The news that Yahoo is spending $75 million to $85 million on an ad blitz has provoked a wave of disparagement in the blogosphere, with many critics slamming Yahoo for throwing more money away on an ineffective marketing strategy.
But much of the outcry appears to stem from a misunderstanding.
The $75 million to $85 million in advertising is actually part of the $100 million campaign that Yahoo announced in September; It does not represent an additional $75 million to $85 million in ad spending.
A Yahoo spokesperson confirmed that Yahoo has only spent between $15 million and $25 million on the “It’s You” ad campaign since it was rolled out in September, with the remainder of the $100 million budgeted for the new ads, which represent phase two of the campaign.
True, Yahoo has retained a different ad agency to lead the new campaign, swapping out Ogilvy & Mather for Goodby Silverstein & Partners.
And the ad efforts thus far have failed to revive Yahoo’s traffic. Since Yahoo introduced the ad campaign in September, the number of unique visitors in the U.S. to its online properties has declined 2.6 percent to 155.6 million in April, while total page views on its properties have declined 11.4 percent, according to comScore.
