Do you remember the “Yahoo Yodel” from the late 1990s? Here’s a reminder, it goes like Ya-hooooooooooo-Oooooooo!
Enter Mr. Wylie Gustafson, a descendant of a long line of yodeling yeoman. In 1986, Gustafson headed out to Los Angeles to make his mark on the music industry. To make himself marketable in a sea of lost dreams he started yodeling in band performances at the bars, which definitely made everyone stop and put down their drinks. Gustafson was featured with big brands like Bud Light, Sprint, Mitsubishi, Porsche, and Taco Bell, but it wasn’t until a little startup by the name of Yahoo looking for a yodeler for a commercial that would be “something light, funny, and ear-catching.”
Gustafson received union-scaled pay and received lucrative residuals every time a commercial aired. But since the Yahoo spot was intended to be a regional commercial, he accepted a one-time payment of $590.38 from the marketing agency that connected him to Yahoo. “I went down to a studio in LA, and in 10 minutes I knocked out probably 20 to 30 different 3-second yodels,” he says. “Then, I went home and forgot all about it.”
On January 31, 1999, Gustafson was watching the Super Bowl, a national aired commercial, when suddenly he heard his own yodel on a Yahoo commercial. The once tiny startup had ballooned into one of America’s fastest growing tech giants and was using his yodel on everything from the search page, to email inboxes, to bottle openers and even movies. Gustafson contacted the marketing agency and they sent over another check of $590.38. Even then Gustafson still wanted to be made whole, so the yodeler lawyered up.
On 2002 attorney Larry Russ helped Gustafson file and register a copyright on his distinct yodel (Registration No. SRU 455-556 named “Wylie’s Yahoo Yodel”), after which they sued Yahoo for copyright infringement (Not sure what the heck copyright infringement is? Skip to the last paragraph for the 101)! Believe it or not, there truly is bad publicity when it comes to not paying a yodeler. Russ then had his client do press releases on every outlet that would listen, resulting in getting the attention of Yahoo for the bad publicity it was receiving. Assistant general counsel for Yahoo immediately boarded a plane to meet with Russ and the matter was settled for an undisclosed amount (both parties signed a non-disclosure agreement) but was hinted at as being “a life-changing amount of money.” Gustafson has stated that the original ask was for $5 million and the final settlement amount wasn’t quite there but it was close enough.
Happily, as part of the agreement between parties Yahoo was given exclusive and unlimited rights to the copyright, even putting on a national yodeling tour with Gustafson serving as judge. Today, the Yahoo Yodel is no longer used, a yawp lost in the winds of change, but endears as a shining example of memorable marketing.