Most people do not realize that the long known Yahoo company is now owned and operated by Verizon. Being an employee of Verizon, I have a very thorough knowledge of the company and the overarching goals of not only the organization, but of the re-branded collection of companies such as Yahoo, AOL, Mapquest, TechCrunch, Huffington Post, and Tumblr. The collection of brands collectively have been branded as Verizon Media.
There are two major goals for Yahoo and the larger Verizon Media brand:
- Increase their footprint in the digital media space.
- Create branded content and compete with companies such as HBO and DirecTV.
There are a variety of ways in which Verizon Media has implemented a variety of ways in which Verizon Media is attempting to accomplish this. Combing the various marketing, advertising, and public relations departments into one collaborative effort was the first goal. Having many legacy companies which all did business in different ways made it incredibly difficult to have one goal and defined path forward. Marketing has been working heavily to promote the new unified image of all the different companies as one. A great deal of advertising has been being created through social, internet, and other forms of digital in order to begin showing the “new” Verizon Media brand and what it offers customers. PR has continued to work closely with marketing and advertising to align on a uniform image. They have been careful to articulate that this formation of companies is part of a larger plan, to help increase their footprint in the digital media space, and to compete with other large digital media type companies.
So how effective is PR in meeting Verizon Media’s goals? Verizon Media has been struggling to perform from a monetary perspective. The organization has been facing pressures from the industry, and announced late last year that they would be taking a 4.5 billion dollar write-down for the Oath brand. This was a difficult message for PR to communicate out, since it portrays that the Oath brand is not performing as was intended, and may be struggling. It also shows that PR, advertising, and marketing are not meeting the goals which have been set. The Verizon Media brand continues to struggle marketing itself and being known in the marketplace.
What strategies might be suggested to help improve Verizon Media’s effectiveness? Verizon Media has an opportunity to really re brand and reinvent its image, now that the full consolidation of the various legacy companies has taken place. Being able to appropriately advertise will help to attract potential viewers. This in turn, will help to increase revenues. Another area for improvement is with PR. There has not been a great deal of communication around the next steps for the company, which leads many to wonder how stable the organization is.
How are the roles of public relations, marketing, and advertising in the organization similar and different? While these various aspects of the business work together to ensure consistent alignment on the messaging, advertising, and overall strategy, they also vary greatly. Within Verizon Media, PR acts as the messaging unit, driving a lot of the communication out to stakeholders and consumers. Marketing also helps drive some of that same communication, however does it from an aspect of promoting the business and marketing it in a way which will drive performance and increase viewers. Advertising has had a focused effort on re-branding the company and attempting to show the new direction of Verizon Media. Each of the marketing, advertising, and PR departments must work closely together. This ensures that all messaging is aligned and that the desired image is being portrayed. PR will be informed of the advertising and marketing strategies, as well as the content. This helps to ensure they are best equipped to answer questions, and do not encounter any surprises. Likewise, PR works to keep advertising and marketing informed on the intended image the company wants to project, as well as provide feedback on feedback from the marketplace and customers.
Verizon Media will continue to adjust to meet the needs of the customer. The industry continues to change, and will only get more competitive. Verizon Media will need full participation and involvement with advertising, PR, and marketing in order to continue working on the aforementioned goals, and be able to excel in the coming years.
Yahoo 