As happened last week to its centralized marketing division, Yahoo has broken up its Customer Advocacy organization, with its staff distributed to the various regions and the product unit of the Silicon Valley Internet giant.

Customer Advocacy has been led by EVP Jeff Russakow, whose fate is now similarly unclear as it is for CMO Elisa Steele, whose division was diced up to the regions last week.

Both execs — who were hired by fired CEO Carol Bartz — plan to remain at the company until at least January, sources said.

Russakow, according to his Yahoo bio, has had “global responsibility for all of Yahoo!’s customer support functions, including audience, small business, ad operations, and search network quality.” He came to Yahoo from previous jobs at Symantec and Adobe.

Interim CEO Tim Morse sent a memo to employees about the change, noting Russakow is looking for his next opportunity, using much the same language as Steele used in her internal email.

The moves are interesting, given Yahoo’s current effort to find a new strategy, which includes a possible sale of all or parts of the company. But there is also a strong sentiment within the company to reorganize around strengthening its advertising platform and products.

I have a call into Yahoo PR for comment (but let’s assume I am accurate about this, shall we?).

More, obviously, to come.

Yahoo is drastically rejiggering its marketing division, according to an internal memo sent today to employees from its Chief Marketing Officer Elisa Steele, in a move that seems to leave her future role unclear.

Steele was brought to Yahoo over two years ago by now-fired CEO Carol Bartz — whom she had been very close to — and charged with turbocharging and reorganizing the unit, which has never been strong.

While Steele certainly did overhaul the marketing department, some of her efforts, such as Yahoo’s pricey “It’s You” advertising campaign, have not worked out. And, largely due to the ongoing turmoil at the company, its brand has suffered under her watch.

The changes, which appear to be at the behest of Steele (though you never know at Yahoo!), will shift the major marketing functions back to the regions of the Silicon Valley Internet company from its current global centralized one.

“I believe we now need to bring marketing decisions, marketing talent and marketing budgets closer to the customer — and into the regions that depend on these critical plans,” she wrote. “We need to further link our marketing strategies to revenue growth, sales objectives and overall accountability.”

Since Steele took over the marketing department at Yahoo several years ago, she has been moving those powers to a more centralized system.

No longer.

In the internal memo, which I obtained and is embedded below, Steele outlines the shift, which will remove a lot of that control of marketing from the HQ and out to its business units.

Steele said in the email to the marketing team that she will remain at the company as CMO for now, although seems to indicate that she is also evaluating her future role.

“My current role as CMO on CEO staff is unchanged,” she wrote. “However, whatever I decide to do next for my career is my choice — and I’ll think about that on my own timeline.”

Sounds like an eventual departure to me, with Steele trying hard to stress she was going out on her own motor, even though giving up contro of big parts of your unit is unusual.

In any case, Steele obviously is betting now that on-the-ground control of marketing will help improve things for the beleaguered company. Here’s the memo:

Team,

It is critical for Yahoo! to grow faster and become more agile. We need to make decisions to accelerate the Regions’ growth plans around the world, and Marketing plays a crucial role in helping develop, support and execute these plans. We’ve built an integrated marketing machine that is an asset to help the company grow now and into the future. When we assembled a global and centralized organization in 2009, we took the opportunity to create best practices, establish consistency, deepen domain expertise, enhance functional capabilities and innovate for one of the biggest brands in the world. And, in the past 12 months, Global Marketing took home dozens of industry awards for marketing leadership in integrated consumer marketing, digital marketing and event marketing – including the acclaimed Cannes Lions, a Clio, a Webby and IAB Awards. Our Marketing achievements have been broad, deep and well recognized.

Now that we have this strong capability, it is time to leverage it even further. I believe we now need to bring marketing decisions, marketing talent and marketing budgets closer to the customer — and into the regions that depend on these critical plans. We need to further link our marketing strategies to revenue growth, sales objectives and overall accountability. Therefore, I want to put the marketing programs and tools we’ve developed right with the Sales and Audience teams responsible for the business outcomes.

It is with this in mind that I recommended a marketing reorganization plan to align to these objectives, accelerate decision-making and simplify roles. The plan centers on decentralizing the current global team into 2 types of specific teams:

1. Regional Marketing: Our regional marketing teams will move to report directly to the Regional leaders in Americas, EMEA and APAC.

2. Corporate Marketing: Our strategic brand, communications and marketing services teams will remain centralized and report into HQ.

This was my proposal to Tim for the best interests of Yahoo! today, and I am glad he agreed with my thinking. I really hope you will endorse and support these changes, too. Yahoo! needs your help and expertise to insure this important next phase is successful.

I want you to know how proud I am of your achievements and contributions. I also want to thank you for the incredible support you have shown me over the past 2.5 years in the current organization. It’s been an amazing brand adventure and working with each of you has been a great source of satisfaction.

My current role as CMO on CEO staff is unchanged. However, whatever I decide to do next for my career is my choice — and I’ll think about that on my own timeline. First, I will work with Tim, my peers and all of you to ensure a smooth transition — and that is my focus for now.

We have a meeting scheduled with the marketing leadership team on Monday and I can address any questions you may have about this transition.

Thanks,

Elisa

Here’s how Yahoo’s top brass and board–with the help of its newly re-engaged crisis-management PR firm, Abernathy MacGregor–are already trying to spin the latest executive turmoil to hit the company:

Trashing those on the way out, to take focus off those remaining who have been just as responsible for driving the Internet icon and claiming that this is all part of yet another well-planned reorganization at Yahoo (YHOO).

Don’t believe most of it for a second. Some of it is corporate politics as usual, some of it rejiggering of events, some just not true at all.

After BoomTown’s scoop earlier today that Yahoo’s U.S. head Hilary Schneider, as well as Audience head David Ko and VP of Media Jimmy Pitaro, would be departing the company–all of which Yahoo is still planning to announce after the markets close on Friday–here comes this gem in a follow-up story in The Wall Street Journal:

“[Yahoo CEO Carol] Bartz, who joined Yahoo in January 2009, is in the midst of a turnaround effort. People familiar with the matter said she is removing the company’s old guard to assemble a new team.”

Let’s parse this ridonkulous spin-addled blame game, shall we?

Bartz is, in fact, the very person who picked all those execs for prime responsibility in her last reorg.

If they were so incompetent, why not dump them much quicker? After all, it’s not like the problems have not been mounting for months and months, with more and more talent taking off.

In addition, the exec exodus at Yahoo over the last year has been unrelenting and broad, encompassing way too many employees for her to act as if it were all planned and okay.

As to the “midst of a turnaround effort” canard that Bartz keeps insisting on, even comparing herself to Apple (AAPL) CEO Steve Job’s epic journey to return that legendary company to health?

Um, we are deep in the second year of the Bartz regime, and there appears to be no iPod-like save in sight, and it’s a little long in the tooth to keep using the turnaround excuse for all that has not yet happened under her command.

Which is to say, stock with a pulse and real growth across all metrics, as Facebook and Google (GOOG), to name a few, are showing.

In addition, it was Bartz herself who handed over a lot of the responsibility for the revival of Yahoo to Schneider.

Which meant Schneider had to be thrown under the wheels of the bus in the Journal by dragging out a very old–and tangential to the much larger flat revenue crisis at Yahoo–newspaper deal as pretty wet cannon fodder:

“Ms. Schneider is leaving because officials haven’t been satisfied with her performance, according to people familiar with the matter. Ms. Schneider was responsible for a 2006 deal with industry group Newspaper Consortium, in which Yahoo sold ads for newspaper websites and print editions. The effort continues but has not met Yahoo’s expectations, according to a person close to the company.”

Memo to readers: “People familiar with the matter,” I am guessing, would be current Yahoo execs.

The fact of the matter is that there have been both critics and admirers of Schneider at Yahoo, which comes as no surprise for one of its top execs. Some consider her smart and canny, while others complain of indecisiveness and slowness to act.

And, she has definitely had some very big whiffs, including the newspaper consortium, but most especially not finding an ad sales chief to replace Joanne Bradford, who left in March, about which I gave her a hard time when a very squishy structure was announced.

And, right now, sources tell me, Yahoo’s upcoming quarterly report could be an even tougher one.

And that falls to Schneider, of course, who has been in charge of its many partnerships, as well as advertising sales across the key Americas region.

Perhaps good reason for an ouster, except I have been tracking Schneider’s status for many months now, since hearing from many sources–not her, ever, in case you wanted to know–that she had told Bartz she wanted out.

Maybe that is what began to sour the boss on Schneider. But to now suddenly call her performance poor seems unusual, especially when you can just as easily point to Yahoo’s disastrous and pricey marketing campaigns–it is definitely not You!–helmed by CMO Elisa Steele, which has failed to move the needle on key user metrics.

But she has a tight relationship with Bartz, so she’s all right, jack? I am dizzy from all the spinning.

In other words, execs make mistakes and there is a lot of blame to go around and–as the old saying goes–the buck really does stop with Bartz.

But, guess what? Perhaps it should be noted that Bartz has also misstepped badly of late by making a series of wild remarks that have seriously angered many partners and other companies in Silicon Valley.

And I have heard from countless and very significant investors, all of whom are deeply concerned about her tone and recent public comments.

Just ask Yahoo Japan’s Masayoshi Son. Or Alibaba’s Jack Ma in China. Or the fine folks over at Apple in Cupertino, Calif.

And, I can also report that several execs at Yahoo’s new search technology partner, Microsoft, are also increasingly alarmed. Said one to me yesterday: “It is becoming a little unsettling.”

I can say for certain that Ko, who will doubtlessly be the next to get dinged, left on his own motor, telling Bartz himself recently.

He was quickly followed by Pitaro, who, as I reported earlier this week, is headed to another big company. No matter what the spin, his departure is a big loss, as he is well-liked inside and outside the company.

Then Schneider rounded out the latest trio of execs to go.

Thus, sources said, Yahoo is about to go on the offense, which is the expected thing to do, ready to announce a plan to move most of the product organization under Chief Product Officer Blake Irving.

The former Microsoft (MSFT) online exec is as sharp as a tack, in my experience, and clearly an even sharper corporate player, recently bringing in a series of his old cohorts from the software giant to take over big jobs at Yahoo.

He’s obviously now won some version of a corporate power play, and is now in favor with Bartz. But that means he’s being handed the entire thing.

Apparently, Irving has told numerous people that he plans to “rip it all down” and streamline the whole organization.

More rearranging at the company that has moved around the corporate living room umpteenth times over the past several years? Except it is still essentially the same room and same house.

Okay, Irving should probably have his choice of where the sofa goes, but as one exec wisely told me tonight: “Yahoo needs to build great products, not have another reorg….It needs a win.”

