Was – 2010-01-29

Dave Forde — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:19:14 +0000

Profectio – latin for “the source” brings together Canada’s Connected Community

There was a lot of movement on the internet across Canada last week, a few deals here and there and quite a bit of hiring as companies get ready to a recovery. Here are some of the industry news and stories that we covered about on Profectio & PR In Canada in this edition of The Week That Was.

Headlines From Across Profectio & PR In Canada

Advertising Week: Connected Experiences
Advertising Week: AMA Toronto Mentoring Session
Metro And Foursquare Sign Strategic Partnership, Location-Based Content On The Go
Yahoo! Canada Rolls Out A New Home Page
Privacy Advocacy Group Files Complaint Against Edmonton-Based Social Networking Site
Peter Coish Gets Back In The Ad Game, Launches Cloud Advertising Agents
Ottawa Named One Of The Most Intelligent Communities For 2010

From PR In Canada

Joe Chidley Tapped As Senior Vice President, Corporate & Public Affairs At Veritas Communications
Finding the needle in the haystack: What’s Important, What’s Not When Seeking The Best Person For The Job
New Hires And Promotions At Cohn & Wolfe
CPRS Awards of Excellence and Major Awards Call For Entries

Upcoming Events

F5 EXPO – April 7, 2010

Job Board

Events Specialist – Winnipeg
Public Relations and Communications Officer IV – Banff
Public Relations Manager – Toronto
Special Events and Fundraising Manager
Associate Marketing and Promotions Manager – Toronto
Senior Web/Graphic Designer – St. Catharines

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Yahoo! Canada Rolls Out A New Home Page

Dave Forde — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:47:43 +0000

With new leadership in place with Carol Bartz, Yahoo has been moving forward in a new direction. As part of the new focus Yahoo! Canada has rolled out the first phase of their new home page (see image below). Canadians can now take advantage of the power of Yahoo’s tools including mail, photo sharing and instant message and combine this with the best the web has to offer through apps which allow content to be added to help make a better experience.

“The Web is an indispensible part of Canadians’ lives, it’s where they socialize, stay in touch with family and friends, buy products and services and share their photos and memories,” says Matt Idema, Yahoo! vice president and country manager, Canada. “Whether for their PC or mobile device, Yahoo! Canada is bringing greater simplicity and relevance to the way Canadians experience the Web. Our new homepage is designed to help Canadians stay on top of what is going on in their world, and around the world no matter where they are.”

Features of the new Yahoo! Canada homepage include:

My Favourites – Canadians can easily choose from a dashboard of more than 57 apps to add directly to their personalized Yahoo! Canada homepage, including apps for different email providers (Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, best of breed content sites (People.com, Forbes.com, social networking sites (Facebook, MySpace ), and many others.
App Maker – Developed by Yahoo!, users can easily create their own apps on the fly by adding virtually any URL of their choice.
Social Updates – Users can share their current “status” with friends directly from the Yahoo! Canada homepage. They can get visibility into what their friends are doing across the Web, and integrate with leading social networks like Facebook and MySpace.
News, For You – Hyper-local news and the ability to toggle the news module to the top of the page offer easier ways to access the news that matters most.
PC to Mobile Sync – Canadians can continue their Yahoo! Canada experience on the go with a more seamless PC to mobile integration. New apps added to the Yahoo! Canada PC homepage can be easily added to the mobile homepage so Canadians’ Yahoo! mobile experience mirrors their PC experience.

I had a chat with Max Tremblay, Director of Marketing for Yahoo! Canada:

DF: How do you refer to Yahoo – portal, website, online destination?
MT: “We want to be the center of people’s lives, it is a one stop shop for users interactions.”

DF: What is the opportunity for brands with Yahoo’s home page?

MT: The site was redesigned with advertisers in mind, we wanted to make advertising opportunities more relevant for them. We have fewer advertising places available, but have improved on the relevancy.

DF: Where does Yahoo! Canada rank among other Canadian properties?
MT: According to comScore, we are #3 with 16.3 million unique visitors month.

DF: How will the Microsoft/ Yahoo search deal affect Canada?
MT: I don’t see it having a significant impact on our business, it will be business as usual until the deal is finally approved.

DF: Are you looking for content? What is the opportunity for content creators?
MT: We are always looking for Canadian content partners, and our main focus is on sports, news, finance and lifestyle.

