McDonald's v. Yahoo! In back-to-back presentations on the big stage at the Ritz-Carlton in beautiful, Naples, Florida, Larry Light of McDonald's and Terry Semel of Yahoo! presented the past and the future, the strategies and the tactics, and the yin and the yang of building brands in today's "experience economy." You shoulda been there. More than 700 of the boldest and brightest minds in marketing were there -- taking in the annual meeting of the Association of National Advertisers, ana.blogs.com/conference, last Friday morning. The place was packed. Immediately following a spectacular, twenty-minute montage of great moments in television advertising, and an impassioned case for accountability in marketing by ANA ceo Bob Liodice, Larry Light declared that McDonald's was "suddenly cool" and Terry Semel said Yahoo! is no longer a "search engine" but a "life engine."

How McDonald's and Yahoo! managed such transformations was a study in similarities and contrasts. In a beautifully packaged, soundbite-laden presentation, Larry Light explained how, in just two years' time, McDonald's had restored its relevance and turned decline into growth through strategic line extensions that expanded the brand's appeal beyond its traditional base of kids to include moms and young adults. In a stripped down, plain-spoken performance, Terry Semel explained how Yahoo! had restored its relevance and turned decline into growth through strategic line extensions that developed deeper relationships and generated revenues where there hadn't been any. Both Larry and Terry used metaphors to describe their respective strategies.

Larry said the new McDonald's was like a "magazine" that publishes a range of stories for diverse audiences, but always within the framework of a well-defined "editorial policy." Terry said the new Yahoo! was like a "theme park" (he used to run Six Flags, after all) that features "better rides" that keep people in "the park" longer, so that they spend more money. Terry said that consumers are now programming Yahoo, in that they can mix and match content as they wish. Larry said McDonalds' current ad slogan -- I'm Lovin' It -- works so well because it conveys the McDonald's brand in the first person, in the voice of the consumer. However, Larry never mentioned the McDonald's dining experience, while Terry said the user experience was the linchpin. Perhaps most intriguing of all, Larry showed some great television commercials that support the McDonald's strategy, While Terry said Yahoo! managed its turnaround without using television advertising.

Tim Manners, editor