Indeed, just as board member Eric Hippeau apparently said at a recent meeting to deal with the latest executive kerfuffle.

Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock–who has presided over so many stumbles over the years that I have lost count–said to the room: “We need crisis management.”

Countered Hippeau, a longtime Internet exec who is now CEO of the Huffington Post: “What we need is revenue.”

Indeed. And innovation. And a vision. And, most of all, spin-free leadership.

Say it ain’t you, Yahoo.

And yet, here’s one of the major new conceptual directions of the troubled Internet giant’s next pricey marketing campaign, aimed at recovering from its first advertising foray, which is widely considered a failure: A full frontal attack on search leader Google.

BoomTown posted several weeks ago that the new effort was being rolled out.

And now it’s here–and, in part, it’s an odd attempt to mock the simple and elegant white box that allowed Google (GOOG) to steal Yahoo’s thunder many years back, as well as lightning and any other weather system worth owning.

“There’s nothing to look at but a box and a button,” says the voice-over in the Yahoo (YHOO) marketing video–which you can see below–about an unnamed, but obvious, Web site. “When you look at this homepage nothing looks back at you. You come to this place so you can leave.”

Well, yes! Because it’s a search page!

No matter, according to Yahoo, which remains intent on pushing the idea of being “the center of your online life.”

Which has, of course, increasingly become Facebook. The social networking giant has done exactly zero advertising to get its 500 million users and has been steadily surpassing Yahoo in a number of key consumer metrics.

In fact, Facebook is Yahoo’s true nemesis, although the new ads push Facebook, as well as Twitter, in order to focus on Yahoo as the place to interact with a lot of different sites and services in one place.

“Today we are excited to preview the next phase of the Yahoo! marketing campaign, showcasing the amazing content and experiences people can find only with Yahoo!. We want people to experience first-hand how Yahoo! is the place where all the things, people, experiences, information–everything you care about–come together,” said Yahoo marketing head Elisa Steele in a blog post on the company’s Yodel Anecdotal blog tonight. “It’s a place that gets to know you, a place that surprises you. And we’ll demonstrate it by letting you sample the products, see them in action and have experiential encounters.”

Well, at least that sounds better than the willfully vague $100 million campaign Steele launched with noisy fanfare last fall with the motto: “It’s Y!ou.”

Yahoo never really answered what exactly “you” was, which is why CEO Carol Bartz finally admitted to a group of reporters in March that the effort “didn’t have a really good call to action.”

Actually, it had none and–more important–did not increase traffic in the key U.S. market (as you can see in the chart), although Yahoo execs tried mightily to spin it as successful in some international markets and as an opening effort to revive the tarnished brand.

A pretty pricey effort it was, causing Yahoo to pretty much dump the WPP Group (WPPGY) ad agency, Ogilvy & Mather, and hire Omnicom Group (OMC) unit Goodby Silverstein & Partners for the new work.

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal tonight, Yahoo will spend $75 million to $85 million on the renewed multimedia campaign, although it seems to be part of the original outlay of $100 million.

The Journal said there was a new slogan: “Your favorite stuff all in one place. Make Yahoo your home page.”

The more specific effort will show off partners that Yahoo has been integrating into the service, as well as its own properties.

And as it turns out, that’s why the “It’s You” tagline is remaining, with a spate of efforts to make it more specific and product-centric.

According to the article in the Journal, there will be a lot of marketing gimmicks, such as kiosks, giant Apple (AAPL) iPhones with a huge Yahoo search app, and photo booths.

While that is all well and good, Yahoo’s key issue–besides its talent brain drain–remains its lack of new and innovative products, which are being pumped out aggressively by Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft (MSFT) and, yes, Google.

At least we now know why Bartz took aim at Google’s search business model in a BBC interview recently, noting it was one-note.

As Yahoo is now trying to paint Google’s main product offering in its new marketing materials and, presumably, its upcoming ad campaign.

But, in fact, touting its simple search box on its own, Google spent very little on its utterly charming “Parisian Love” commercial, which aired during the Super Bowl and scored off the charts in a number of surveys.

It’s about exactly how useful one box can be.

Compare that Google marketing video with Yahoo’s effort below and decide for yourself which marketing material works better:

Here are more new Yahoo ad examples:

And here is the full text of Steele’s blog:

A Sneak Peek of Exciting & Fresh Stuff from Yahoo!

Posted May 5th, 2010 at 7:11 pm by Yahoo!, Blog Editors

Odds are that sometime in the last six months you have experienced the Yahoo! “It’s You!” campaign somewhere in your world: reading the news you crave every day, during your favorite television show, searching on why lady bugs have spots, on the side of the bus you take to work. Our goal with this campaign was to make a connection with our hundreds of millions of users over the world and have fun with your favorite stuff, all in one place!

Today we are excited to preview the next phase of the Yahoo! marketing campaign, showcasing the amazing content and experiences people can find only with Yahoo!. We want people to experience first-hand how Yahoo! is the place where all the things, people, experiences, information–everything you care about–come together. It’s a place that gets to know you, a place that surprises you. And well demonstrate it by letting you sample the products, see them in action and have experiential encounters.

Keep in mind, this is just a sneak peek into the fun ideas and experiences we are dreaming up. Starting May 18th and throughout the year, you will begin to see finished new elements of the campaign, with many fun surprises across the Y! network, web and within venues such a cinemas, television and even in the air (on planes!).

The Yahoo! marketing campaign will show users how to tap into Yahoo’s industry-leading products and make the Internet far more personally relevant. Starting a band? Yahoo! Search–a smarter, more personal search, will help you find the gear, gigs and guitar heroes you need to rock out.

Going to the movies? Yahoo! can entertain and enhance the cinema experience. Starting in the lobby before the movie starts, we will showcase Yahoo! products and properties through interactive panels. Using the new Sketch-a-Search app we can help you find a restaurant for after the movie. At the start of the film, we’ll integrate Yahoo! Search into the movie trailers, simulating a Search Wow Module.

At 30,000 feet, Yahoo! will make it fun to travel. As passengers relax on airline flights, we entertain by showing how Yahoo! brings my world and the world together through our creative campaign and tailored Yahoo! content. Each flight will feature our full video campaign, and depending on the flight and time, Yahoo! content such as Funny or Die and other pieces of Yahoo! entertainment.

Keep track of the highest bid on a vintage skateboard on eBay, share your latest photos showing you landing that kickflip on Flickr and find out who’s dating who on Facebook–all from the comfort of your Yahoo! Homepage.

We can’t wait to share the new campaign where you spend a lot of your time- online. While scrolling through the “live” images you can add all your favorite items to your Yahoo! homepage. Making it relevant and personal.

So the next time you hop on a plane, check your email or go to the movies. Yahoo! can bring YOUR world and THE world together in one convenient place–wherever you are.

Elisa Steele, Yahoo! EVP & Chief Marketing Officer

Please see this disclosure related to me and Google.

Yahoo is close to rolling out a new version of its pricey advertising campaign, said several sources, after the one featuring the tagline, “It’s Y!ou,” seemed to flag.

One of the rejiggered versions being considered is centered on the concept that the Web is “personal,” with specific references–via flying tiles–to all kinds of apps and services you can use on Yahoo (YHOO), including third-party ones such as Facebook.

Yahoo launched its initial marketing effort earlier this fall with splashy events in New York and slick rollouts all over the U.S.

But not everyone at the Internet portal loved it–including CEO Carol Bartz, who criticized its effectiveness in a meeting with reporters at the Silicon Valley Internet giant’s HQ earlier this year.

“We didn’t have a really good call to action,” she said in March.

While Bartz noted that the campaign raised awareness of the Yahoo brand in international markets, it had less impact in the key U.S. market, largely because it was very unspecific about exactly what “Y!ou” meant.

Many inside the company had long worried about whether the motto and ad effort had enough punch and point to get Yahoo back on track.

But execs in charge of the effort have maintained that Yahoo was staying on the “Y!ou” message as it moves into the latest phase of the multiyear effort. However, they also promised more specific “product proof points” that focus on Yahoo’s “hero products,” such as search, email, homepage, mobile and more.

Sources said marketing head Elisa Steele is expected to give a look at the new ad direction sometime in the next week to Yahoo employees, perhaps at an all-hands meeting Wednesday that will follow its first-quarter earnings release Tuesday.

Yahoo’s new lead creative team at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners has been working on the next direction.

The San Francisco-based Goodby, owned by the Omnicom Group (OMC), is known for its innovative ideas and has done high-profile campaigns like the terrifically memorable “Got Milk?” campaign.

Previously, the job of goosing Yahoo’s tarnished brand, as part of the recently launched $100 million marketing push, was helmed by Ogilvy & Mather, a unit of the WPP Group (WPPGY).

Yahoo declined to comment when asked about the ad campaign.

In a shift that is sure to be much commented on by the advertising industry, Yahoo has tapped Goodby, Silverstein & Partners to take the lead for creative, advertising, digital marketing and strategic planning efforts.

The San Francisco-based Goodby, which is owned by the Omnicom Group (OMC), is known for its innovative ideas and has done such memorable campaigns as the Slowsky turtles for Comcast (CMCSA), the weird folk of Emerald Nuts, owned by Diamond Foods (DMND)–as well as campaigns for tech companies such as Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Adobe Systems (ADBE) and Netflix (NFLX).

Also, of course, the terrifically memorable “Got Milk?” campaign.

Perhaps a “Got Yahoo?” campaign is in the future?

Until now, the top job of goosing Yahoo’s tarnished brand, as part of a recently launched $100 million marketing push, has been helmed by Ogilvy & Mather, a unit of the WPP Group (WPPGY).

While Goodby will lead on creative initiatives worldwide, Ogilvy will remain in the mix, Integrated Marketing and Brand Management SVP Penny Baldwin told BoomTown in an interview this afternoon, focusing on international marketing efforts, including all upcoming brand launches in France, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, Brazil and Indonesia.

And, via it Neo and Mindshare units, Yahoo said, Ogilvy will also run all media buying for the Internet giant globally.

Yahoo (YHOO) is also keeping strategic branding firm Landor & Associates.

Goodby, Ogilvy and Landor will apparently form a Brand Advisory Board at Yahoo, run by Baldwin.

Baldwin stressed that the move was a broadening of its outside marketing advisers and was not a replacement of Ogilvy, or any indication that the current new marketing campaign needed to change.

She said internal reports on the effectiveness of the overall big theme, “It’s Y!ou,” launched last month, have been strong.

