Project Background
Getting down to the client's business, I came across with an area that I wasn't so familiar, despite being an omnipresent part of the agency. So I saw an opportunity to actually talk and get into their daily work.
First, all the contents in the website were understood as a base for many possible formats. However, in advertisement there are always new formats and proposals which may not be foreseen in the website's charts. That would make necessary to get in touch with Yahoo! to check how it can be played out.
Secondly, Yahoo! has many products where the ads can be placed. Occasionally these trades can go many ways, depending on the Communication Strategy.
The starting point was to explore this universe of their business along with the Brand Strategy team.
Process
Site Analysis & Heuristics
Before anything, I started by analyzing the website as it was back then. Collecting and showing every aspect of it: its Navigation, Content Display, Contact Area, Menu, Footer, etc.
By doing this simple step I could present to the teams what the brand is missing and how the usability could be affecting the communication of the website and more importantly the brand.
It was clear by then the website was very old fashioned and not being consistent in terms of reliability.
Benchmark
In order to understand how the other brands perform in the industry, we gathered all the good aspects of their websites usability concepts in the Advertiser area. Once done, we could visualize and point out the good aspects of each.
The benchmark is very important to have insights on how the industry has been playing in the area. Moreover, to understand how Yahoo! Brasil Publicity could catch up.
Persona
By interviewing some of my co-workers and personal friends, I've found many interesting thoughts. For instance, as professionals and being part of the inner circle, they no longer needed to look for details of how to buy and negotiate the price. They already had a contact in the specific channel, with whom they could show a specific ad they'd have.
Moreover, they actually have lunch once and while, as a business meeting; in a sense, it creates a Media networking system.
On the other hand, the ones out of this league were left out. They've described that when they were students they felt lack of those assets and forced to work with the basic formats displayed. And then, they could only find the formats and prices in the website.