DF: Has Y!ou campaign had any penetration in Canada?
DF: We are still evaluation the results and will be looking to do something to support the new home page and the global campaign in Canada.

Yahoo Canada is also going to be heavily involved in the Winter Olypics and will have the third largest media presence.

Yahoo.ca will feature expert commentary from well-known Canadian athletes including Elvis Stojko (figure skating), Ken Daneyko (hockey), and Jennifer Jones (curling), who will bring a uniquely Canadian perspective to their Olympics coverage.
Yahoo! Canada has expanded its sports editorial team at home to include former Globe and Mail staff
Yahoo!’s Olympic mobile site, scheduled to launch on February 9, will enable fans on the go to keep up with the latest happenings, including medal counts, news and expert coverage, live results, athlete profiles and more.

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Yahoo! Canada Hires Max Tremblay As New Director Of Marketing

Dave Forde — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:59:15 +0000

Yahoo! Canada has announced Max Tremblay has been hired as the new Director of Marketing for Canada where he will manage off of their consumer and business-to-business marketing efforts across the country including branding, strategic planning, advertising and lead generation. Prior to joining Max was Vice President of Markeing at Workopolis where he helped to lead their online and offline programs that drove Workopolis online recruiting category leadership as well as more than double digit revenue, traffic and brand engagement growth. Max has also held executive and brand management positions at Walt Disney Company, H.J. Heinz, Campbell Soup Company, Pillsbury, EA Sports and Bell Canada Enterprises.

Max will be reporting into Matt Idema, Vice President, Strategy and Business Management, Yahoo! and Country Manager, Yahoo! Canada.

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Yahoo! Canada Is Not A Ghost Town, Kind Of…

Dave Forde — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:01:56 +0000

Last Friday I wrote that Yahoo! Canada was laying off more staff and that it has turned into a ghost town in their office. One reader suggested that I do some fact checking which is a fair request and pretty simple to confirm. Of goes an email to their public relations firm here in Canada who did provide me with the information I was looking for which I can only assume they are getting directly from Yahoo. Over the last year quite a few people have left the company and we’ve written about it here, here and here to name a few, but I was told that Yahoo! does not disclose the number of employees they have or by country and they still have an office in Quebec with employees in Montreal.

Previously Yahoo! Canada was being run my Kerry Munro as General Manager a great guy who had built up a very strong team here in Canada. I did ask their pr firm who is heading up Yahoo! Canada today? I was told that “Matt Idema is vice president, strategy and business management, Yahoo! and country manager, Yahoo! Canada.” I’ve never heard or met Matt so decided to check whether he had a profile on any of the various social networks he is on LinkedIn. According to his profile he does work for Yahoo!, but is in San Francisco.

I’ve never claimed to be Einstein but if the Country Manager is managing operations “virtually” and people are either leaving or being laid off then doesn’t that still make the office here in Canada a ghost town? Very creative name to use on the comment by the way, I did check out the link that was provide to current job listing and none were for Canada. At the end of the day there is a huge opportunity for online advertising in Canada. I can only assume that Matt has been up to Toronto, if not give me a call when you’re in town and we’ll chat I will even introduce you to a few advertisers.

With new leadership running Yahoo! Can they successfully run Yahoo! Canada from their operations in the US?

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Yahoo Continues To Kill Canadian Operations, More Layoffs Today

Dave Forde — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:48:02 +0000

Not quite a “Happy Friday” as news comes down the pipe from Carol Bartz that Yahoo is making further cuts to their Canadian operations, as we’ve reported before there are not many people left running the show here in Toronto. Over the last few months they have cut sales, communications, marketing and engineering which has pretty much turned the office into a ghost town.

The company is planning to manage Canada remotely from their head office in California, a strategy which has never proven to be a successful model for any company that size. There are some good people on the street but they are quickly accepting other employment opportunities.

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The Little Engine That Could?

Dave Forde — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:36:21 +0000

The news is out, Jerry Yang has come to the realization that he is not the guy who can take the company he Co-Founded back to the level of dominance that Yahoo once was on the web. It was only a year ago that I had referred to Yahoo, Microsoft and Google as the Big 3 of the Internet and now troubles have taken the company stock down to hovering around $12. Here at home in Canada the news has shaken things up a bit and there have been a few people who did leave, but it is a new day and Yahoo! Canada is moving forward. I recently ran into Yahoo! Canada General Manager, Kerry Munro who is extremely excited and confident about the times ahead for the organization. He shared with me that within the Yahoo offices around the world Canada is and still remains as one of the most profitable.