Nonetheless, Baldwin added that the new agency is sure to bring more ideas to the mix in the massive effort, which has included television, print, outdoor and online ads.

And, she noted, the location of Goodby’s HQ in San Francisco, not far from Yahoo’s Sunnyvale digs, was also a plus.

“Goodby has the caliber to serve worldwide needs,” said Baldwin. “And with the way the Web moves so fast, we thought it was also important to have deep resources locally.”

Up next, she added: to “root our brand strategy with more hard-hitting” messages about Yahoo.

“This is far more than just an advertising effort,” said Baldwin of Yahoo’s efforts to revitalize itself in the eyes of consumers–and, while she did not say so, to the digerati of Silicon Valley. “This is a business transformation.”

Here is Baldwin’s boss, Yahoo CMO Elisa Steele talking about the company’s marketing efforts of late in a video interview with Nicki Dugan on the company’s Yodel Anecdotal blog in a new feature called Yodelcast (sorry, Nicki, but it is simply too professional and unjiggly for BoomTown’s seal of approval):

And here are two examples of Goodby’s creatives–Comcast’s Slowskys and Robert Goulet for Emerald Nuts:

My armchair ad criticism: Why is Yahoo (YHOO), which already has enormous reach (as the company never fails to point out, it has a half-billion people hitting its homepage every day), marketing the fact that it has enormous reach? Why not, say, advertise some awesome new products?

That way, if I’m not a Yahoo user, I might have a reason to become one. And if I am a Yahoo user (which I am–I’m at Yahoo finance a dozen times a day or more), I’ll have more reason to stick around and explore.

I ran that one by Chief Marketing Officer Elisa Steele last week when she unveiled the campaign, and to her credit, she didn’t roll her eyes in disgust at my caveman ignorance. In fact, she said, Yahoo has every intention of rolling out awesome new products, and ads that highlight them–down the road.

So stay tuned. Then again, given the money Carol Bartz and crew are committing to this, it will be very difficult not to see this stuff.

(Disclosure: In case you didn’t notice, there is a giant honking Yahoo ad at the top of this site. As best I can tell, it appears to be part of a Yahoo buy made across The Wall Street Journal Digital Network. Just to spell it out: I’ve got nothing to do with ad sales at All Things Digital, though I am happy when people buy ads from my employer.)

Unless I’m told otherwise, I’m only going to do this once. But for the record, Yahoo is going with the following spelling for its new slogan: “It Starts With Y!ou.” I don’t think that’s going to fly with consumers or copy editors, but we’ll see.

Also undetermined: Whether there will be any news unveiled at Yahoo’s press conference to roll out said slogan. But I’ll be here for you just in case. And in the meantime, you can find glimpses of the coming campaign at the bottom of this post.

The event begins: Boilerplate intro remarks from Yahoo (YHOO) CEO Carol Bartz, followed by CMO Elisa Steele. Steele shows off a Venn diagram that shows the intersection of “my world” and “the world.” Yahoo, apparently, is that intersection. “That’s where the yodel is.”

Steele reminds us that this is Yahoo’s first global marketing campaign. That’s old hat for Microsoft (MSFT) and something Google (GOOG) has never done. Ad campaigns will roll out in 10 countries, branding campaign will be in all territories.

Steele runs through some imagery that will be used in campaign. Yahoo users, apparently, comprise many races and creeds. But all of them are buff and/or skinny. Unless they’re pregnant. A video ad, meanwhile features an upgraded yodel.

OK. Time for Q&A:

Onstage: Bartz; Steele; EVP Hilary Schneider; Tapan Bhat, SVP Integrated Consumer Experiences; Penny Baldwin, SVP Global Integrated Marketing and Brand Management.

What’s the budget for the campaign?

Steele: “Over $100 million.”

Status of ad market? Also, what won’t you sell?

Schneider: Starting to see a stabilization. “Wouldn’t go so far as to say as we’re seeing a full recovery.”

Bartz: We’re still “bumping along the bottom.” Regarding sales, she dodges/reframes the question, talking about “focus” instead. “We’re just revisiting everything.” Is there anything you won’t sell? “Of course.” But no specifics. Will improve photo, video, “much, much better email.”

Please talk about the launch of Google Ad Exchange and its threat to you.

Schneider: “The reality is that the display marketplace is fragmented.” Our exchange (Right Media) is biggest, but it’s intuitive that there will be other exchanges. “We welcome Google.”

Why do a relaunch at all? Are consumers actually unhappy, or is it just advertisers and press and investors carping?

Bartz: “Advertisers follow consumers” and we need to “build circulation.” By doing this approach, “we get really good micro-insights for our advertisers.” She doesn’t explain how this will happen, though.

Steele: “Consumers want more from online advertising.” They’re asking for it.

What about video plans?

Bartz: “Video snacks” are crucial to consumers and advertisers. “A big emphasis” inside Yahoo. A “big cornerstone of our strategy.”

How long will campaign run? How will you measure success?

Steele: It’s funded for 15 months, and I expect it will run longer than that. Vague answers about management.

Some chat about search, which formally debuts today.

Will there be product-specific ads?

Steele: Launch of the campaign in each market will start with brand, and over time you’ll see more product ads, as “people get familiar with Yahoo again.”

One more time: Is Zimbra being shopped?

Bartz: No comment. But “what I will tell you is that Zimbra technology is very, very important to our mail system, and that’s one of the prime reasons that Yahoo bought Zimbra when it did…[but] the technology is already integrated into our system.”

How is this campaign different than other campaigns? You’ve had a lot of campaigns in the last 15 years.

Steele: I haven’t been here in past, but I’ve reviewed every campaign that has been done and this is radically different because it’s more than a campaign. Carol and Carol’s staff are all behind the concept of “you.” Everyone’s on board. “If this was just a marketing campaign or a slogan, then we’ve really failed.”

Bartz: This should remind you of the past, actually. That’s not a bad thing. On search: Search has evolved from the “10 blue links” days. She views background of search much like an Intel (INTC) chip, which everyone uses. But Dell’s (DELL) experience with that chip is different than HP’s (HPQ) experience, etc. Yahoo is stable at 19 percent of search business because users are on Yahoo and they like Yahoo search. “Yahoo search is great. It’s not Bing, it’s Yahoo search….What’s most important is that we drive upstream and provide a great experience, even though the plumbing is down here.”

Do users really like to customize their search (premise behind overhauled homepage)?

Bhat: Core group of 15 percent of users really into customization. Most other people say they want that but aren’t willing to do the work. So we’re doing incremental customization on the homepage. “This will be something that keeps growing over time.”

Will you be integrating text-messaging and other short messaging services into the homepage?

Bhat: Yes.

How is the antitrust scrutiny going (with regard to Microsoft search deal)?

Bartz: Just as we predicted. We stand by our original prediction that the deal will close early 2010.

Are we too obsessed about what’s new here?

Bartz: Yes. “People just decided to put a cloud over Yahoo’s head”…and decided that if we’re going to remove the cloud we had to show off something shiny and new. “If you get out of New York and Silicon Valley, everybody loves Yahoo.” I travel a lot and everyone loves it. “I just want to transport you guys out of this cynicism you’re in….Why are you so cynical? Why not be cynical about fricking Google? See…you got me…you got me pissed off.”

[Note. Some debate about whether Bartz used "fricking" instead of an actual curse. We'll go to tape later. Update: Apologies (and thanks to Business Insider's Nicholas Carlson, who shared his video with me). Bartz appears to have said "fricking" or "frigging" Google.]

[Sorry about interregnum there. Cursing got me wound up. Back to real-time.]

Where do you want to be in two years?

Bartz: Yahoo is the only site where you when you wake up in the morning and you want to know what’s going on everywhere about everything, you can find it one place. The company is unified around that spirit, “not about technology for technology’s sake, but about what that delivers.”

Why doesn’t Wall Street buy the Yahoo turnaround story even though Google has fared okay during this recession? 

Bartz: “Yahoo and Google are different companies. They are in different businesses…investors are somewhat like you guys, where they’re saying ‘let’s wait and see.’” About this direct comparison with Google: “We aren’t a comparable company. They aren’t us and we aren’t them.”

So whom would you like to be compared to?

Bartz: “Yahoo.” But the closest analog is AOL, actually. Google is a white page with a search box. We’re very personal. When you go to our page in India, it feels like India. Relevance is important. Personalization is important. That’s not Facebook’s strategy. That’s not Twitter. “Not to say we’re not part of the greater tech sector, and you’ve got to find some compares.” But Yahoo is unique. We’re doing okay with the world side; we have to work on the easy personalization that is the core of our product focus.

Please address the stock sale, Carol.

Bartz: “I didn’t sell anything.” I got restricted stock throughout the year; when it vests, it gets recorded as a sale. “I haven’t sold one penny of Yahoo stock. Thanks for asking, because it pissed me off when they said I sold. I wouldn’t do that.”

Q&A ends. More in a bit.

According to numerous sources, Yahoo has been shopping around Zimbra, the open-source email company it bought in late 2007 for $350 million.

Zimbra is only one of the many assets of Yahoo (YHOO) that are now on the block, including its personals business, its HotJobs online classified unit and many more to come, said sources.

The effort to unload Zimbra is yet another sign that the company is trying to slim down its diverse portfolio, even as it strives to redefine itself this week with a new, pricey marketing campaign that seeks to position Yahoo primarily as a consumer company.

As first reported by BoomTown last week, Yahoo will be introducing a massive branding campaign tomorrow on the second day of Advertising Week in New York.

The new focus Yahoo is aiming for with advertisers is to stress its huge size and scale with consumers. The troubled Internet giant is still one of the most trafficked sites on the Web.

And consumers will also be reminded of this. The Wall Street Journal wrote a follow-up story yesterday on the marketing effort, noting that the $100 million campaign’s tagline is “It’s You.”

Get it? The “Y” in Yahoo is the same as the one in You!

The details of the plan will be made public tomorrow at a press conference immediately after a keynote speech–titled “Yahoo’s Consumer Revolution…Round II”–that the company’s new CMO, Elisa Steele, is set to deliver at the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s MIXX conference.

The goal, said several sources at Yahoo, will be to stress Yahoo’s consumer business over all others, which are supported mostly via brand advertising, leaving more extraneous ones out in the cold.

Which is why Zimbra–like a lot of other Yahoo properties–is being shopped around by its top mergers and acquisitions exec, Greg Mrva and others.

(Mrva’s new job title should be: VP of un-mergers and de-acquisitions.)

Backed by Benchmark Capital, Redpoint Ventures and Accel Partners, Zimbra was an innovative start-up whose main business was to provide clients–including Comcast (CMCSA), many ISPs and a number of colleges–with white-label email software capabilities.

