While reading an interview with Carol Bartz, the Chief Yahoo, I found myself cheering her on. Around here we talk about “buckets”. Customers and vendors and investors all want to put us into a “bucket” so they know how to think about us. If they can’t group companies or technologies or products with others, it’s as if they can’t make an evaluation. In her interview with CNBC’s Jim Goldman, Bartz unapologetically “kicked the bucket” right out of his hands. “We are not a search company.” Followed shortly by “There’s no turnaround at Yahoo….” And then “15% is the new flat.” I love it. The digerati have put Yahoo into a bucket of struggling search companies that need to find a new business model because of the dominance of Google. Bartz vociferously disagreed and made her case forcefully.
The point I am making is that we need to break the way we think today. The internet isn't new anymore and we've become lazy by relying on what's familiar and common rather than what's new and better. New ideas get stifled because they don't fit the mold. CPC and CPA pricing is one of the best examples. Advertisers genuinely believe they are protected from wasteful spending because they only pay for a result. By bucketing new offerings as CPA/CPC/CPM only, the search engines and ad networks can dictate the model and force advertisers to pay more than necessary.
Bartz is approaching her business with fresh thinking and I wish her all the best in making the rest of us find a new bucket for Yahoo.
– Scott Nelson
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