IQ News: Yahoo, Snap Prepping Offline Branding Pushes For September

Portal mania will hit the airwaves in earnest next month as Yahoo and Snap each launch offline campaigns.
For Snap, the Internet directory run by NBC and CNET, the campaign will feature the first creative from Saatchi & Saatchi, San Francisco. It was named agency of record last week. Yahoo ads, including the first new TV spots in more than a year from Black Rocket, San Francisco, will continue to target Web newcomers and will keep the original tagline: “Do You Yahoo?”
Near-surfers are “still the most important market for us to go after,” explained Karen Edwards, vice president of brand advertising at Yahoo, Santa Clara, Calif. Yahoo will run a rotation of spot TV and radio ads in six markets (up from three) including New York, Chicago and Dallas, she added. New ads will highlight Yahoo’s latest features like chat and email, marking a departure from its previous search-themed ads. The multi-million-dollar campaign will run through year-end.
Despite its “Internet-for-newbies” image, vice president of marketing Julie Welch said Snap’s positioning is not changing. “It’s intended to be a universal resource for anybody who’s on the Internet or about to get on.” In keeping with Snap’s mainstream goals, the agency decision ultimately was based on the shops’ brand-building capabilities.
Snap’s media plan, which runs through year-end, has not been finalized, but prime time TV ads on NBC will predominate; radio and Web ads are under consideration. Saatchi & Saatchi is currently testing the branding strategy. Welch would not quantify NBC’s media support. The NBC affiliation is certain to give the service a leg up on competitors, who rely primarily on radio and spot TV buys.