The first major campaign to promote the Yelp Elite Squad, a collective of Yelp's most engaged users. Naturally, we featured the actual users themselves.
The problem: Raise awareness. Educate. Increase engagement. Most folks on Yelp didn’t really know what the Yelp Elite Squad was or meant—and if they had heard of it, there were a lot of misconceptions.
The strategy: A re-brand. Less mystery, less pomp, more clarity—and more inclusivity.
The best thing you can do on Yelp, besides share what you love, is be yourself. That’s why we tailored each promotional spot especially for the person featured. And these personal stories just so happened to speak to broad interests on Yelp too. Funny that…
The build up: The 360 campaign built itself. But first, we needed a messaging framework and story overhaul. Learn about the research that went into that over here.
The campaign: We rolled the campaign out across every local Yelp social media handle—over 125 cities in the U.S. and Canada. In tandem, we completely redesigned the landing page and mapped out the comms rollout across email, social, and beyond. I directed, wrote, storyboarded, co-produced, and strategized the inaugural campaign, with various Yelp teams in support.
Results:
Page visits went up by ~150% on launch
Avg view duration for the spots on YouTube was ~90%
Avg audience retention to the end of the spots was ~70%
Daily engagement more than doubled with the campaign
Post-campaign social engagement increased by nearly 30%
Supporting blog content
Introducing: YES! — The Only Squad Goal You Need This Year
Behind The Scenes Exclusive: On The Set With YES!
Landing Page Update
