How Marissa Mayer Can Use Location to Turn Yahoo Around

/

Chief Location Officer wants to offer our congratulations to top female CLO Marissa Mayer for her appointment as Yahoo’s new President and CEO. This is a huge appointment for Mayer, and the pressure is now on to turn Yahoo’s reputation around after a shaky past 5 years for the company, complete with 5 corresponding CEOs. Talking heads are skeptical that one person can positively impact a large company that has been losing market share for some time, but Mayer brings unique traits to the table that are bound to strike change, including:

  • Provides a fresh set of eyes on Yahoo's design: Mayer was behind Google’s infamously clean homepage, believing that a clean interface helps from scaring people away. Perhaps she can apply this to Yahoo’s over-stimulating page layout.
  • Fosters a creative work environment: Mayer held office hours in her Google office 3 times/week, leaving the door open for insight and creativity from other employees.
  • Maintains an inspiring work ethic: Mayer believes that working around the clock is sometimes necessary. But, she establishes a work/life balance by identifying what matters most to her during the week, such as attending a favorite yoga class, and making sure it gets done to avoid burnout.
  • Has experience in Location Services: Mayer's last position at Google was Vice President of Local, Maps, and Location Services. Location is a hot topic in tech right now, so her location experience at Google positions her to help Yahoo excel in this closely-watched department.

How will Mayer’s experience in Google’s location services department translate to Yahoo’s location realm? In 2010, Yahoo staked their claim on the geo-location scene by launching its location-based deal aggregator Yahoo Deals and a fun search application named Sketch-a-Search. Yahoo also boasts a user-friendly Local News page.  Location services are becoming a more central department for all search engines, as Bing, Google, and Yahoo all compete for users via awe-inspiring map imagery and geo-technology. So how can Yahoo differentiate itself? Now that the sparkle has worn off from location sharing apps such as Foursquare and Google Latitude, there is a need for a revolutionary location app, and mobile couponing presents a huge opportunity. If Yahoo was the first to launch a user-friendly mobile coupon app, it could re-establish the company as an innovator in the industry and be the first large company to tap into this large market. Establishing itself in the leader in location-based services for consumers will shake the dust off Yahoo's brand and shine new light on its potential.

CLO Take: Location services present a bevy of opportunities for companies looking to be a leader in their industry.  And we congratulate one of our own, rising to the top.  Best of luck on both deliveries (the baby and the business!)