80% of Father’s Day shoppers will buy the week before the June 16 holiday, so there’s still time for marketers to reach them

Mother’s Day is fresh in our minds, but now’s the time for marketers to focus on Father’s Day. With 67.8 million dads in the United States, the June 16 holiday means big opportunity for marketers. Last year, shoppers spent a record $12.7 billion, and experts predict a higher total this year. Even though the holiday is coming up fast, this infographic on the habits of Father’s Day shoppers shows that nearly 80% of them won’t buy gifts until the week before the big day. There’s still time for marketers to connect with them, and for an extra boost, check out our Father Day tips for retail search ad success.

More highlights from the infographic:

• 5% of shoppers buy three weeks to a month before the holiday; 18% buy on Father’s Day
• 48% of dads want a tech gadget (but only 23% will get one)
• 57% of shoppers will spend $50 or less on Dad
• 65% of dads would rather receive no gift than get a tie

For more insights into the hearts and minds of Fathers’ Day shoppers, see the full infographic.

Fast-paced highlight reel shares the best of recent ads that have run on Yahoo!

The packed house of 1,200 people at our Yahoo! NewFront last week included many major advertisers and agencies, so it was the perfect time to roll a highlight reel of the best recent ads run on Yahoo! properties. The video is only 87 seconds long, but it shares dozens of examples of how major brands turn to us for ads that break the mold, engage audiences at scale, and drive results. Check it out to see how the Yahoo! creative canvas delivers innovative ad formats that help advertisers reach their goals.

The ad is epic too, featuring games, social media, and a dual custom expandable screening room

The movie won’t be released until May 24, but 20^th Century Fox pulled out all the stops to promote its animated feature “Epic” with an engaging multimedia ad on omg! from Yahoo! that immerses viewers in content and activities meant to fire them up for the film.

“Epic” tells the tale of a teen named Mary Katherine (Amanda Seyfried) whose father (Jason Sudekis) is an expert on tiny warriors called the Leaf Men who live in the forest near their cabin. When our heroine suddenly shrinks down to the size of the Leaf Men, she helps them battle the evil Mandrake (Christoph Waltz), who means to destroy them all.

One click on the ad immerses the viewer in the world of “Epic,” which features two viewing screens packed with videos and trailers; four video games related to the story; links to the official “Epic” website and its Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages; and a thick forest of movie content including cast bios, production details, and more. There’s even a digital clock that counts down the seconds to the movie’s launch.

Ad Land how to show work 230These presentation tips can mean the difference between a client’s thumbs up or down

Good work always carries the day, right? Not so fast, Mr. or Ms. Idealist. In these competitive times, you can’t leave anything to chance. You have to sell the sizzle and the steak. The bubbles and the champagne. The pucker and the pickle. (Where were we? Oh, yeah.) It’s hard enough to come up with a good idea, but all the sweat and late nights you put into it won’t mean anything if you can’t sell it to the client.

Once again, Ad Land comes to your rescue. This week, our David T. Jones shares five simple and proven tips on how to present your work stylishly and effectively. (There’s a sixth tip too, but it’s really hard.) Follow David’s lead, and you’ll be in L.A. on production in no time.

Check out David’s portfolio of presentation tips in the full cartoon.

Sample our top-rated shows in news, lifestyle, sports, finance, comedy, and entertainment

“Nobody does content like Yahoo! does content,” said Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer at last week’s Digital Content NewFronts in New York. To make the point, we announced six new shows, new and expanded partnerships with other major content producers, and showed highlight videos of our top-rated shows in the news, lifestyle, sports, finance, comedy, and entertainment categories. Here’s a look at our videos for Yahoo! News (the #1 source of news on the Web) and our lifestyle programming (with favorites like “Chow Ciao” and “The Thread”).

Check out these and other content showcases, along with interviews with ad executives and the stars of our new shows at the Yahoo! NewFront.

90% of search ad clicks occur at the top of the page. Here’s how to place your ads where they’ll perform best.

Did you know that over 90% of search ad clicks occur at the top of the page? Up there, search ads achieve average click-through rates of 5% to 20%, while ads in the sidebar average CTRs of less than 1%.* Clearly, the top of the page is the place to be.

In this new video, Jesse Pender, a manager on our Search Optimization Strategy Team, explains how you can leverage less-competitive exact-match keywords to land top spots for your ads on Yahoo! and Bing search pages. Appearing more often at the top not only increases CTRs, it also lets you take advantage of our high-performing search ad formats that are exclusive to that section of the page, such as Sitelink Extensions and Rich Ads in Search.

Our search expert shares tips on how to make the dynamic duo of search and display reap better results for your business.

Editor's Note: Where can you go to find answers to your burning Search Engine Marketing questions, quandaries, doubts, and dilemmas? Right here at “Ask the Search Expert,” our regular series featuring SEM experts from the crack Yahoo! Search Account Management team. Today Anna Rosholm, a Senior Account Manager who supports Technology and Telecom accounts, answers a frequently asked question from a search advertiser.

Dear Search Expert,

I’m considering investing in a display buy on Yahoo!’s new homepage and I want to make sure that I effectively capture the consumers who are exposed to my ad. Is there value in combining my search and display strategies to reach these people—and how can I get the biggest bang for my buck?

Signed, Curious Cathy

Dear Curious Cathy:

Search and display go together like peanut butter and chocolate. Campfires and ghost stories. Brad and Angelina. (You get the picture.) Maintaining a cohesive strategy between search and display advertising is a great way to get more eyes on your ads and ensure a better return on your ad spend. But before setting a strategy in stone, it’s important to understand how this dynamic duo works together and what you need to do to effectively optimize campaigns for maximum ROI.

Ed Helms fights crime in “Tiny Commando”; John Stamos asks celebs about their first time

We announced six new video programs at last week’s Digital Content NewFronts in New York, including two new comedies that show just how far we’ll go to make you laugh. There’s “Tiny Commando,” featuring a four-inch-tall private eye who fights crime. It was dreamed up by Ed Helms (of “The Office” fame). We’ll also bring you “Losing Your Virginity,” where John Stamos will interview celebrities to find out about their first times, their lives before fame, and the inside scoop on their insecurities growing up. We caught up with Ed and John at the Yahoo! NewFront and asked them to talk about their upcoming shows on Yahoo! See their videos below.

Check out more interviews with the stars of our new shows and ad industry leaders who attended the Yahoo! NewFront.