Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) hopes a shout heard around the world can help reinvigorate its brand and drive traffic to its sites.

The Sunnyvale, Calif., company - as part of the "It's Y!ou" brand campaign launched last month - seeks to generate buzz using what it calls its best-known brand asset, "the Yahoo! yodel." Yahoo invited consumers to compete for a chance to be featured in the company's global advertising campaign and on its home page by submitting videos of themselves online performing their own rendition of the Yahoo yodel before Nov. 8.

The campaign reflects how major companies are attempting to harness the explosion of user-generated content and online social media to get consumers to tout their brands and products in the digital marketing age.

To market the contest, Yahoo set up branded "Yodel Studios" in New York City, London and Mumbai on Tuesday, inviting passers-by to perform before crowds, accompanied by rock bands and celebrities.

In New York's Times Square, Yahoo transformed an iconic military recruiting station into a multi-story recording studio, where crowds lined up for a chance to record their interpretation of the Yahoo yodel while their image was projected on a nearby jumbotron alongside a towering Yahoo billboard.

American Idol finalist Kimberly Caldwell hosted the event, while recording artists Jewel, LeAnn Rimes, Randy Jackson and Pete Wentz were on hand, and a house band played from a stage set up over the entrance to the Hard Rock Cafe Restaurant.

For their background music, yodelers can choose their own genre, like rock, bluegrass, hip-hop or funk, or they can select an original background musical track from a list of options provided by Yahoo.

Yahoo’s yodeling contest is part of the company’s $100 million “It’s Y!ou” global marketing campaign designed to revive the Internet giant’s stale image, which seems dated compared with such hot start-ups as social network Facebook Inc. and microblogging service Twitter Inc. The company is also counting on the campaign to help resuscitate its online advertising business, which has deteriorated amid the economic downturn and heightened competition from market leader Google Inc. (GOOG).

Yahoo, which said in July its second-quarter revenue fell 13%, is scheduled to report third-quarter results after the market close Oct. 20.

Yahoo boasts that more than 500 million people visit the Internet giant every month and that people spend 12% of their online time at Yahoo sites. Yahoo hopes the marketing campaign will help the company defend its franchise in established markets and attract new customers in emerging economies.

Jona Thonfortes and Brandon Campbell waited in line over 30 minutes for a chance to perform their yodel together after they happened upon the spectacle while visiting New York City from their home in Newport News, Va. "We're going to do a quick rap snippet and lay down some east coast hip-hop," Campbell said.

Penny Baldwin, senior vice president of global integrated marketing and brand management for Yahoo, said the event fit perfectly with Yahoo's new emphasis on the relevance that its Web properties have in people's personal lives. "In that spirit, we want to democratize the Yahoo yodel and give it back to the people," Baldwin said.

Users can upload videos to enter into the contest from anywhere in the world at http://yodelstudio.yahoo.com. Entrants can use social media tools on the site to spread awareness of their performance, and submissions that are viewed 100 times will be put to an online vote starting Nov. 9, and winners will be announced the week of Nov. 16.

-Nat Worden, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2472; nat.worden@dowjones.com