Yahoo bought the company to goose that business, whose main rival has been Google (GOOG)–along with using Zimbra technology to improve its massive consumer email offering, also under siege from Google.

That integration has gone slowly, and Yahoo now has less interest in selling email products to others.

But the price Yahoo would get, many think, would be significantly lower that what it paid for Zimbra.

Nonetheless, potential buyers include Comcast and Google, as well as private-equity investors.

In addition, it is not out of the question that its former venture investors could be interested in a classic Silicon Valley buyback.

Zimbra’s founder and CEO, Satish Dharmaraj, who left Yahoo earlier this year, is now working at Redpoint.

Here is a video interview I did with Dharmaraj in early 2008, after the Yahoo deal was struck:

Yahoo is set to unveil a major marketing campaign to reset advertiser and consumer perception of the long-troubled company during Advertising Week in New York, which starts a week from tomorrow.

According to numerous sources BoomTown has spoken to about the campaign, Yahoo (YHOO) is–at least with advertisers–going to focus on stressing the size and scale of the Internet giant.

The details of the plan will be made public Tuesday, Sept. 22, at a press conference.

It will take place immediately after a keynote speech–titled “Yahoo’s Consumer Revolution…Round II”–that the company’s new CMO, Elisa Steele, is set to deliver on the second day of the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s MIXX conference.

MIXX is a two-day event, run by IAB, focused specifically on online advertising.

Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz is also going to be attending Advertising Week–during which all the major players in the advertising business gather in Manhattan for a series of events–for a plethora of meetings with big Yahoo clients.

It is likely she and several other senior Yahoo execs will be at the press conference, sources said.

That press event will also include Penny Baldwin, a well-known industry exec Yahoo hired as its SVP of global integrated marketing and brand management in July.

The main message Bartz is set to deliver is that Yahoo is a powerhouse unlike any others on the Web when it comes to online display advertising.

And, in fact, Yahoo–despite all the internal and external turmoil it has undergone in recent years–remains one of the largest sites on the Internet, and is the top player in what is also called graphical advertising, as well as online media and communications.

“The whole push seems to be to remind people of vibrancy of the brand and exactly how huge its reach is,” said one person who has seen parts of the presentation. “It is less Yahoo is back than Yahoo has never left.”

Sources also noted that Yahoo is likely to stick to its plan to push the idea of “your home on the Web” to consumers, which I had previously posted about earlier this summer.

The idea of the Silicon Valley icon being the key hub destination for Internet users does dovetail with pushing its size to advertisers–major marketing messages that will also likely cost a pretty penny.

They will have to–Microsoft (MSFT) has been in the midst of a $100 million campaign for its new Bing search site and will likely spend more when it unveils updates to the service, dubbed Bing 2.0–within the next few weeks.

The company showed the changes it showed to its own employees last week, which was the subject of much tweeting on Twitter.

Yahoo will apparently give more specifics as to the spend for the marketing push at the press conference.

But, many sources said, the company is already out in the advertising market now, buying tens of millions of dollars in advertising online and offline to hawk Yahoo in print, on television and elsewhere.

(Full disclosure: Sources said that campaign will include The Wall Street Journal network, which includes this site.)

“It’s dramatic,” said one source about the marketing outlay.

Since she got to Yahoo, Bartz has continually stressed the need to promote Yahoo products and services more, including in an interview last week on CNBC (you can see that longish video here).

And, in the July earnings call for Yahoo, Bartz said: “In addition, we’re hard at work on plans to reposition our most valuable asset: Yahoo’s brand. Our Q3 plans include an initial wave of incremental marketing spend which will increase substantially into Q4 and next year.”

Also, in a Q&A in the same call, she added more about the long-term nature of the spending on branding:

“The branding and our whole campaign of advertising is just starting; however you have to understand that this is an ongoing campaign so it’s not transient at least for the next year or so. We’re really going to move to reposition the Yahoo brand and Yahoo Company, so right now, consider that as cost that’s in the system.”

What Bartz and other Yahoo execs will likely stress less is search, due to the search deal Yahoo struck in July with Microsoft in which the software giant will take over the back-end technology and Yahoo will sell search ads for both companies.

The company will compete with both Microsoft and Google (GOOG) in garnering the search market still, once the partnership is approved by regulators, with Yahoo focusing on differentiating itself via innovative user interface, design, features and functionality.

BoomTown just got an interesting memo that Yahoo CMO Elisa Steele sent out to her staff immediately in the wake of the deal for Microsoft to take over Yahoo’s search technology business two weeks ago.

I render it unto you, dear readers, since it shows just how intent the top managers of Yahoo (YHOO) are, especially internally, in reassuring those concerned that Yahoo had not just gutted itself and how it can remain as innovative as ever.

Also amusing–for reasons I cannot understand, since it is an internal memo–is the use of the code name for Yahoo, which is called Yale, after the famous university in New Haven, Conn.

(By the way, “Boola, Boola” is one of Yale’s old football fight songs, which you can hear here.)

By the way, Microsoft (MSFT) was known as Cambridge, Mass.-based MIT, as you can see below.

Also some fun facts, showing the give-it-the-old-college-try mentality of Yahoo dealmakers:

In past merger talks, Time Warner (TWX) online unit AOL’s moniker has been Amherst College in Amherst, Mass.

And, when Yahoo was considering the Yahoogle deal, the code name for Google (GOOG) was Georgetown, after the Washington, D.C.-based university. That must really rankle at the MIT-stuffed search giant, since–as a graduate of Georgetown–I can tell you, tech is not exactly its forte.

Here’s the Steele memo:

From: Elisa Steele
To: Marketing-all@yahoo-inc.com
Sent: Wed Jul 29 05:11:52 2009
Subject: Announcement today.

Marketing Yahoos,

Yale is already the place where millions go to see what is happening with the people and things that matter to them most, but our aspirations have always been bigger than that. Our vision is to be at the center of people’s online lives, and the deal we announced with MIT earlier today will enable us to focus even more of our efforts on realizing it.

At the same time, our role as marketers has never been more critical. We must focus our energies on engaging our users and our partners, and on making sure that our brand initiatives continue unabated.

Our consumer marketing teams will keep driving more users to our leading audience properties, mobile experiences and applications. Our b2b team will continue communicating to marketers that as the world’s largest media company, Yale offers the most compelling and unique advertising proposition in the industry. The Insights team will continue delivering industry-leading research that helps speed the flow of dollars online. The Global Communications team will be answering lots of important questions from the media and influencer community about this deal (in addition to building buzz around the other amazing stuff we’re doing). The brand team will not stray at all from its mission, as it’s as relevant as ever. And, our regional marketing teams remain in place, partnering with our business leaders to execute our global marketing strategy.

In a nutshell, this is our opportunity to further establish Yale mindshare and preference with all of our audiences through world-class marketing. Our work is more important today than ever before as we communicate our brand position globally.

We are making decisions that we believe set the company up for continued success—and enable us to take back our rightful place in the market.

It’s an exciting new day at Yale, and I couldn’t be more optimistic about our future.

Elisa Steele
Executive Vice President &
Chief Marketing Officer
Yahoo!

And below, I have posted a video of the Yale Glee Club performing all the university’s fight songs in a delightful medley, so Yahoos can start practicing now:

BoomTown has had some good leaked internal memos from Yahoo, but I have never enjoyed one quite as much as this one from newly installed Yahoo PR head Eric Brown, who started today.

While it is clear that Yahoo (YHOO) has had its troubles in understanding and offering social-networking products to its users, Brown certainly knows how to share.

Yahoo could use some of that DNA!

New Yahoo CMO Elisa Steele named Brown, a colleague from her former job at NetApp (NTAP), as SVP of global communications at the Internet giant in June.

He was the VP of corporate relations at the data storage company, on whose board Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz has also served. Before that, he was at Adaptec (ADPT).

Brown is filling a slot left when former Yahoo PR head Jill Nash left Yahoo in February. She was briefly replaced by her deputy, Brad Williams, who was laid off from Yahoo in a recent round of cuts.

Like Steele, he is yet another executive from the business software arena to be hired under Bartz, who also comes from that background. Bartz also hired Jeff Russakow from Symantec (SYMC), which makes antivirus software and other security, for the post of Customer Advocacy SVP.

Yahoo’s whole marketing organization is undergoing a rejiggering under Steele, including a major brand overhaul. Along with Brown, she also recently hired Penny Baldwin as SVP of global integrated marketing and brand management.

Brown will be taking on Yahoo’s image-making, a task that has been a challenge over the last two years as the Silicon Valley icon has been buffeted by a series of external and internal challenges.

But Bartz has publicly talked about the need to now focus attention on Yahoo’s many assets and strengths.

In fact, in an onstage interview with me at the seventh D: All Things Digital conference in late May, Bartz said: “The best way to change the perception is to do a good job and then talk about it.”

From this memo, Brown seems like he knows how to do that.

And since he likes writers Kate Chopin and David Sedaris at the same time, it is obvious that Brown and I are on the path to become besties.

(Potential deal-breaker: I like piña coladas and getting caught in the rain.)

Here’s the memo–based on a form that sources tell me all Yahoo PR folks fill out in a getting-to-know-you questionnaire, but don’t make public–in which Brown says hello to his new team:

From: Eric Brown (SVP Global Communications)
Sent: Monday, July 06, 2009 6:00 PM
Subject: It’s great to be here!

Global comms team,

Thank you so much for the wonderful intro materials you gave me. I’m going to spend quite a bit of time on the org charts, budgets, plans, and results package you compiled for me. But I’ve been especially thrilled with the personal profiles you sent my way. I’ve seen other people whose phobias are the same as mine: spiders and heights; enjoyed how many of you put Paris as your favorite place on Earth; and am impressed with how many amazing books this group has collectively read.

I must also admit to being slightly intimidated by all of you who put “bad grammar” as a pet peeve and will triple check this email to avoid any grammar infractions…

I know I have a Thursday group meeting with you, but thought the least I could do on day one is return the favor and complete my own handbook profile. So here goes…

Date I joined Yahoo!: today (6 July 2009), though I did spend two days at the senior leaders meeting in mid-June and thank all of you who were there for the warm welcome in Half Moon Bay.

What I do here: lead a team of amazing, intelligent, motivated people who put Yahoo! in the best light possible and tell our story in compelling ways that make users and advertisers around the world want to embrace Yahoo! heartily.

Where I grew up: Warsaw, Virginia–a tiny town about 90 minutes from Richmond, Virginia and 150 minutes from Washington, D.C. For those of you who are American history buffs, Warsaw is about 10 minutes from the birthplace of Robert E. Lee and 15 minutes from the birthplace of George Washington.

