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Yahoo! parties! like! it's! 1999! with! retro! billboard! revival!

If at first you don't succeed, fail, fail, again

If at first you don't succeed, fail, fail, again Perenially-in-crisis web portal Yahoo! has decided to revive a tactic from its glory days in an attempt to create new glory days.

The company has decided to “reclaim” what it's calling “the iconic billboard along San Francisco’s stretch of Interstate 80” that it hired in the late 1990s.

The billboard went up in 1999 and came down again in 2011. The revival's come about because, in the words of chief marketing officer and head of media Kathy Savitt, the company wants to "surprise and delight Bay Area commuters with fun messages from the company and its employees.”

The first attempt at surprising and delighting commuters will read “It’s good to be back.“ Subsequent messages will offer "different topical messages tied to Yahoo products, properties and local events that touch their lives."

A cynic (we employ none here at El Reg) might suggest that Yahoo! is providing a perverse anti-advertisement for its own products by relying on a very old-school meatspace tactic to promote itself. Or that by promoting its properties on a busy road, it might be encouraging drivers to whip out their smartmobes and cause a massive rear-ender on Interstate 80.

Yahoo! says its aim is to provide drivers with "a little extra brightness from Yahoo! while on their journey each day. San Francisco commuters: feel free to let us know if you require or appreciate such illumination. ®

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