• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, December 21, 2006

NYTimes.com, the digital arm of The New York Times, plans to bring on Murray Gaylord as vice president of marketing by Jan. 8. Gaylord has spent the last six years as vice president of brand marketing at Yahoo.

As a member of the NYTimes.com senior management team, Gaylord will report to Vivian Schiller, the site's senior vice president and general manager, and will oversee marketing, customer service, research and Web analytics.

For the coming year, Gaylord said: "There are a lot of good things being planned and we'll figure out the best way to market them." Opportunities for growth exist outside the New York area, and even globally, as well as with younger demographics unfamiliar with The New York Times brand, he added.

"It's done very well, but there's an opportunity to embrace more web 2.0 features and define what the brand stands for through online and offline marketing programs," Gaylord said of the site.

Gaylord joined Yahoo in 2000 and was named vice president, brand marketing in 2001. In that role, he led the company's advertising, market research, creative, trade marketing and community relations departments. Previously, he served as executive vice president and chief operating officer of The Advertising Council from 1997 to 2000.

Janet L. Robinson, The New York Times president and chief executive officer, recently outlined five initiatives for growth in the new year: brand-building through new multi-platform products and services; pursuing leadership positions in key content verticals; building a long-term "innovation capability" to help anticipate trends; reallocating resources to meet readers' changing demands; and increasing operational efficiency. Honing the company's focus on digital and print efforts, in September, the Times announced plans to shed its broadcast media group.

Recent online initiatives include two new real estate vertical Web sites, launched in September, which aggregate listings and articles from across the company's newspapers throughout the country. And in early November, the Times launched a daily ad-supported e-mail newsletter that provides information on restaurants, shopping and other leisure activities for trend-happy readers.

Last month, The New York Times Co. projected its Internet revenue to grow 30%, or more than $80 million, in 2007. This year, the company said it expected to generate nearly $270 million in revenue from Internet-related businesses, including About.com, NYTimes.com, Boston.com, and iht.com as well as sites associated with its regional newspapers.