Yahoo! 30 days of copying Google.

What do you do when your main competitor is internet giant Google? Out innovate them? Create an exciting media campaign to show how different you are to them? No apparently you copy them, well, least a little bit.
To explain, Yahoo have launched a new campaign called ’30 days of change’. This involves them showing a different version of the ‘Yahoo’ logo on their homepage and throughout their network for everyday of the month.
Don’t get me wrong I like part of the idea that Yahoo are using from a PR point of view. It’s engaging and I can imagine it promoting discussion, building hype and I’m sure it will be shared widely. But isn’t the core idea itself just a remix of Google’s (and much loved) daily logo tweak that they use to reflect an event or anniversary?


Except Yahoo have chosen to spread it over 30 days and rather than create a different design all they seem to have done is use a different typeface each time from what we can see so far.
Over 20 years old the current Yahoo logo and brand identity has been in need of a refresh for quite sometime. It seems the timing couldn’t be better what with the recent changes in the company and its upturn since Marissa Mayer (former Google executive) joined them around a year ago.
What with some of the new products they are introducing and the rejuvenation of photo-sharing social network Flickr. Recently Yahoo released a much-needed redesign of its Flickr app, which saw usage increase by 25%. Impressive.
The 3o day’s campaign seems a sound idea, least PR wise. What it is doing is building momentum and interest over time before unveiling their new identity. That said they really have to have made sure that whatever they reveal is outstanding. It needs to work really well across all media, engage their worldwide audience and have the legs to stay fresh in the various places it will be seen across the web.
In fact the logo itself in this case isn’t quite as important as the way it’s used in other media. Good example of this was the London 2012 logo, widely criticised by both the public and design professionals, it made up for itself when applied across other media and brand materials in the led up and during the games.
Anyway back to Yahoo!
Yahoo’s Kathy Savitt, Chief Marketing Officer says..
“Over the past year, there’s been a renewed sense of purpose and progress at Yahoo!, and we want everything we do to reflect this spirit of innovation. While the company is rapidly evolving, our logo — the essence of our brand — should too.
We’ve introduced beautiful new products that have changed the way you see the weather, read email, share photos, and follow your favorite sports teams. We’ve partnered with great artists including Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, John Legend, and Imagine Dragons to take Yahoo! On The Road. And of course, we are excited to come together with tumblr, and by extension, its incredible community of creators.”

So far the campaign has been running for 6 days, you can see below the logos they’ve released so far.
Nothing too radical here more a change of typeface each day and retaining their signature purple.
Gimmick or identity crisis it will be interesting to see how this plays out and whether what Yahoo unveil will be worth waiting for.