Yahoo's Latest Partnership: Online and Mobile Advertising Integration with Publicis

Today, Publicis announced the launch of their new digital advertising initiative, VivaKi. And Yahoo wasted no time sending out a press release regarding the new partnership with Publicis, perhaps in an attempt to compete with the news of Google’s Ad Planner. But with Google already having its own agreement with Publicis, Yahoo is really just playing catch-up.

Yahoo’s partnership is a dizzying array of product integrations between the two. Let’s dive in:

First up, mobile marketing. Publicis’ mobile marketing agency, PhoneValley, will be the first global agency to integrate Yahoo’s Blueprint, a mobile developer platform language. The integration aism to aid brands in scaling their messages to a global level. Publicis will also be creating “microsites” to leverage Yahoo’s Smart Ads, a mobile advertising tech solution.

Another part of the agreement is Publicis’ integration of Yahoo’s Right Media Exchange with their current media buying systems. Yahoo touts Right Media Exchange as “the largest open community of buyers and sellers including advertisers, agencies, publishers and networks.” Yahoo hopes the integration will help clients of Publicis be able to target demographics with a single campaign buy.

“Our goal in working together with advertisers and agencies is to help them build brands, reach consumers and increase sales in new ways,” said Yahoo President Sue Decker, who recently spoke about the online advertising transformation and is believed to be behind Yahoo’s latest reorganization. “Through this relationship, Yahoo! and Publicis will empower the next generation of innovative advertising solutions.”

“This partnership with Yahoo! takes the biggest challenge facing marketers today-the need for hyper-personalization on a massive scale-and turns it into a scalable, direct opportunity for Publicis Groupe clients,” said David Kenny, Managing Partner of Publicis Groupe VivaKi. “By creating an evolved business structure built specifically to capitalize on this medium, we’ll advance the larger industry and in the process set new standards for online advertising innovation.”