SEL: Yahoo's Project Panama, Slated for Q4 Launch, Unveiled at SES

check out the Digging into Search swicki at eurekster.com

Search marketing in the new media era.

August 09, 2006

Yahoo's Project Panama, Slated for Q4 Launch, Unveiled at SES

MVox tipped me off to Yahoo's Project Panama unveiling at SES this week.

Update: check the screen shots at New Yahoo Search Marketing Preview

The interface and new marketing options are, in a single word, astounding. Yahoo clearly feels a competitive advantage in their new offering, an advantage they think they can hold at least until Q4 it seems.

A Q4 launch is curious though, considering that for many marketers this is the busiest time of the year...

Anyways, here are the advances, as I directly quote them from ClickZ's Yahoo Trots Out New Search Ad Platform by Rebecca Lieb:

> this new platform will be much more marketing focused... much more intuitive. This application is for managing objectives.

> In the new interface, advertisers will be able to choose sets of targets, creatives, and calls-to-action.

>We'll be introducing graphics and rich media, coupons, and phone calls. This will be very important in new channels such as mobile"

(what do Zixxo and Merchant Circle make of this?)

>We will tell you if you've run out of money, or if your credit card has expired. You can click a link and take action to correct it,"

>In time, advertisers can set business rules as alerts. Yahoo provided examples such as, "Are new competitors entering the space?" or, "Is the campaign underperforming by 5 percent?"

> the system will allow advertisers to see historical search data, such as original search terms high in the purchase funnel that lead to indirect conversions, based on search research and patterns. "Not only will you take the keywords into consideration that lead to conversions, but everything that led up to that final consideration," said Kim.

Also see Yahoo's Site Explorer Update post as well as the Yahoo Search Builder, very suspiciously similar to Stephen Marder's Eurekster, which powers SEL's search (thx to McRackan for the link).

One quote in particular stood out to me, and showed my how far Yahoo has come in terms of customer relations at conferences: "Yahoo invited those present to join the early migration phase, a move greeted with great enthusiasm."

Great enthusiasm was not the case when Yahoo launched Site Match in '04. Kudos to the Yahoo team for nailing the market's needs!

Garrett French - MarketSmart Interactive | permalink | +marktd |

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