Yahoo! Sets Out to Personalize Its Signature Yodel

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Launches Global Online Yodel Search and Live Studio Recording Events; Music Mentors include Randy Jackson, Pete Wentz, Jewel, LeAnn Rimes, Kimberly Caldwell, Rob Cavallo

SUNNYVALE, CA – October 13, 2009 – As part of the launch of its global “It’s Y!ou” brand campaign in late September, Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO) is giving the yodel back to the people by inviting them to participate in the creation of the next generation of one of its best known brand assets – the Yahoo! yodel.

“The foundation of the ‘It’s Y!ou’ campaign is about making the web more personally relevant to each of our consumers, so it’s important that we engage the world in the creation of our new yodel,” said Elisa Steele, Yahoo! executive vice president and chief marketing officer. “It’s essentially a unique form of user generated content that honors the millions of people who visit Yahoo! every day.”

The Yodel Studio kicks-off a casting call for the world’s best new yodels, allowing people to personalize and reinterpret the Yahoo! yodel. From now until November 8, people can create and submit their own yodel at http://yodelstudio.yahoo.com. In addition, Yahoo! is hosting live recording events today in New York City and London, and on October 14 in Mumbai, with celebrities and musical artists to coach yodelers.

Participants will compete for a chance to be featured in Yahoo!’s new global advertising campaign and on one of the world’s largest stages: the Yahoo! homepage. For each yodel submitted in the online contest, Yahoo! will also donate to participating global charities.*

“The yodel is synonymous with Yahoo! and we’re ready for people around the world to put their unique expression on it,” added Steele. “Whether your yodel is 80s punk or country funk, the Yodel Studio is about self-expression, having fun and allowing all the people who use Yahoo! to be an essential part of our brand revitalization effort.”

“My parents were both musicians, and my dad taught himself to yodel by listening to Jimmie Rodgers records. By the time I was six, my parents had me performing a yodel act during their dinner shows,” explains country music superstar, Jewel. “Yodeling has deep roots in the history of country music and I have finished many of my concerts with a yodel. It’s always rewarding to have my audiences respond so positively to it. I love that Yahoo! is helping expose more people to yodeling now, too.”