YAHOO! | D&AD New Blood 2025 Entry
No Exclamation Needed
MY ROLE: Account & Strategy
Project Management
Research
Strategic Development
Creative Briefing
THE ASK
Create a brand activation idea that reaches Gen Z and Gen Alpha, telling them who Yahoo is and why they should care, encouraging this audience to talk about the brand.
THE CHALLENGE
Digital natives, Gen Z and Gen Alpha, are growing up online - exploring their interests, expressing themselves, and building communities in digital spaces. But their trust in the companies behind these platforms is low.
In fact, 64% of teens say that major tech companies (i.e., Google, Apple, Meta, TikTok, Microsoft, etc.) cannot be trusted to care about their mental health and well-being (Common Sense Media, 2025).
Source: Common Sense Media, 2025
THE OPPORTUNITY
Younger audiences rarely think of Yahoo, with only 7.44% of Gen Z using the platform compared to 85.52% using Google (MRI Simmons, 2025). But as big tech companies continue to make decisions that leave users feeling unheard, like Google removing cultural events like Women’s History Month from its calendar app, there’s an opportunity for Yahoo to stand out.
By recognizing the challenges younger generations face and offering support, Yahoo can become a platform where Gen Z and Gen Alpha feel empowered to navigate digital spaces with confidence.
CORPORATE-CAUSE CRITERIA
For Yahoo to be a meaningful part of a larger cultural conversation, it needs to show up in a way that feels true to the brand, ensuring the idea aligns with its values, addresses a relevant issue, and is something only Yahoo could truly own.
Which led us to the iconic exclamation point in Yahoo’s logo.
THE INSIGHT
Women often feel pressure to use unnecessary exclamation points in digital communication, such as texts or emails, to appear friendly and agreeable.
In fact, we found that women use exclamation points 170% more than men.
A SHARED STRUGGLE
This stat was shocking, but not surprising to our all-female team. The second-guessing of exclamation points—worrying about sounding too eager or, worse, too cold—was a daily internal struggle we all experienced, without realizing how many others did too.
And hearing from more women only validated this experience further:
THE SOLUTION
NO EXCLAMATION NEEDED
Yahoo will challenge the societal pressure women face to soften their messages with exclamation points.
CASE STUDY
For 24 hours on International Women’s Day, Yahoo will “run out” of exclamations.
1.
The Yahoo exclamation point will disappear from our logo across platforms including Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn.
2.
Users who try to use the exclamation point in Yahoo Search or Mail will receive a cryptic error message.
3.
Yahoo will produce a series of OOH ads highlighting the double standards women experience when sending emails, exposing the unspoken rules that pressure women to overuse exclamation points.
4.
We'll bring back the exclamation point because they never actually ran out.
5.
Yahoo will then introduce the new ! counter. This feature helps users track their punctuation, encouraging mindful communication and authentic expression.
6.
THE RESULTS
As the first online platform to question exclamation points, Yahoo will ignite a cultural conversation about digital gender norms, shedding light on the emotional labor women often face in online communication. By confronting this bias, Yahoo will position itself as the platform where future generations can express themselves authentically—no exclamation needed.
MEASURES OF SUCCESS:
Brand Perception Shift: Conduct pre- and post-campaign surveys to measure changes in how users perceive Yahoo, focusing on brand relevance and cultural alignment.
New Account Sign Ups & Feature Adoption: Measure how many new users create Yahoo accounts and engage with the new ! counter feature.
Campaign Recall: Evaluate how well the campaign message resonates through brand recall surveys or awareness studies.
Earned Media Value: Calculate the value of media coverage and organic conversations generated from the campaign to gauge its cultural impact.
Social Media Engagement: Track likes, comments, shares, and hashtag usage to assess audience participation and conversation.
