14 DAY TRIAL // The new campaign launched by Yahoo! is already famous throughout the world, and its newest initiative is to modify its well-known yodel by offering users all over the world the possibility to come up with an original and innovative one.
“The foundation of the ‘It’s Y!ou’ campaign is about making the web more personally relevant to each of our consumers, so it’s important that we engage the world in the creation of our new yodel,” Elisa Steele, Yahoo! executive vice president and chief marketing officer, said. “It’s essentially a unique form of user-generated content that honors the millions of people who visit Yahoo! every day.”
In order to provide users with the best conditions for creating the future yodel, the company will start casting sessions in some of the most important cities on three continents: New York, London and Mumbai. These events will also bring together several famous celebrities who will try to offer some guidelines for the wannabe yodelers. Thus, New York will feature Jewel, Pete Wentz, LeAnn Rimes, Randy Jackson and Rob Cavallo, whereas Pixie Lott and the X Factor’s Sinitta will be in London; the Mumbai candidates will encounter Bollywood singer Shankar Mahadevan, as well as musical artists VJ Nikhil Chinappa and Shaa’ir + Func.
On the other hand, those who cannot be present at these events can easily access this page and record their own personalized interpretation of the Yahoo! Yodel, and the reinterpreted versions can be submitted until November 8.
Furthermore, the participants will not only compete for the opportunity to be a part of the worldwide advertising campaign launched by Yahoo!, but also to win a donation for one of the numerous global charities enlisted in the program (each yodeler will have the liberty to choose the preferred charity and donate up to $130,000).
“The yodel is synonymous with Yahoo! and we’re ready for people around the world to put their unique expression on it,” Steele added. “Whether your yodel is 80s punk or country funk, the Yodel Studio is about self-expression, having fun and allowing all the people who use Yahoo! to be an essential part of our brand revitalization effort.”
It is worth mentioning that the customized yodels can be submitted regardless of the native country and no matter the genre users prefer. For example, if you like rock or hip-hop, you can easily choose the background that represents you best, then record the yodel you will subsequently submit on the website.
Once all the entries have been registered, the organizers will monitor each yodel’s popularity based on their numbers of views and the most popular ones will be awarded with 'gold,' while the most popular yodels in the US, the UK and India will each get 'platinum.' Needless to say, everyone can use the integrated social-media tools to increase awareness for their creations and to collect votes starting with November 9th, until the 15th.
Yahoo! will reveal the winners during the week of November 16th, offering users the chance to be featured on the website's homepage and to participate in the advertising campaign.