Where I live now: Sunnyvale, California. Can’t beat the commute.

College: William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. BA in English. Loved lit crit. Senior honors thesis was on post-WWII masculinity in American society as represented by the works of Norman Mailer.

My first job: an internship for the U.S. Navy (my parents’ employer—they were civilians) analyzing different process flow diagram software packages for a team creating warship defense systems. For the rest of high school and college, I had LOTS more fun as a waiter at dive restaurant called The Stagecoach. The food was ghastly; the people were amazing.

What I did before Yahoo!: I ran comms (PR, social media, internal comms, and exec comms) for NetApp, managing a global team of about 60+ people doing amazing enterprise and B2B work in 30+ companies worldwide. I’m very excited to learn “consumer” from all of you–and equally excited to share experiences from my almost 20 years in the business in return.

What I do when I’m not here: I love travel (had a super 3 days in the Blue Mountains outside Sydney two weekends ago), cooking (yes, seriously—cooking is very therapeutic and relaxing for me), and reading (though I haven’t picked up a Norman Mailer since my undergrad days).

If the Internet didn’t exist, what I’d be doing right now: teaching literature to high school students. I believe that at some point in my life, I have to return to society what it has given me. And I’d be a better teacher than firefighter or doctor!

Favorite place on Earth: Paris. I try to go there 3 or 4 times a year and have a couple of very close friends who are kind enough to let me crash with them. Second favorite is Hong Kong.

Proudest accomplishment: professionally–being part of the “inner counsel circle” for NetApp execs on a variety of comms and marketing issues (which I hope to be here at Yahoo! as well); personally–being a good friend, partner, and family member.

Favorite Yahoo! moment: there have only been 3 days of them so far—and all have been great. I felt very honored and lucky to be part of the Half Moon Bay leadership summit–and meeting people from all over Yahoo! there was inspiring.

Favorite book: someone who majored in literature can’t just name one, so I’ll split them into categories…Favorite works of literature: The Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne, The Awakening by Kate Chopin, and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Favorite work that kindled my imagination: The Hobbit by Tolkien. Favorite works that make me laugh: anything by David Sedaris (the man is wicked funny).

Favorite movie: two–Moulin Rouge and Orlando–both visually stunning.

My first car: a Buick Skyhawk in a horrible shade of brown–the thing was so ratty that I had to add oil to it every other day so it wouldn’t break down–it made its last hurrah on a cross-country trip from Virginia to California and made it over the Rocky Mountains without any issues but then was quite unhappy crossing the Sierra Nevada range.

My next vacation destination: somehow I think I’m going to be very busy for the next few months so I’m not planning any big trips, though I have told a friend I’ll attend his 50th birthday party in Munich and from there I’ll try to drive to Vienna for a few days.

My hidden talent: navigating subway systems when everyone else insists on taking a taxi (the exception: Tokyo–because it is just too darned crowded).

My favorite online video: I like online videos to catch up on things that MTV no longer carries–like videos from Gus Gus (though I only see one of their videos on Yahoo! Music…)

My guiltiest pleasure: ice cream in bed with the Kindle (yes, just as Elisa put in her email)–the ice cream HAS to be Ben & Jerry’s (LOVE being on this floor with the conference room names!) and my favorite is Peach Cobbler.

I have an intense fear of: spiders and heights–I even had a spider vacuum for a while so I didn’t have to come near ‘em or smash ‘em–but then I was scared they’d survive the suction and electric shock and crawl back somewhere–so now they’re routinely smashed.

My biggest pet peeve: beating around the bush–tell me what you want me to know because I’m not telepathic and say it without a lot of metaphor or subtlety–if you really want me to know something, please make it crystal clear.

My best celebrity encounter: dinner with friends in the outdoor section of the Restaurant du Palais Royal in Paris on a gorgeous May evening–next to us was Tom Ford (at the height of his Gucci power)–I have never wanted to NOT eat so much in my life.

Something few people know about me: I abhor cava (sorry to those of you in Spain)–champagne is my favorite drink on Earth, prosecco will do in a pinch, and New World sparklings are hit and miss–but I universally detest cava.

Best for advice for working with me (yes, a little changed from what you all submitted): honesty really IS the best policy–unless I’m having a bad hair day in which case please just don’t say anything about that at all.

Thanks again for having me here–and we’ll speak more on Thursday.

Best regards,
Eric

Last week, BoomTown posted a detailed piece on Yahoo’s plans for a massive rebranding and marketing push, which included the hiring of outside consultant Penny Baldwin (pictured here), who was a former top exec at Young & Rubicam.

And, yesterday, Baldwin became an official Yahoo exec, as SVP of global integrated marketing and brand management.

Baldwin, said Yahoo (YHOO), “will lead the company’s global brand efforts, and is responsible for developing and executing Yahoo!’s brand marketing approach including brand management, corporate messaging, integrated marketing and advertising.”

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.”

While the company said Baldwin’s was a newly created position, it is not hugely different from the job that was held by Allen Olivo, who was SVP of global brand marketing until he recently left Yahoo.

Yahoo had previously described his job as “overseeing all aspects of its advertising and brand marketing strategy worldwide, including design and editorial.”

But, said many sources at the company, Baldwin’s purview is much larger, especially as it will involve a major overhaul of Yahoo’s image, which is likely to be rolled out as the Internet site also launches its redesigned front page in the fall.

In addition, unlike past Yahoo marketing execs, Baldwin has been described to me by many people at the company as much more colorful and bold in her style, and that she has been advocating more aggressive ideas about reinvigorating the Yahoo brand.

“Well, Penny is definitely not Yahoo,” said one Yahoo source, joking about the company’s quainter, yodel-focused and purple-toned image. “Which is probably a good thing.”

Baldwin reports to CMO Elisa Steele. It’s Steele, as I previously reported, who has been leading the rebranding effort at Yahoo.

It is aimed at repairing a damaged public image, communicating innovation and focusing consumers on what defines Yahoo in the years ahead.

Besides the hiring of Baldwin, Steele has also retained well-known (and pricey!) brand consulting firm Landor Associates.

Many themes have been considered to depict Yahoo going forward–most along the lines of Yahoo still being a key hub destination for Internet users.

Those possible directions were discussed at a recent off-site meeting of Yahoo’s top execs, led by Steele, who ran through the tangled history of Yahoo’s marketing efforts and showed off some rough ideas for the future.

One motto considered, among several: Yahoo as “your home on the Web.”

It is not clear how much Yahoo is prepared to spend on this rebranding effort. Microsoft (MSFT), for example, is in the midst of a $100 million marketing campaign around the recent relaunch of its Bing search service.

Here is the official press release about Baldwin:

Penny Baldwin Appointed to Senior Vice President of Global Integrated Marketing and Brand Management at Yahoo!

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Jun 30, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE)–Yahoo! Inc. announced today that Penny Baldwin has been appointed to senior vice president, global integrated marketing and brand management. She assumes this newly created position immediately and reports to Yahoo!’s chief marketing officer, Elisa Steele.

Baldwin will lead the company’s global brand efforts, and is responsible for developing and executing Yahoo!’s brand marketing approach including brand management, corporate messaging, 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.”

She is a 20-year veteran of global brand strategy development and execution across all internal and market-facing touch points. Most recently, Baldwin served as Managing Partner of Young & Rubicam Brands, Y&R Advertising and Wunderman Direct Marketing. As agency leader and manager, she was responsible for leading the efforts of large global teams across industries. Her experiences span technology, retail, packaged goods, finance, travel, gaming, wireless communications, entertainment, healthcare and sports marketing.

Baldwin has worked with several Fortune 500 brands including Microsoft, Intel, Oracle, AMD, NetApp, Hitachi Data Systems, Siebel Systems and Hewlett-Packard, among others. She has also worked with leading brands including Cadbury, Schweppes, Foster Farms, Jacuzzi, Wells Fargo, DHL, AT&T and Palm.

“This is a seminal moment for the Yahoo! brand and for the business overall,” said Baldwin. “I am delighted to be part of the leadership team that will take Yahoo! to the next level as we evolve our brand strategy worldwide.”

BoomTown is at the lovely Santa Clara Marriott in Silicon Valley at the 2009 Yahoo annual meeting, liveblogging the event, which should be spectacularly dull.

Here is a rundown of what went on.

10:05 am: The meeting kicked off with a little video presentation with various and sundry television talking heads saying “Yahoo” in quick succession.

Actually, this was the year during which all of those hype-magnets repeated “Twitter”–the hottest media trend these days–so many times that it has began to make my ears bleed.

But I like the spirit of trying to make Yahoo (YHOO) seem relevant and innovative again.

Then, CEO Carol Bartz (pictured below) walked onto the small stage in the California Ballroom, declaring: “Well, that made me feel good.”

Exactly when does Carol not feel good?

She explained why: “I am having a ball,” speaking about her rehaul job at Yahoo, and then thanked shareholders after what was “a tough year last year.”

The board was introduced, with most of them being present at the meeting, except for Ron Burkle and Carl Icahn.

10:12 am: General Counsel Mike Callahan comes on with the blah-blah-blah about rules and votes.

I soon started thinking of the lovely breakfast pastries outside that I passed by outside. Drat!

This year, the 12-member board, now including Bartz, was up for reelection.

Last year, as you might remember, many of those board members were under siege by shareholder discontent.

Not in 2009. A major shareholder who was unhappy last year told me there would be no protest vote.

“Carol is doing a good job,” said the investor.

Yahoo was also asking for approval of its accounting firm, Price Waterhouse.

There were several important votes before the shareholders.

One was a standard one regarding executive compensation or a “say on pay” proposal, which was introduced by an outside stockholder.

Yahoo’s board recommended against it.

Another proposal regarded changes to be made to a 1995 stock plan and to a 1996 employee stock purchase plan.

The latter was most important, because it was a request to authorize more shares for future employee options grants. It will mean a large addition to the pool–30 million more shares–if authorized.

The stock will be used to keep valuable Yahoo talent in place. Good idea.

10:23 am: The floor was then opened for comments on the proposal and ballots were collected.

I was not on the edge of my seat.

Like clockwork or an election in the former Soviet Union, the board was elected, the stock plans approved and Price Waterhouse was in.

The “say for pay” proposal? It went down in defeat.

The people have spoken!

10:29 pm: Bartz took back the stage, which immediately livened things up.

She went through the history of her coming to Yahoo, which began with former Yahoo CEO and Co-Founder Jerry Yang (pictured here) asking if she was interested in the job at a Cisco (CSCO) board meeting.

Both are on its board.

