Yahoo hiring Bradford: a good thing

I have to admit to deriving some pleasure from Yahoo's hiring of ex-Microsoft ad sales chief Joanne Bradford to replace that search guy. It hardly means that Yahoo is now in the clear, but no matter how much emphasis Yahoo has tried to put on search in its quixotic quest to be a true rival to Google, having someone from the search ad business replace Wenda Harris Millard seemed like a non-starter from the get-go. Bradford, like Millard, understands the mainstream advertiser mindset, and since their embrace of online advertising, and search in particular, is still a work in progress, much better to have someone in the top job who gets where the people they are selling to are coming from. Good luck, Joanne, and as for the people at Yahoo, I hope this is the first sign that you're moving in a new, right direction.

Wenda Harris Millard tells what's wrong with Yahoo

Brian Morrissey at Adweek has posted a story about yesterday's interview of Wenda Harris Millard by Federated Media chief John Battelle at the Conversational Marketing Conference. It proved unusual in that Martha Stewart Omnimedia media president Millard actually took swipes at her former employer, Yahoo, which seems to have sunk into a year-2001-like mire since her departure. But Millard's criticism doesn't come off as sour grapes, but as a well-reasoned analysis of a company that has lost its, well, sites, placing technology above all else. "Technology is very important, but where many companies go wrong is when they think technology is the answer or primary solution to proving a business solution to a marketing problem," she said. "The business of advertising is still a business of persuasion. Machines can't make art." (Of course, Yahoo has said that it can do great brand advertising and focus on technology at the same time.) UPDATE: Martha Stewart Omnimedia just announced that Millard and the president of merchandising, Robin Marino, are being promoted to replace Susan Lyne, who just said she is leaving as chief executive.

Saul Hansell's thoughts on Yahoo

Finally got a chance today to check out Saul Hansell's "Bits" blog over at Nytimes.com to see what he had to say about the IAB conference. Read this excellent post, "Wishing for the old yodel from Yahoo"—it's a good summation of why Yahoo finds itself where it is today, and includes a nice tip of the hat to Wenda Harris Millard, who, Hansell notes "was unceremoniously pushed aside in a power struggle with Yahoo’s search advertising department." I've long believed that Yahoo didn't know what it had in her—an executive who could truly bridge both sides of the traditional/non-traditional divide—and I think Hansell agrees.

Yahoo ad sales defections continue

The defection of members of the Yahoo advertising group took a double-dip today: both Jerry Shereshewsky, who had perhaps the world's oddest title (Ambassador Plenipotentiary to Madison Avenue) and Steve Mitgang, who most recently held the title, senior vp, advertising platforms and products, are both taking CEO posts elsewhere in the Internet universe. As was Wenda Harris Millard, who recently left for Martha Stewart Omnimedia, Jerry, was truly the public face of Yahoo, at least in the advertising industry. It was pretty hard to attend an Internet advertising event over the last five years or so, and not see Jerry there. He's taking the helm at grandparents.com—an idea whose time has come—where he'll no doubt continue in that role. As for Mitgang, he was deeply involved with Project Panama—Yahoo's revamp of its search advertising platform, and he'll be taking the reins at Veoh, one of the emerging players in the Internet video industry. (Dmitry Shapiro, the passionate founder of Veoh, CEO will continue on as chief innovation officer.) To get back to the Yahoo angle, it's hardly a shock to see Shereshewsky leaving. In a sense, Yahoo is going back to the future, trading in Terry Semel for Jerry Yang, who founded the company and, its relationships with advertisers and agencies having been solidified, focusing more on the tech-heavy side of online advertising. As for Mitgang, it's a little tougher to see, since the overriding goal of the ad revenue side of Yahoo's business is to wed search with display, and search seems to be the coin of the realm in Santa Clara these days. On the other hand, I'm just someone sitting in her home office trying to read a few tea leaves.