In September 2009, Yahoo announced that it would be kicking off a massive advertising campaign to try and revive its brand among Internet users around the globe. The campaign was (and is) centered around the “It’s You” catchphrase and aims to highlight the company’s array of Web services and customization options.
The estimated cost: more than $100 million.
CEO Carol Bartz at the time said that the $100 million global advertising campaign would not turn out to be a short-term marketing scheme, but a harbinger for Yahoo’s new direction and its products going forward. Evidence to that statement is the fact that Yahoo last week filed for a U.S. trademark on the “It’s You” expression.
The mark consists of standard characters, without claim to any particular font, style, size, or color. The description given is fairly broad – it reads:
“Promoting the goods and services of others by providing hypertext links to the web sites of others in the fields of news, weather, sports, current events, and reference materials; providing information in the field of national and international political news.”
Let’s see if Yahoo manages to secure a trademark for the phrase any time soon.