Bartz also briefly recounted her meeting with Yang at his house, although she minimized the insulting aspect of the story.

She has maximized it in other tellings–such as in an onstage interview with me recently at the D: All Things Digital conference.

The basic thrust of the story was that Yahoo was a big mess that needed the Carol treatment.

Bartz, of course, did not stress that as much today. After all, Yang was sitting right in front of her.

Bartz noted that she has been asked about two things since coming on board:

What about a deal with Microsoft? And what the heck is Yahoo anyway?

She had nothing to say about Microsoft (MSFT) and said it would be said publicly only after any such deal was struck.

Actually, she has commented about talks with the software giant publicly many times, but let’s overlook that.

The Bartz went into the definition of Yahoo. It’s simple, she said. The largest global online media company. With technology. That everyone knows. Plus email.

10:34 am: Bartz ran through the new staff she has put in place, such as CMO Elisa Steele and others.

She then moved onto the top-to-bottom reviews she has been doing of Yahoo.

Including what she dubbed “space debris,” which are Yahoo sites that should be shut down, repaired or outsourced.

Bartz’s tone? Calm and comforting and reassuring–less the live wire she usually telegraphs and more the I’m-in-charge-here-so-remain-calm vibe.

She hit all the big targets, for good measure. Front page. Mobile. And, of course, advertising.

“Yahoo has a distinct opportunity in this area,” said Bartz, referring to its online display ad business. “Advertisers come to us.”

She ended by calling Yahoo a “home,” which is one theme the company is considering using as a brand strategy in an massive overhaul it is working on.

10:45 am: The floor was open for questions.

The first was a good one. Essentially, why is Google (GOOG) such a money machine when Yahoo is not? And why are its workers so much more productive in comparison?

“We have a very different model than Google,” said Bartz. “It has a cleaner process.”

As in, it is better at vacuuming up the dough!

Bartz, who has been trying mightily to end the Yahoo/Google comparison (smart move!), did not really give an answer.

“Please, this direct comparison model to Google is not fair and is frankly not relevant,” she said.

Well, it is actually quite a bit fair and a lot relevant, but we shall also overlook that one too (for now).

10:49 am: A fan question about how it was good that Bartz has been taking the focus off of the Microsoft issue too.

He also liked that she said she would take piles of money from the software giant, though, in a search partnership deal.

Then, the questioner dived right into the weeds, with questions about the front page, such as having too much dopey entertainment news on it.

Especially all that Jon & Kate and their gazillion kids crap!

This is a favorite meme for Bartz, who proceeded to quickly one-up the question by strafing a perfect celebrity target.

“If I see another Britney Spears item, I am going to throw up,” she declared in nauseous solidarity.

She then mentioned something called a “fluffometer,” which is apparently taking care of this most pressing issue of our time–the Lindsay Lohan threat.

Will it defluff Yahoo?

Inquiring minds want to know.

10:54 am: The inevitable China question was asked, of course, a query which has always tripped up previous Yahoo management.

“It’s very easy to get crosswise,” said Bartz, trying not to get crosswise.

She mentioned a recent human rights summit Yahoo had hosted. “We have actually done a lot, but it is never enough.”

Well, actually, Yahoo and many others did not do enough previously, but Bartz was pretty much steering clear of the thorny realities of doing business in China.

Then came the “vision” question.

Actually, Bartz said it was not about vision, but about growth. “We don’t have a vision problem, we have an execution problem,” she said.

Another question was asked about Internet censorship in China.

“I’m going to go real simple here: Yahoo was not incorporated to fix China,” she said. “It’s that simple.”

Bartz said the company was not going to take on every government in the world and that its “mistake”–referring to activists jailed due to Yahoo handing over information to the Chinese government–should not hound it forever.

Well, it should, but point taken.

The next question was about Iran and how popular Twitter is. Bartz said Yahoo was also in there.

11:04 am: A questioner asked about Facebook and why the social networking site was so popular, even though Yahoo had better products.

Bartz said Yahoo was working hard on making those products more social.

The next questioner asked about whether another Google partnership deal with Yahoo could be reborn. That deal went down in defeat last year.

“Justice is Justice,” said Bartz, referring to the federal government department’s opposition to the deal.

As in, you don’t tug on Superman’s cape, you don’t spit into the wind, you don’t pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger and you don’t mess around with Uncle Sam.

The next questioner asked about why Yahoo always told shareholders at meetings like this that it was doing great every year and then didn’t deliver.

Bear with us, said Bartz.

As to selling off its Alibaba assets in China: Not a good time to sell.

11:09 am: A questioner asked whether Yahoo might buy a newspaper, like the New York Times (NYT).

Yes, that would be a good move–out of the frying pan into the fire!

I was sitting right next to one of its reporters, Miguel Helft. No comment!

Bartz then thanked the Yahoo shareholders for having faith.

As I said, it was Bartz’s first annual meeting. But, for Yahoo investors over the last several years, having a lot of faith–too often tested–kind of comes with the territory.

In the past, Yahoo has used killer lasers and giant afros and has even tried a dog rising from the dead to brand itself.

Also, of course, there was the yodeler.

That was in 2003, in a clever television commercial that featured Yahoo’s famous sound, as rendered by yodeling champ Taylor Marie Ware (by the way, if you click on the exclamation point on Yahoo’s homepage, it still emits an annoying male yodel).

Now, in what many sources at the company said is a major push, Yahoo (YHOO) is working on a massive plan to overhaul its brand in order to repair a damaged public image and focus consumers on what defines Yahoo.

The effort is being spearheaded by newly installed Chief Marketing Officer Elisa Steele.

To take on the task, she has hired both well-known brand consulting firm Landor Associates and an outside consultant named Penny Baldwin, who was a former top exec at brand and ad giant Young & Rubicam.

Yahoo had formerly been using Ogilvy & Mather and Siegel+Gale to work on strategic branding issues. Ogilvy is still working with Yahoo, sources said, but it is unclear if Siegel+Gale remains in the mix.

The new branding of Yahoo, said several people close to the situation, might be built around the latest relaunch of its main homepage design.

The important front-page redo had been delayed by CEO Carol Bartz when she took over in January and is now slated for the fall.

Many themes have been considered to depict Yahoo in the future, many along the lines of Yahoo still being a key hub destination for Internet users.

Those possible directions were discussed at a recent off-site meeting of Yahoo’s top execs, led by Steele, who ran through the tangled history of Yahoo’s marketing efforts and showed off some rough ideas for the future.

One motto considered, among several: Yahoo as “your home on the Web.”

Whether it is going to be a sweet home or not is unclear, and does depend on exactly how much Yahoo is prepared to spend on this rebranding effort.

Microsoft (MSFT), for example, is in the midst of a $100 million marketing campaign around the recent relaunch of its Bing search service.

And Google (GOOG) has a brand that hardly needs any introduction–and on which it has spent very little marketing money–in that its name has become the verb that means “search” on the Web for most consumers.

Yahoo’s branding campaign will certainly have to be a big deal, given that it is one of the top Internet sites in the world and has massive name recognition.

And Bartz has been vocal about the importance of touting Yahoo as a well-known brand, even as she has said a lot internally and externally that she detests purple.

(That has long been Yahoo’s main color and also mantra, as in “bleed purple.”)

In an onstage interview with me at the seventh D: All Things Digital conference in late May, I asked Bartz about the image of Yahoo being broken and how she would change that perception and revive its innovative spirit.

“The best way to change the perception is to do a good job and then talk about it,” she answered at D7. “We just have to get our story out there; we have to continue to appeal to the people that come to us, and frankly, at some point people get sick of having us as the underdog and say, ‘Thank God, Yahoo’s back.’”

Well, that could depend on how well its upcoming branding campaign works or not, which must also be based on the product and business strategy Bartz settles on in her rejiggering of Yahoo.

Tomorrow morning, Bartz will preside, along with Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock, at its annual meeting in Silicon Valley, although it is doubtful she will unveil any grand plan then for marketing or other major company strategies.

So, until the branding plans are unveiled, here are some of the more memorable Yahoo advertising efforts.

Yodel:

Lazarus the Dog:

Killer Laser:

Afro-tastic:

Odd Advice-giving Canadian Yahoo Creature:

[Belly Yodel photo courtesy of Yodel Anecdotal on Flickr]

Allen Olivo, SVP of global brand marketing at Yahoo, is leaving the company, according to sources.

The high-level departure is the latest at Yahoo (YHOO), as major executive changes continue. It was announced today internally.

Yahoo confirmed the departure in a statement to BoomTown: “After more than three years at Yahoo!, Allen Olivo is leaving the company to pursue other interests. Allen has been a dedicated and valued member of the Yahoo! team and we wish him well in his future endeavors. Allen will remain at Yahoo! for a period of time in order to ensure a smooth transition.”

Olivo ran brand marketing for the Silicon Valley-based Internet giant, which is about to undergo a major new push under CEO Carol Bartz.

Olivo was reportedly up for the chief marketing officer job, which went to former NetApp (NTAP) marketing exec Elisa Steele recently.

Olivo joined Yahoo in early 2006 and has been responsible for “overseeing all aspects of its advertising and brand marketing strategy worldwide, including design and editorial.”

He’s worked at a variety of marketing jobs, including at the San Francisco Chronicle, Robertson Stephens, Amazon (AMZN) and Apple (AAPL).

New Yahoo Marketing head Elisa Steele named a colleague from her former job, NetApp (NTAP), as SVP of Global Communications at the Internet giant.

Eric Brown (pictured here) was the VP of corporate relations at the data storage company, on whose board Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz has also served. Before that, he was at Adaptec (ADPT).

Brown will report to Steele and start at the company in July.

Brown is filling a slot left when former Yahoo PR head Jill Nash left at Yahoo in February. She was briefly replaced by her deputy Brad Williams, who was laid off from Yahoo in a recent round of cuts.

He is also yet another executive from the business software arena to be hired under Bartz, who also comes from that background. Bartz also hired Jeff Russakow from Symantec (SYMC), which makes antivirus software and other security for the post of Customer Advocacy SVP.

It’ll be interesting to see how they all operate in a consumer-facing company like Yahoo, with all its many dramatic ups and downs of late, and which BoomTown has often compared to a Mexican telenovela.

Here’s Steele’s memo to the Yahoo (YHOO) staff, which includes a self-described “bad habit of eating ice cream in bed while reading my Kindle and surfing the web.”

(BoomTown can’t make this stuff up!)

Here’s the internal memo:

Marketing & Executive Teams,

I’m very pleased to announce that Eric Brown will be joining Yahoo! as Senior Vice President, Global Communications, reporting directly to me. In this critical role, Eric will oversee our Global Communications function, including public relations, product promotion, executive communications, public affairs, internal communications, corporate reputation management and social media outreach.

