Yahoo tells advertisers to call off the search

Another day, another upfront. Another company explaining why its ad stack is the only ad stack in town, why it has the biggest reach, the deepest data, the most sensible ad investment options.

On Thursday afternoon, Yahoo reminded Australian agencies and marketers that not only it still exists, it has access to an impressive amount of ad inventory and targeting tech.

The digital network that began life as a hand-curated directory in 1994 has had many iterations over the years: search engine, email extension, news site, the logo that popped up at the end of Packed To The Rafters episodes in the late 2000s. However, its future in Australia seems to be as a demand-side platform (DSP) for data-led advertising.

Yahoo is offering a one-stop shop for advertisers to tip their marketing dollars into, with the reassurance that their brand message will be both widespread and minutely targeted. This is basically the same pitch that advertisers heard from Nine, Seven, ARN, SBS, Foxtel, and others — but Yahoo wrapped it up in a neat 45 minutes, managed to present case studies that flowed like conversations rather than sales pitches — and weaved a bit of nostalgia in there to remind folks of when Yahoo ruled the land and the internet wasn’t such a scary place. Plus, there was a lot of purple at the event, which Gretchen Rubin books say is a calming colour.