As Spring Training heats up, we are very excited to announce an exclusive deal with Major League Baseball making Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Baseball ‘10 the official fantasy baseball game of MLB.com.

The co-branded Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Baseball ‘10, will provide fans with the most relevant and engaging fantasy baseball experience on the Web. The combination of Yahoo!’s unmatched sports news and MLB.com’s in-game and post-game video highlights truly makes this the biggest and best game for passionate fantasy baseball fans.

Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Baseball ’10 players can purchase MLB.com’s new Fantasy Highlights package, giving them the opportunity to watch customized in-game and post-game video highlights of their fantasy players directly from their homepage. The unique feature, combined with Yahoo! Sports’ leading online news and insights, will provide players with the most comprehensive and interactive fantasy baseball experience anywhere, taking fans beyond the box score to watch the performance of their fantasy roster as it unfolds on the field.

Additionally, Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Baseball ‘10 will offer a new live online auction draft application and free live scoring, which gives fans the ability to view live stats and instant scoring for teams or matchups and get real-time league standings straight to their homepage.

Yahoo! is the partner of choice for content companies, working closely with major sports, entertainment, and media companies to deliver the world’s most relevant and engaging content to its consumers.  The MLB is the third official league relationship we’ve entered into, with the NHL and PGA Tour fantasy games already leading in their respective online categories. And now, with the combination of Yahoo!’s unmatched sports news, MLB.com’s wealth of statistical research tools and never-before-available live video highlights at users’ fingertips, we know Yahoo! Fantasy Baseball ’10 will quickly become the hottest product serving the incredibly passionate fantasy baseball audience. Check it out for yourself!

We were thrilled to recently work with renowned VJ/DJ Mike Relm and his team on remixing the Yahoo! “Anthem” TV spot. Given the central role that the TV spot plays in the Yahoo! Brand Revitalization that was launched in September of this year, we felt honored that Mike was going to put his own spin on it.  We felt it was appropriate that Mike would be interacting on an artistic level with the spot because he is a perfect embodiment of a Yahoo! user converging their personal world of individual expression with the world at large to create a dazzling experience.

In this exclusive “Behind The Scenes” look, we see Mike and his team realizing an idea from start to finish, all the work that went into the project and how this effort ultimately made for a very intriguing result.

And here’s a few words from Mike Relm on the experience…

My life has been pretty digital lately so I decided to put a project together that let me step away from the computer and get arts and craftsy, at least for part of the building process. The idea behind this piece was to use the turntable in two ways that are on opposite sides of the technical spectrum. One being video scratching, which at the moment is the most advanced thing you can do with a turntable. The second thing is the zoetrope, which is the origin of motion picture. Anyone who has taken a film class will recognize the Muybridge images!

This was so much fun to make, definitely one of the best production experiences I’ve had. Helps to have a kick-ass crew, a few good ideas, and a beautiful location. We got to shoot at the Regency Center in San Francisco, which was built exactly 100 years ago, in a room that not too many people get to step foot in.

Thanks to everyone who helped make this project possible–and stay tuned for more cool things coming soon!

Barton Bishoff and Pam Woon

Yahoo! Digital Media Bureau

If you passed through midtown Manhattan yesterday, you might have thought that yodeling was a hip new genre busting out on the music charts. But the phenomenon was just the Yahoo! Yodel Studio.

Crowds of starstruck pedestrians formed around a recording studio that we erected overnight in Times Square as yodels echoed through the canyons of the city. We invited anyone and everyone to come inside and give us their best interpretation of the Yahoo! yodel. What was at stake? The potential fame and bragging rights of having their yodel featured on the Yahoo! Homepage and in our new advertising campaign.

We camped out on Military Island for 12 hours in a brick building that included a dressing room with costume gear, a rehearsal room with gold records on the wall, and a state-of-the-art recording studio. Celebrities were on hand to mentor yodelers — Jewel, Pete Wentz, LeAnn Rimes, Randy Jackson, and Rob Cavallo, chief creative officer of Warner Music Group and one of the world’s most highly acclaimed music producers. (Jewel said her dad was so proud that all those years of coaching her to yodel had finally paid off.) Kimberly Caldwell of American Idol fame was our tireless emcee and we even had America’s Got Talent’s Manuela “The Yodeling Dominatrix” Horn to help rally brave souls. And house band musicians — with many Grammys among them — sat atop the marquee of the Hard Rock Cafe (Hollywood Squares-style), ready to give a live riff for each yodeler. We heard rap yodels, bluegrass yodels, punk yodels, funk yodels, hip hop yodels, the list goes on. We even had two Cirque du Soleil performers stop by for a rendition. And they were all projected on the Jumbotron for the crowd to enjoy (or, at least, be amused by).