Eric is joining Yahoo! at a particularly pivotal time, as we update our corporate position and message, develop and execute a renewed global brand strategy and launch major new products and solutions. Eric will be tasked with more closely integrating the global communications team with broader marketing initiatives and the company’s overall business strategy. A critical objective will be to set the communications agenda and drive Yahoo!’s message to our various constituencies–the media, analysts, consumers, employees, and key industry influencers who create buzz and can have a significant impact on how our brand is perceived.

Eric is a Silicon Valley communications veteran with 18 years of tech experience. Most recently, Eric and I collaborated at NetApp, where he spent the last nine years helping to transform the company into a multibillion dollar global enterprise. As Vice President of Corporate Relations, Eric managed a large global team and strategic communications program. He was the core communications executive responsible for the company’s recent revamp of brand strategy and execution. He also played a significant communications role in helping the company gain recognition by Fortune magazine as the “Best Company to Work for in America” in 2009. Prior to NetApp, Eric was the head of PR for Adaptec responsible for B2B, brand and consumer communications, and held additional leadership positions in both corporate and agency environments.

On a personal note, Eric’s partner’s name is Scot, he has a Pomeranian named Clio, a passion for cooking and travel, and a self-described “bad habit of eating ice cream in bed while reading my Kindle and surfing the web.”

Eric will join us in early July, so please join me in giving him a warm welcome. I look forward to his leadership contributions in this vitally important role at Yahoo!.

More musical chairs at Yahoo, which BoomTown predicted recently, as top execs at the company move in and out of jobs, and new ones from the outside move in.

Perhaps the most important change to occur is the replacement this week of SVP Scott Dietzen–who has been in charge of all communications and communities products at Yahoo (YHOO)–by former Adobe Systems (ADBE) exec Bryan Lamkin, several sources said.

Lamkin will become SVP of Applications Products.

According to his profile on LinkedIn, Lamkin (pictured here) was most recently SVP of Creative Solutions, Adobe’s largest business unit, where the software exec “led product strategy, marketing and product development for Adobe’s flagship software applications, including Photoshop, the Creative Suite, Dreamweaver, Flash and Illustrator.”

Lamkin, who was at Adobe for 14 years, has more recently been an executive-in-residence at two venture firms, New Enterprise Associates and Sutter Hill Ventures.

He will take over for Dietzen, who came to Yahoo in 2007 after its $350 million Zimbra open-source email acquisition

Dietzen–whom sources said is more entrepreneurial than managerial and did not want to lead such a big organization at the Internet giant–will become VP of strategy in the move. Many said they expect he will eventually leave Yahoo to try his hand at another start-up.

His colleague, Zimbra founder and CEO Satish Dharmaraj, left Yahoo earlier this year to join Redpoint Ventures as a VC.

In his job since, Dietzen has been busy fixing Yahoo’s mail and calendar offerings. (See my video interview with him below from last fall.)

But that’s not all.

Also afoot is a restructuring of Yahoo’s North American sales unit, with the unexpected promotion of Mitch Spolan, who was a regional sales exec and will now be in charge of all North American field sales.

The paidContent Web site reported the sales changes first, which have been rumored around Yahoo recently.

Spolan jumped over two more senior execs, sources said, who run sales operations for the East and West coasts. One of those execs, Beth Lawrence, will now run Yahoo’s relations with agencies. Both report to U.S. sales SVP Joanne Bradford.

Over the last 18 months, Yahoo has seen a bleeding of its advertising staff to a wide range of Silicon Valley Web companies, including, most recently, Yahoo’s VP of Sales Operations Dan Foehner to social-networking site Facebook.

Lastly, one of Yahoo’s most senior communications execs, Brad Williams, was let go as part of its recent round of layoffs. He had been running PR–admirably and with good cheer, I might add, despite all the bad news–since its head, Jill Nash, departed earlier this year.

Williams’s departure was first reported by The Wall Street Journal tonight. He came to Yahoo in early 2008 from eBay (EBAY).

New marketing head Elisa Steele, who was hired by CEO Carol Bartz, had recently hired a headhunting firm to find a new PR chief, sources said, and Williams was not considered as a candidate for the job.

UPDATE: Yahoo confirmed my report above.

A spokesman sent me the following info about Lamkin’s appointment:

Bryan Lamkin, formerly of Adobe, is joining Yahoo! as senior vice president of Applications Products, reporting directly to Ari Balogh. As a reminder, the Applications Products group consists of several key global products for Yahoo!, including Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Messenger, Flickr, Yahoo! Answers, Yahoo! Groups and Zimbra.

Bryan brings a wealth of experience on the consumer technology front and his background ties in nicely with Yahoo!’s ongoing focus to deliver great consumer experiences across the globe.

Bryan takes over for Scott Dietzen, who was named the interim head of Application Products following the reorg back in February. Scott will continue on at Yahoo!, and will work across Yahoo!’s Applications Products in a new product strategy role.

Bio

Bryan Lamkin

Senior Vice President, Applications Product, Yahoo!

Bryan Lamkin joins Yahoo! as the senior vice president of Applications Products. In this role, he will oversee the global strategy, development and performance for key products within the Yahoo! portfolio, including Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Messenger, Flickr, Yahoo! Answers, Yahoo! Groups and Zimbra.

Lamkin most recently served as senior vice president and general manager of Creative Solutions, Adobe’s largest business unit. Lamkin led product strategy, marketing and research and development for Adobe’s flagship software applications, including the Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, the Creative Suite, Dreamweaver, Flash and Illustrator.

In his 14 years at Adobe Systems, Lamkin held key management positions including Senior Vice President and General Manager, Digital Imaging and Video and Vice President of Marketing, Professional Publishing Solutions. Lamkin was responsible for product development and marketing as well as the acquisition and product integration strategies that established Adobe’s overwhelming leadership in digital imaging and video and web publishing. Before joining Adobe Systems, Lamkin served in key product marketing and international product development roles at Software Publishing Corporation and holds both a BA and MBA from the University of California at Berkeley.

And here is Dietzen in my video interview:

Here’s an interesting irony–Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz will have her 99th day in office on the very one that the Internet giant will announce its first-quarter earnings: April 21, 2009 at 2 p.m. PST.

Technically, it will mean that she has been running Yahoo (YHOO) for 100 days, a time when most administrations get their first evaluation.

Thus, if it’s good enough for President Obama, it’s good enough for Bartz!

While most expect the results for the quarter to be weak, due to the econalypse, the overall verdict from BoomTown’s needling of Yahoos to give me info on their new leader recently: Love, love, love Bartz’s innate decisiveness, and wanting more of the same.

“She has an opinion and she is not afraid to use it,” joked one high-ranking Yahoo. “That is a big deal for a lot of people here who have wanted a CEO who is very forceful.”

And the only substantive negative: Some remain worried about her lack of Internet savvy, although most of those admit she has been a quick learner as the 100-day mark comes to a close.

In Yahoo’s case, 100 days has a special meaning–when he got his job in late 2007, former Yahoo CEO and co-founder Jerry Yang declared that he was going to give the troubled company a 100-day evaluation with “no sacred cows.”

The Yang-farmed bovines, as it turned out, just got fatter.

Under Bartz, more have been under the knife, as the hard-charging exec has started to really put her imprint on the company.

She has certainly talked tough since the meet-the-press conference on her very first day on Jan. 13.

Some memorable Bartz quotes were about Yahoo’s immediate needs, in her estimation: “some friggin’ breathing room” and “frankly, [the company] could use a little management.”

That kind of tough-lady, Annie-Get-Your-Gun quote-making has been Bartz’s signature, whether it be in folksy Friday memos she has sent out to staff or at the fourth-quarter earnings call in late January, only weeks into her tenure, when she declared:

“This is not a company that needs to be pulled apart and left for the chickens.”

Well, except for the management structure, which Bartz pulled right apart and reshuffled six weeks in.

Cleaning up and simplifying the complex reporting structure in an all-roads-lead-to-Carol set-up and tossing out the CFO were main points of the reorganization. Many at Yahoo expect there to be even more cuts in staff sooner than later, many sources said.

And there have also been departures of key staff, including: PR head Jill Nash, Zimbra founder Satish Dharmaraj and soon, high-ranking techie Venkat Panchapakesan.

Yang too, although he remains on the board, has not been present as much at the company.

Curiously, though, except for the new CMO, Elisa Steele–whose office is powerfully located right next to Bartz, as many Yahoos noted to me–there have been no further appointments for open positions for CFO, a new Customer Advocacy top exec and a new international head. Presumably, they are on the way.

Not that Bartz has not been busy–visiting Yahoo staff and clients all over–as well as finally finding time for a face-to-face meeting with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in Silicon Valley recently.

Before the recent meetings, in a classic negotiating tactic, Bartz (pictured here) has projected a disinterested, poker-faced attitude about the situation, even telling Yahoo staff in one meeting “that she plans to spend a lot of time investigating whether to sell Yahoo’s search business, but that her ‘gut’ was not to do that.”

Well, a sale of Yahoo’s search business might not happen, Bartz was only buying a little time in being so confident and projecting the affect that Yahoo had some leverage and a choice.

But that is exactly what she does not really have, given that Yahoo faces the prospect of spiraling costs to maintain a search share, even as it has a good chance of declining.

So, last week, the news–first reported here Friday–that Bartz was involved in preliminary talks with Microsoft (MSFT) about an extensive commercial advertising and search partnership–should have come as almost no surprise.

A re-engagement between the companies, after a bruising takeover battle that ended in tears all around, has been long hoped for by investors and other observers, given that both have struggled against the search behemoth that is Google (GOOG).

(Or, in a nickname that BoomTown is trying unsuccessfully to popularize: Googzilla.)

The talks–which are not about the software giant making another acquisition offer for Yahoo–are ongoing and might not lead anywhere, but it is in both sides’ interest to avoid that outcome.

“Yahoo has to do some kind of deal or Bartz will be facing a decline even she cannot manage,” said one person close to the situation. “And Microsoft, if it wants to compete in search, needs Yahoo’s share along with its own.”

Among the surprisingly innovative ideas being bandied about: Yahoo might take over all of Microsoft’s display and premium advertising business to sell along with its own, while Microsoft would run the search advertising business for the pair.

And, while the discussions could degenerate into chest-pounding and pointless jockeying, one assumes that Bartz gets the idea that Yahoo needs a lot of help–including from some rapprochement with Microsoft, from making its staff even leaner, from streamlining its product focus and from striking other significant partnerships.

