Sunnyvale, California — Yahoo continues its executive restructuring and software firm NetApp has become the best recruiting ground for tapping Yahoo’s bast marketing talents. Yahoo once again hired another smart talent “Penny Baldwin,” an ad agency veteran, as its senior vice president, to promote its global integrated marketing and brand management. Yahoo has earlier hired CEO and CMO who were connected to the enterprise application firm, the new global brand manager does as well.
Ever since Carol Bartz took the helm at Yahoo as CEO, the atmosphere at Yahoo has been ringing with more hopeful buzz around the company than back in the days of Jerry Yang.
Agency veteran Baldwin, becomes an official Yahoo’s SVP of global integrated marketing and brand management, and assumes the newly conceived position effective immediately and reports to Yahoo’s chief marketing officer, Elisa Steele.
Baldwin will oversee the company’s global brand efforts, and will play an important role in developing and promoting Yahoo’s brand marketing including brand management, corporate messaging, along with integrated marketing and advertising.
“One of Yahoo!’s greatest assets is its brand,” said Steele. “Our integrated, global approach is critical to our success and we have a deep business commitment to fulfill our promise to our users, customers and partners.”
“Penny is uniquely qualified to lead the effort and her leadership, experiences, knowledge and skills are excellent additions to the Yahoo! marketing team,” Steele added.
Said Baldwin in a statement, signaling that Yahoo is poised for an important brand makeover: “This is a seminal moment for the Yahoo! brand and for the business overall.”
Baldwin brings with her 20 years of global brand strategy development and most recently managing her own marketing consulting outfit, Baldwin was with Young & Rubicam until March of this year, where she was responsible for leading the efforts of large global teams across industries, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Her experiences span technology, retail, packaged goods, finance, travel, gaming, wireless communications, entertainment and sports marketing. The company did not gave further detail as to what those tasks might entail. However, the spokesperson pointed out that marketing departments with those specialties will report to Baldwin.
The move is part of the new marketing and re-branding campaign rumored to take place sometime around fall and put forward by the new CEO, Carol Bartz, who has been with Yahoo for only six months. She created the CMO position in March, a job title that had been missing at Yahoo for the previous two years, appointing Steele to steer the marketing effort. Now Yahoo is consolidating its efforts with the addition of Baldwin, a seasoned in brand marketing and strategy development executive.
Baldwin said. “I am delighted to join the leadership team that will take Yahoo! to the next level as we evolve our brand strategy worldwide.” Baldwin, apart from managing Y&R Brands since 2002 till the beginning of this year, as well as she also held senior executive positions with Arnold, McCann Erickson, and Ogilvy & Mather. She also has experience in managing global marketing brands such as Microsoft, HP, Wells Fargo, Palm, and NetApp.