One thing is for certain, Yahoo! Canada is still a very strong brand and does still command consumer’s attention. Next year will be an interesting year, and definitely a year of opportunity. Online video and mobile are possible areas where the team could make some strong in-roads. The re-signing of the Rogers/ Yahoo partnership also provide great opportunities for areas of growth.
Knowing Kerry’s personality he’d never say it, but 2009 might be the year that he gets to say “I told you so…” with a great brand, strong product offering, I think there is only can go from here.

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Yahoo! Canada On The Grow Again, Adds 7 New Hires

Dave Forde — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:57:32 +0000

Now that all the all the noise about who is going to buy Yahoo is behind them the company can focus “business as usual.” Here in Canada they’ve done a little bit of hiring with the addition of 7 new employees.

Heather Forrester joins Yahoo! Canada to spearhead Business Development and Yahoo! Search Marketing (YSM) initiatives. Heather has more than 10 years of experience developing business strategies and marketing programs for the global marketplace. In her new role Heather will be responsible for building strategic partnerships and identifying new markets, products and services that will increase the breadth and the depth of the Yahoo! brand in the Canadian marketplace. Heather has an MBA from Queen’s University and continues to be engaged in the academic space as an Instructor of E-Commerce and Management at Ryerson University.

Peter Harris joins Yahoo! Canada as Front Page Editor. In his role Peter will lead a team to deliver timely, engaging content to users. Before joining Yahoo!, Peter was Sympatico/MSN’s Home Page Editor and before that Monster.ca’s Content Manager. Peter is fully bilingual, with a bachelor’s degree in professional writing and a Masters in comparative Canadian literature, both from the University of Sherbrooke.

Seema Kallidumbil joins Yahoo! Canada as Corporate Counsel in the Legal Department. Prior to joining Yahoo! Canada, Seema worked as Commercial Counsel at Research In Motion. Seema will be assisting Yahoo! General Counsel in providing legal support for the company on a range of matters. Seema has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree from the University of Guelph and attended law school at the University of Western Ontario.

Liz Metcalf joins Yahoo! Canada as “Chief Household Office” (CHO) Project Manager. She is a writer/editor and product manager with extensive experience in marrying traditional media with the Web. Known for creative problem-solving, combined with solid technical skills, Liz has previously created content strategies at many of Canada’s major portals.

Jean-Francois Paiement is a scientist in the vertical Search and Federation Department at Yahoo! Canada’s Montreal office. He has a PH. D from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and spent time at Google working on image search.

Lisa Smiley joins as an Ad Producer, Microsite in the sales strategy department. She previously worked at Lavalife Corp where she held the positions of Creative Studio Manager and Senior Account Manager, Ad Sales. Prior to that, Lisa worked at Rogers Publishing Inc. as a Production Manager.

Sherri Williams is a Sales Operations Trainer in Yahoo! Canada’s business development department. She previously worked at IBM, Starcom, CHUM Television, CanWest and Bell Sympatico. Sherri has a degree in criminology and a diploma in Creative Advertising.

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TVO Goes Yahoo With New Content Deal

Dave Forde — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 16:52:50 +0000

If you’ve kept up with the headlines over the last few months, Yahoo! Canada has taken steps to add more content offered to its 16.5 million Canadians who visit the site on a monthly basis (according to comScore), as well their search platform. Now is a surprising partnership they have teamed up with TVO, an Ontario’s public educational media organization to deliver deliver educational content in both text and video formats. This is a first for TVO as they look to embrace the web as part of their “going digital” strategy with a goal of reaching new audiences utilizing multi-platforms and distribution deals.

“TVO is focused on increasing our impact in the digital space with our unique, educational media resources,” says Lisa de Wilde, TVO’s Chief Executive Officer. “Working with Yahoo! Canada aligns with TVO’s digital strategy to make our content accessible to new audiences through alternative distribution channels, while exploring new revenue streams and business models.”

Instead of trying to target an audience that is already familiar with TVO’s content, the are looking to this partnership deal to target web-savvy parents who are already online and use the web as a resource to to help engage and educate their children. TVO will deliver content on subjects ranging from managing homework time to dealing with bullying, including a compilation of resources for parents of children with autism and a complete inventory of TVO’s Your Voice, the first and only online interactive program for parents built on education issues.

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