Yahoo! is to launch a $100 million global brand campaign to promote its new web portal.

Internet company Yahoo! is to launch a $100 million global marketing campaign to promote its new revamped web portal, in a bid to challenge current market leader Google.

The firm hopes the new look web portal, with new features such as applications similar to iPhone apps and a user-specific search bar, will boost both traffic and revenues.

The $100m global brand campaign is similar to that of Microsoft for the launch of its search engine Bing.

Yahoo! joined forces with Microsoft in July this year with the aim of improving its web search and rivalling internet giant Google.

Carol Bartz, Yahoo! Chief Executive Officer, said: “Today the web and your world are inseparable. Hundreds of millions of people use Yahoo! to get the information they need, connect with friends and family, and be entertained.

“We are about creating online experiences people find meaningful, relevant, and fun.”

The global campaign is part of the major overhaul Ms Bartz has instated since becoming CEO nine months ago.

In recent years, the once dominant Yahoo! has suffered strong competition from Google, which has taken the majority of the market’s share. It narrowly avoided an aggressive takeover bid from Microsoft last year.

In response to the company’s trying times, alongside the global brand campaign, Ms Bartz has attempted to streamline Yahoo! core business, selling firms such as Alibaba.com.

The new web portal is already being tested in the UK and the US but will be a default setting globally from 23 September. The accompanying campaign will begin in the US at the end of the month, in the UK and India in October and then worldwide through 2010.