According to numerous sources, Yahoo has been shopping around Zimbra, the open-source email company it bought in late 2007 for $350 million.

Zimbra is only one of the many assets of Yahoo that are now on the block, including its personals business, its HotJobs online classified unit and more to come.

The effort to unload Zimbra is yet another sign that the company is trying to slim down its diverse portfolio, even as it strives to redefine itself this week with a new, pricey marketing campaign that seeks to position Yahoo primarily as a consumer company.

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Yahoo is set to unveil a major marketing campaign to reset advertiser and consumer perception of the long-troubled company during Advertising Week in New York, which starts a week from tomorrow.

According to numerous sources BoomTown has spoken to about the campaign, Yahoo is–at least with advertisers–going to focus on stressing the size and scale of the Internet giant. With consumers, the Internet giant will push the idea of being a key hub on the Web.

The details of the plan will be made public Tuesday, Sept. 22, at a press conference with senior Yahoo execs, including CEO Carol Bartz.

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Wenda Harris Millard–calling in to BoomTown HQ from a cruise either on the way to or the way from Slovenia, since she said she was not exactly sure, given that it was the middle of the night there–wanted to make one thing clear:

She is still working for her other dozens of clients at Media Link as its president, but also has a big new gig helping MySpace get its advertising sales house in order, especially related to strategy and execution.

“I guess it’s a matter of semantics, but I will be leading the engagement,” said Millard. “But we have a whole team here too, and I am also still working for all our great clients.”

Okay, people?!? Which is, in Slovenian, in case anyone asks there, Wenda: Vidirati narod?

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In a move that will surely have Madison Avenue talking, well-known online advertising sales executive Wenda Harris Millard–who is now president of New York- and Los Angeles-based media consultancy Media Link–is poised to take over all advertising sales at MySpace, sources said.

But, in an unusual twist, the former Yahoo and Martha Stewart exec will remain in her job at Media Link, which has also been hired by MySpace to advise on restructuring the social networking company’s salesforce.

Current President of Sales and Marketing Jeff Berman will be leaving the company, MySpace has told employees via an internal memo.

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So while all the attention is on who Microsoft is hunting next–after its latest parry at grabbing Yahoo’s search business was foiled once again–has settled on Time Warner’s AOL, as BoomTown reported Monday, it would be a mistake to assume that the software giant is not still aiming directly at Yahoo.

Why?

Because it must, and not only for the reason–to get control of its Yahoo’s #2 search business–that has been much focused on.

It’s also Yahoo’s strong display advertising business that Microsoft is clearly after.

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When I was recently in New York, I enjoyed a delicious breakfast, with a side of video interview, with Wenda Harris Millard.

She was recently named co-CEO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (aka the House Martha Built With Her Trusty Glue Gun).

Millard went to MSLO after many years of building and running Yahoo’s ad business (previous to that stint, she worked at DoubleClick in its earliest days).

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While I usually give top executives at Yahoo (YHOO) a hard time about their unusually opaque memos and statements that typically say exactly nothing, I liked that clarity in a blog post by President Sue Decker on Yahoo’s Yodel Anecdotal about the appearance she made with CEO Jerry Yang at the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s annual [...]

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gal·va·nize [gal-vuh-nahyz]
–verb (used with object), -nized, -niz·ing.
1. to stimulate by or as if by a galvanic current.
2. Medicine/Medical. to stimulate or treat (muscles or nerves) with induced direct current (distinguished from faradize).
3. to startle into sudden activity; stimulate.
4. to coat (metal, esp. iron or steel) with zinc.

Oh, my.

A pail?

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