Yahoo! Shine lacks true shine
This past week Yahoo! launched Shine, a new website targeted at women ages 25-54. The website aims to provide information relevant to women, and will combine many different elements from Yahoo’s flagship portal, including the food, health, fashion and astrology sections. The site will also feature content from publishers as diverse as Time magazine and Conde Nast.
It hasn’t been even a week since its launch, but blogs and online message boards are already buzzing with critical comments about the website. It is being called a very “cynical and poorly executed” attempt to appeal to modern women. Unlike its other content specific websites, Yahoo Shine does not go deep into exploring women’s issues and simply skims the surface. As one woman on a blog commented, “there’s way too much glamour and very little about real people”. It also seems to cater to the stereotypical corporate view of what women want, providing almost patronizing tips on homemaking, astrology, etc. and calling women “chief household officers”. Response on the web shows that it only seems to be turning the target audience away rather than attracting them.
Shine also seems like a late-entrant into a category already crowded by Glam, iVillage, and other lifestyle magazine websites that provide similar content, thus, failing to attract marketers.
In my opinion, it is not too late for Yahoo to reformat the website and put some real substance in there.
posted by Wieden+Kennedy/Nike @ 5:37 PM
2 Comments
2 Comments:
I had no idea Yahoo! was planning to launch such a site; However, I think it is an excellent idea. It is a shame that they didn't execute it properly and are getting negative feedback. Like you said, it is still early and Yahoo! can and should reformat it to make it more "real". Currently, Yahoo! seems to have missed its target and is turning them away with Shine. I visited the site, and it definitely seems like it is for the fashion savvy, trendy younger female. This poses a problem for Yahoo!'s advertisers who are currently paying to reach women 25-54. If Yahoo! is able to reformat, I feel it will be an excellent advertising venue for many companies looking to target that age range. Until then, If I was a company currently advertising on Shine, I'd be disappointed.
I did not know this information either about Yahoo! I think it is a very good idea because this not only includes a younger audience but also it includes the baby boomers who love the attention like we learned in class. It is a great idea for women to be able to have a search media just for them for issues and interests that guide you closer to your search rather than the whole web. Unfortunately, they did not get much, if any positive feedback from these women who have previously viewed Shine. If Yahoo! can change this website to attracted more woman rather than the fashion savvy I think it would be in their best interest otherwise the site might come plunging.
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