Many inside and outside Yahoo certainly hope that spirit–and not the one from this video below of a fabulous scene of Betty Hutton and Howard Keel in the musical classic, “Annie Get Your Gun,” singing “Anything You Can Do”–prevails with Microsoft in the next 100 days.

Goodness gracious, make it stop!

You must know by now how much BoomTown loves internal Yahoo (YHOO) memos. But this is getting ridiculous.

It’s been like a flash flood after a long drought at Sunnyvale HQ today, as Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz turns on the fire hose of a whole lot of communicating.

A lot. A real lot.

“I know you guys have reorg fatigue,” wrote Bartz, in the latest email to employees about the management reorganization finally announced this morning.

Also memo fatigue at All Things Digital HQ, if you can believe it.

Okay, I give, Carol! Well, for now, until another juicy internal memo you aren’t handing out freely lands in my inbox, for example, such as one about a search deal with Microsoft (MSFT). I’d like one of those to go, please!

But, in a gesture of a leak-free peace (can the drop-kick bounty be suspended for just today?), I am posting this last memo about the management reorganization from Carol “Chatterbox” Bartz.

(Although, I wish she would stop insulting the press, as she does below again. We are just doing our job–and very accurately, as it turned out–yet the jibes continue. Which is odd, frankly, given that Bartz has had mostly glowing coverage in the media her entire career.)

But Bartz did seem to leave a little mystery in the email still, as if even more rearranging were to come.

Writes Bartz (my bolding):

“As soon as decisions were made, I wanted you to know about them–even if that means we don’t have all the details nailed down yet”.

Wait, are the deets all nailed by Bartz’s productive hammer or aren’t they?

At least, thankfully, the note is capitalized properly, unlike the quaint no-caps stylings of former CEO Jerry Yang.

In any case, if you just can’t get enough, here is Bartz’s reorg blog from this morning and her new management structure memo too.

And here is her entire email on the reorg to employees:

From: Carol Bartz
Reply-To: Carol Bartz
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2009 09:02:49 -0800
To: “all-worldwide@yahoo-inc.com”
Subject: Our New Organization

Yahoos,

As I’ve gotten to know Yahoo! over the past several weeks, I’ve developed a point of view on how our organization should be structured to set us up for success.

Our goal is simple: to consistently deliver awesome consumer and advertiser experiences, everywhere in the world we do business. Delivering great customer experiences is everyone’s job at Yahoo!–and each part of our organization will have a clear role in making that happen every day.

The timing of this announcement is important. As soon as decisions were made, I wanted you to know about them–even if that means we don’t have all the details nailed down yet. Yes, there’s been a lot of speculation in the media over the past few days…that’s been a little frustrating, but I’m not willing to speak publicly about decisions before they’re final. Today, they are–so I’ll lay out our new organizational structure for you now.

I know you guys have reorg fatigue. Hang in there–our intention is to leave this structure in place for two to four years. We’ll continue to make adjustments as needed, but we expect this core structure to stay put.

The structure outlined below will enable us to make big improvements in our product quality and operational efficiency. Part of that is simplicity–I’m frankly amazed at how complicated some things are here! We’ll have much clearer decision making and accountability. Product and regional teams will share responsibility for revenue targets and expense management, but we’ll have one P&L, for which I’m accountable.

We will also be in a better position to really listen to and understand our customers–both consumers and advertisers. I think we’ve gotten into the habit of focusing internally too much and we sometimes forget who we’re here to serve. You’ll notice that our management structure puts a renewed focus on the customer, with stronger feedback loops across the company…and they all come through me.

Also, as you know, no organizational structure is a substitute for collaboration, communication and trust. We’ll all need to evolve our behavior a bit–as teams and as individuals – to make this structure work the way it’s designed.

So here’s the overview, with the roles that will report directly to me. As you’ll see, some of our leaders are still to be determined. I know you’ll
want more detail than what’s below–you can learn more on Backyard: http://backyard.yahoo.com/ourorg .

Products: We’ve combined Tech and Product groups under one roof, led by Ari Balogh as EVP Products & CTO. Ari’s charter is to deliver global products that enable extraordinary consumer and advertiser experiences. Ari’s direct reports now include one leader for each product group–we’ve taken care of the “two in a box” problem.

One important note: The Connected Life team has been integrated into various parts of the new organization. Our mobile strategy remains a key part of Yahoo!’s focus going forward and all of our product groups will own mobile innovations. After leading Connected Life for four years, Marco Boerries has resigned from the company to spend more time with his family in Europe. We thank Marco for his important contributions at Yahoo!.

Regions: There are now two: North America and International. As I’ve said before, international growth is critical for Yahoo!, which has become too reliant on its U.S. business over the years.

The regions deliver Yahoo!’s products, programming and services to consumers, partners and advertisers in local markets. They will partner closely with the newly formed Regional Solutions & Products group in Ari’s organization to help drive a significant shift in how Yahoo! develops products for different geographies. The goal is to have global platforms on which regional product offerings are based.

The North American region–comprised of the U.S. and Canada–is led by Hilary Schneider. The leader of our International region, to be hired soon, will be responsible for a cohesive Yahoo! global strategy and seizing our international growth opportunities. Until we determine who’ll lead the International region, Rose Tsou (Asia), Rich Riley (Europe) and Keith Nilsson (Emerging Markets) will continue to report to me.

Marketing: Elisa Steele will be joining Yahoo! as our Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), effective March 23. Elisa joins us from NetApp where she was SVP, Corporate Marketing. Previous to NetApp, she held executive positions in marketing at Sun Microsystems. Elisa will oversee our global marketing strategy and provide direction for our marketing function. She’ll bring together the various Yahoo! marketing teams that have been spread across the company. Reporting into Elisa will be Brand Marketing, Audience Marketing, Corporate Communications, Insights, Policy & Privacy, Community Affairs and related central teams. I’m delighted to have Elisa joining the team.

Customer Advocacy: As I said, we can do much better in hearing the voice of the customer across Yahoo!, and incorporating what we hear into all of our work day-to-day. We have opened a search for a leader, who will oversee Customer Care and Ad Operations globally with the goal of improving how we support Yahoo!’s users and advertisers. In the interim, these teams will continue to report to Hilary.

Service Engineering & Operations: This new team is responsible for delivering common technology services at scale, including application management and infrastructure. No matter how cool our products are, the customer’s experience won’t be great unless our applications consistently deliver. Note that we’re bringing Service Engineering together as one group because these engineers bring expertise that is best applied horizontally. Leading this organization is David Dibble, who joined Yahoo! in December. David’s team also will be accountable for delivering more effective corporate IT systems.

Corporate Functions: Blake Jorgensen will be leaving Yahoo! and I am searching for a new CFO. Blake will remain through a transition with his successor, and I want to thank Blake for all of his great contributions to Yahoo! over the past two years. Mike Callahan will continue to lead our Legal team, and David Windley leads our Human Resources function. Joel Jones joins the team as my Chief of Staff.

So that’s the high-level view. These changes are effective immediately, but we’ve got more work to do in filling out the structure of each group. In the short term, this transition will be challenging for many of our people. My executive staff will be working with their organizations as quickly as possible to create further clarity. For example, we’ll need to recast budgets and adjust work areas so we have the right people working side-by-side.

I want to thank all of you who’ve shared your ideas and views with me since I arrived. Several leaders across Yahoo! came together to design this new structure–I’ve been very impressed with their dedication to the right outcomes, particularly how they’ve embraced the need to eliminate the silos that have been a drag on this organization for so long.

I think this organizational structure has the potential to solve many of the issues you’ve helped me better understand. Of course, new issues will emerge. But I know we’ll be aligned and nimble in tackling them together.

This is a tremendous, proud company with a powerful brand, great products and a bright future. Now’s the time to get more focused than ever on delighting our users and advertisers. Let’s show them how great Yahoo! can be.

Carol

It’s pretty much what BoomTown has been reporting all week about the reorg.

Top-down simplification, which is another word for: Carol rules over Yahoo (YHOO).

CTO Ari Balogh gets a lot of stuff as new head of products, and so does U.S. head Hilary Schneider, including mobile, as EVP of North American Region. Both report to Bartz.

Unmentioned, but Audience Products head Ash Patel is still in. So is General Counsel Michael Callahan.

New chief marketing officer is Elisa Steele, who come from NetApps (NTAP). Bartz happens to be on the board of NetApps, by the way.

New International head TBD.

Bartz also sent an email to employees about the changes.

Here is the entire memo:

New Yahoo! Management Structure Overview

February 26, 2009

· Our goal as a company is simple: to consistently deliver awesome consumer and advertiser experiences everywhere in the world we do business. So we’re creating an organization to enable improvements in our product quality and operational efficiency, as well as clear decision making and accountability.

· Tech and Product groups will be combined to create a single organization called Products. Products will be led by Ari Balogh as EVP of Products and CTO, reporting to Carol Bartz, with the goal of enabling extraordinary consumer experiences tied to compelling advertiser and publisher offerings. This organization is responsible for the vision, strategy, and quality of every product we create–regardless of region, device format or category.

· There are now two regions–North America and International. The regions are responsible for delivering Yahoo!’s products, programming and services to consumers, partners and advertisers in local markets. North America will be led by Hilary Schneider, EVP, North American Region, reporting to Carol Bartz. International’s leader will be hired soon.

. Mobile will continue to be a key priority for Yahoo!. Going forward, David Ko will lead the mobile business, strategy and monetization teams for Yahoo! (Head of Global Mobile Business, reporting to Hilary Schneider). All of our product teams will be responsible for incorporating mobile innovations into their products.

· A Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) role has been created to oversee our global marketing strategy and provide direction for our marketing function. Today, we named our new CMO, Elisa Steele. Elisa starts on March 23. She will bring together the various marketing teams that have been spread across the company.

· A new Customer Advocacy group will help us to better hear the voice of the customer (consumers/advertisers) across the company and incorporate what we hear into all our work throughout Yahoo!. We will hire a new leader for this team.

· The newly created Service Engineering & Operations (SE&O) team will be chartered with delivering common technology services at scale, including application management and infrastructure. The team will be led by David Dibble, SVP of SE&O. We’re bringing Service Engineering together as one group because these engineers bring expertise that is best applied horizontally.

· Our corporate functions will consist of HR led by David Windley, Legal led by Michael Callahan, and our CFO is to be hired, with Blake Jorgensen remaining through the transition. Joel Jones will serve as Carol Bartz’s chief of staff.

· This structure is designed to last two to four years; however, we’ll continue to make adjustments as needed. But we expect this core structure will stay in place.

· These changes become effective immediately.