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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