Last update - 01:19 04/03/2007
Hoping for a win-win situation, Yedioth heads to the net
By Ayala Tsoref
The Yedioth Ahronoth group's new Internet brand for classified ads will be win-win. The group plans to replace its print classified ad brand "Yedioth Ahronoth Board" and its online "ynet center."
The group launched an ad campaign for the new classified site on Friday with carton speech bubbles on the sides of buses nationwide proclaiming, "I found it!" The first stage bus and billboard ads don't mention the brand or the service. The campaign is also running in the Internet at Israeli sites Nana, ynet and msn, a well as in the Hebrew-language daily Yedioth Ahronoth.
The brand had been scheduled for launch tomorrow, but was accidentally revealed to the public on Friday when one of the bus companies used the wrong posters on its buses, revealing the "solution" to the campaign. The campaign slogan is "buying and selling."
In addition, the Yedioth Ahronoth group has created an Internet site (www.winwin.co.il) targeting major Israeli classified sites yad2, homeless, Luach Ha'ir and Madas. The new site will feature job ads as well as used cars and ads to rent and buy apartments.
The move signals a revolution in the group's strategic planning. Publisher Arnon Mozes saw a drop in the volume of print classified activity, while the Internet ad sector is booming. Each of Yedioth's print classified sections publishes 3,000 ads, while yad2 publishes 30,000 ads online simultaneously, most of them for free. Yedioth has set out to curb the trend - if the group is going to lose ads from its print classifieds, then it should be to ynet and the new win-win brand.
Until now, Yedioth has used separate brands in print and online and both brands were managed by the group's classified ads section. This was the only area where outgoing ynet CEO Yaakov Netzer was not involved. Now all the classified ads will be managed by incoming ynet CEO Avi Ben-Tal, former CEO of the print classified operation.
The new branding was created by brand consultant open, which has handled the branding of coffee chain Aroma, the relaunch of the Ha'ir local papers and convenience store chain AM:PM, recently bought out by Blue Square.
Ben-Tal refused to comment for this report.