Boo hoo

yahoo.com, that big portal, is all over newspapers with full page ads and on TV with a we-spent-a-lot-of-money commercial. I haven't seen any yet, but I am sure there are big and mighty hoardings lurking around, looking down at passing pedestrians and jammed motorists.
Fiona Ramsay, (no relation to the horror-film producing Ramsay Brothers), reports from London that after Vodafone and Yahoo, a brand called Asda is using the fashionable strategy of 2009: Empowering the consumer. For proof she quotes the new tag lines of Vodafone (Power to you) and Yahoo (It's you). Read her full story here.
It is a Huh?! moment this: 'Empowering the consumer' is a strategy on its own? Isn't that what every brand is supposed to do? But maybe I am out of touch with what's fashionable, especially in 2009.
On the other hand, old-fashioned me is always a little wary of all advertising that claims a brand is 'about you', 'for you' etc. in so many words. Shouldn't the consumer say, after being exposed to the advertising and/or the brand, "Hey, this is about me, for me"? But I guess, 'Say it loud enough, say it often enough, say it everywhere' is a strategy that always works...

But looking at all these big bucks being spent in print and on TV (released on live 20-20 cricket, that big), I don't envy the job of the guy who works in Yahoo's ad sales. Imagine the poor chap trying to convince a media buyer that: "Digital is the future man!" "The internet, dude, that's where all the youngsters are!" "Traditional media is so dead!" while, in the background, the yahoo commercial plays on prime time TV.

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