The last time we sought the best new Yahoo! yodeler, back in 2003, we ended up launching the singing career of a 9-year-old girl named Taylor Ware. Yesterday, one lucky performer (pictured above) — a foot messenger whose boss told her she could come perform before she delivered her last package of the day — caught the eye of Pete Wentz and Rob Cavallo, who spent extra time coaching her and left with her MySpace info and email address. Remember the name Chanese Elife, people — she might have a bright future ahead!

We also held events in London and Mumbai because, you know, yodeling knows no geographic bounds. The top winners for each country will be crowned on November 15th, based on which videos receive the most views. So head over to the gallery and check out the contenders. You’ll help them find an audience of more than 500 million people.

For more on the event, read Lyndsey Parker’s Yahoo! Music blog posts, browse photos in our Flickr photostream (slideshow below), and watch video highlights from our NY, London, and Mumbai events:

Ya-hooooo!

Nicki Dugan
Blog Editor

While yodeling originated in the Swiss and Austrian Alps as a way to communicate between mountain peaks, many of you associate the yodel with Yahoo! – or, should I say Ya – HOOOOO! It is, after all, one of our most beloved and recognized assets.

Today, we’re giving the Yahoo! yodel back to the people with the launch of Yodel Studio, a global casting call for the world’s best yodels. Yodelers who take us up on this challenge will personalize and reinterpret our yodel, competing for a chance to be featured in Yahoo!’s new global advertising campaign and on one of the world’s largest stages: the Yahoo! homepage. Your yodel will also be heard through the donation Yahoo! will make to local and global charities of your choice for each yodel submitted (up to $130,000).

To kick this whole effort off in style, Yahoo! is hosting live Yodel Studio events today in New York’s Times Square, London’s Covent Garden and tomorrow at Mumbai’s High Street Phoenix Mall. Professional recording studios have been built in each location with celebrities on hand to coach yodelers. Jewel, Pete Wentz, LeAnn Rimes, and Randy Jackson will join us in New York with super producer Rob Cavallo; Pixie Lott and the X Factor’s Sinitta will be in London; and Bollywood singer Shankar Mahadevan and musical artists VJ Nikhil Chinappa and Shaa’ir + Func will mentor in Mumbai.

And if you need some yodel inspiration – might I suggest channeling your inner Jewel?

So get yodeling soon – the deadline to submit your yodel online is November 8! Read more here.

Brian Mullin
Senior Director, Buzz Marketing

Today’s post comes to you in the “cool stuff” category. After the debut of our new campaign video, mashup artist Mike Relm had his way with it. With five screens, five projectors, two turntables, one zoetrope with dozens of hand-cut photos, and one historic ballroom in San Francisco, Mike remixed our video and gave it a whole new life.

Here’s the result:

BTW: The music track, “Hot To Trot,” is from his “Spectacle” EP and is available on iTunes.

Nicki Dugan
Blog Editor

As Yahoo! Chief Marketing Officer Elisa Steele promised after giving a sneak preview last week, today we unveil our new global marketing campaign. It consists of online, television, radio, print, and outdoor creative that emphasizes how Yahoo! is focused on YOU like never before. Our new video ad, known as “Anthem,” was shot in five countries and features vignettes that illustrate the many ways in which Yahoo! helps you make the Internet your own.

Have a look:

The spot debuted online on Yahoo! (you.yahoo.com) as well as on sites like Yahoo! Video, YouTube, Facebook, and Hulu.com. It will also begin airing on all the major U.S. TV networks and top cable channels, including AMC, ESPN, USA, Comedy Central and Bravo. You’ll see it in the UK and India starting October 5, and in other markets in 2010, including Brazil, Canada, France, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, and Taiwan.

Whaddaya think?

Stay tuned for behind-the-scenes insights into Anthem’s production…

Nicki Dugan
Blog Editor

As Twitter becomes more mainstream, everyone and their mother (and grandmother… and mayor… and daytime TV host) is trying their hand at the tweet. But what they might not realize is that how you use Twitter can say a lot about you.

