The campaign is the second major branding effort by the portal in Asia, and while earlier spots were adaptations from global campaigns, Yahoo filmed its latest TVCs in Kuala Lumpur for a more "Asian appeal". The Euro-RSCG-developed television ads, which target 'upwardly mobile' consumers aged six to 66, were directed by Nick Reynolds, who was also behind the award-winning Ikea campaign.
Markus Barnikel, head of marketing and communications at Yahoo, said: "The spots before were adaptations from the US, such as the ads showing a guy walking down the street wearing a big wig. That first campaign showed crazy, fun people. Those ads worked well for Yahoo over the past six years, but we have grown a lot in Asia since then. The spots in the past relayed the key message that it's fun to use Yahoo.
"This time we took a different approach to show what happens to your life if you don't use Yahoo. One execution called Answering machine shows a bored girl sitting in her living room. When the phone doesn't ring, the girl sucks on a helium balloon and records a message in a "cartoon voice". The tag line at the end is 'Get a life. Get online at Asia's No.1 website'.
Another TVC shows a bored youth flushing his pet goldfish down the toilet.
The youth runs out of the house and manages to catch the pet as it comes out in the sewer.
The campaign will run on AXN, CNBC, Discovery, Hallmark and Animal Planet channel until year-end, and will be supported by a print burst.