Yahoo’s Cabot has appeared on Martha’s TV show four times since Yahoo kicked off its $100 million branding campaign this fall. “There were some smaller, online-only advertorials that we’ve done, but this is our first cross-platform deal with Yahoo,” said Janet Balis, MSLO’s EVP of Media Sales & Marketing, in an interview with paidContent. The company expects to do similar deals next year, especially around major holidays.

On the Yahoo side, while its ad campaign has also been criticized for lacking a clear coherent message, the tie-in with MSLO should help attract the general female audience its been seeking to build since launching its female-focused Shine channel in March ‘08.

The partnership came together just before Yahoo kicked off the last fall, as Yahoo was starting its branding campaign. “We weren’t just looking for paid media, but a content partner as well,” said Penny Baldwin, Yahoo’s SVP, global integrated marketing and brand management. Part of the goals of the campaign was to showcase the interlocking parts of Yahoo’s products and services. In the case of the MSLO deal, Yahoo hopes to attract MSLO’s audience to its female-focused Shine channel, while also getting more users for services like the Flickr photo site and Yahoo e-mail. “We’re looking to create a more un-siloed approach,” said Barbara O’Connor, VP of audience marketing at Yahoo. “We don’t think there’s only one site for women. There’s Shine, Flickr, the Yahoo front page, and other assets of ours that we can integrate and export content for women.”