In honor of our new Yahoo! Homepage, which was designed to be customized to reflect your true personality, we’ve launched a new tool that helps you analyze your social mojo. Just enter your Twitter username and our highly scientific pipe thingy goes to work to determine exactly what kind of Twitter persona you possess. You might be a:

• Headliner – You’re the star of the Twitterverse, have tons of followers, and have retweets the likes of Ashton Kutcher and Perez Hilton
• Crowd Pleaser – You use lots of hashtags and are in on all the hot conversations
• Cheerleader – Retweeting is how you roll
• B.F.F. – Your volume of @replies makes you everybody’s best bud
• Party Animal – With so many followers, you’re the life of the party
• Private Eye – Like any good investigator, you’re following a boatload of people
• Concierge – You live for links and sending people to the best stuff
• Word Whiz – You’re a natural wordsmith and make the most of your 140 characters
• Lone Wolf – You’re more of a low-profile type (some might even accuse you of lurking)
• Name Dropper – You use lots of @names when you tweet
• Matchmaker – You pass along lots of URLs to make sure everyone’s connected
• Wall Flower – You don’t tweet much but you’re still in on the party
• Novelist – You have a lot to say and tweet with a lot of characters to prove it
• Shadow – You follow lots of people like a good shadow would
• Scenester – If there’s a hashtag conversation happening, you’re there
• Tweethead – Your high number of retweets shows you like to spread the good stuff

And once you get your assessment, we suggest a number of related websites that you can add to your very own Yahoo! Homepage to help feed your mojo.

Give it a try — http://yahoo.knowyourmojo.com… and then tweet about it. (And be sure to follow us on Twitter — we’re a Concierge.)

Nicki Dugan
Blog Editor

Stephen Colbert doesn’t shave his head for just anybody. But sometimes that’s what it takes to get attention for a worthy cause.

This week, Comedy Central’s Colbert Report is broadcasting from Baghdad’s Camp Victory in support of U.S. troops serving in Iraq. In a show of solidarity, he’s now sporting a high-and-tight haircut. But he’s also putting the spotlight on a different part of the military –- the children who make great sacrifices of their own while their parents serve our country.

That’s where my organization, DonorsChoose.org, comes in. Together we hope to give these kids a leg up. I founded DonorsChoose.org nine years ago after witnessing the scarcity of materials in our country’s public schools, I never could have imagined the extent to which American citizen philanthropists have responded. In that time, we’ve raised over $34 million for public school classroom projects around the country.

As part of our “Support Our Troops” campaign, launched in partnership with Colbert, DonorsChoose.org is running a friendly competition among the Armed Forces –- Army, Air Force, Marines, Navy and Coast Guard — to see which branch’s supporters can have the biggest impact on classrooms. As of today, we have raised more than $130,000, and the Army is barely hanging on to the lead (check out the leaderboard as the tension builds in real-time).

Literally hundreds of projects have been submitted by teachers at military-serving schools across the country. Just a couple to inspire you:

1. Say Sí to the Army!
2. From A to Bravo Zulu!
3. Military Students Travel the World – Through Books!
4. General Lee’s Black Bears

I’d also like to give a shout out to Yahoo! for creating the Colbert Avatars. Now you can dress yourself as Stephen Colbert and accessorize with things like an eagle, bear, Colbert Nation hat, Che Colbert tshirt, fireplace, and a desk, and help us spread the word about the Support Our Troops campaign.

The good news is you don’t have to shave your head to help. Just please go donate to one of the many classroom projects waiting for funding. And if you need further inspiration, check out the video clips from this week’s Colbert Report.

Charles Best
Founder and CEO, DonorsChoose.org

Today marks President Obama’s 100th day in office and the White House has just released a set of nearly 300 photos on Flickr. This first set, Delivering on Change, on the Official White House Photostream gives you “an exclusive, massive, unique look at the President’s term so far” (whitehouse.gov)

It’s a wonderful mix of seriousness, serenity, and whimsy. You get an insider’s view on moments that include inauguration night, meetings with cabinet members in the Oval Office, signing a bill, getting briefed in swine flu, watching the Super Bowl with members of Congress, cheering on youngsters at the Easter Egg Roll, contemplating alone, examining solar panels in Colorado, playing hoops with the education secretary, golfing with Joe Biden, fist-bumping staffers, visiting troops in Baghdad, and clowning around with Michelle, Sasha and Malia. And, of course, even running around the White House with Bo the First Dog.

Have a look at the president you don’t see in press conferences.

Nicki Dugan
Blog Editor

Photo from whitehouse

If you’re a foodie and/or you use Yahoo! Search, you might want to grab your TV (or DVR) remote tonight. The Food Network’s “Dinner: Impossible” episode featuring Yahoo! Search premieres this evening at 10:00pm ET/PT.

In “The Yahoo! Search Scramble,” you’ll watch Chef Robert Irvine descend upon our headquarters to receive his mission: make the top 15 dishes most searched for on Yahoo!. After all, he was helping us celebrate the fifth anniversary of Yahoo! Search. But there was a little catch — each dish was randomly paired with a top-searched ingredient!

Was Chef Robert able to pull off an edible meal out of some pretty strange pairings and successfully feed 450 Yahoos in just eight hours (with a little help from some Yahoo! friends) — or will this be Dinner: Impossible?

(Here’s our post and photos after the shoot in January)

Nicki Dugan
Blog Editor