Redefining performance marketing.
The work I created at Yelp transformed my career and gave me the experience needed to collaborate, lead, and execute in many areas outside my direct function. It also underlined the importance of measuring creative success.
I led a *scrappy* team of four designers and copywriters and collaborated weekly with the user acquisition, product, business intelligence, and creative studio teams to achieve a shared goal…get more people excited to use and download Yelp!
In collaboration with Yelp's internal film team, we created hundreds of unique performance ads. On average we developed and tested 2 multi-platform campaigns per week, averaging a 1.5% CTR with an annual spend of $20 million/year.
The foundation of each campaign was to stay true to Yelp's mission (effortlessly connect people to amazing businesses) while educating new users, masked in entertainment, about the app's benefits.
Product features included Search, Ratings and Reviews, Appointments, Reservations and Waitlist, Delivery, and requesting quotes from local businesses.
Our innovative performance marketing campaigns broke industry benchmarks across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube, Snapchat, and Google. The result was a consistent 10% increase in MAU growth month over month.
We succeed by integrating strategy, creative development (including raw asset creation), and data analytics — analyzing every A/B test and weighing results against consumer intent per platform. We developed a robust playbook on how to develop creative based on the context of the platform.
For example, Snapchat users responded to user-generated content vs aspirational Pinterest users seeking a polished final product. Our campaigns were used as performance benchmark case studies for Pinterest, Snapchat, and Facebook.
Designing for context was the backbone of Yelp's 200% ROI performance on Pinterest. When Yelp launched its Angi competitor "Request a Quote" (allowing users to engage directly with local businesses) we recommended advertising primarily on Pinterest.
Our learnings from the platform proved valid, resulting in Yelp becoming the 3rd top advertiser on the platform with a 2% CTR. User engagement increased nearly 30% with all aspects of the "request a quote" product feature including search inquiries and messaging with home professionals.
One of the most rewarding experiences I had at Yelp was the opportunity to teach myself motion design. The data was clear — animated performance ads had a much higher success rate. I spent hours on YouTube watching After Effects tutorials. The result was picking up a valuable new skill and a ton of creative inspiration. Transferring my knowledge in graphic design into motion design continues to be an exciting endeavor.
Credits
Lead Designer + Art Director + Motion Design / Patrick Kenney
Lead Copywriter / Stephanie Lager
Designer / Austin Roach
Copywriter / Alex Cook
Senior Art Director / Danica Conneely
Studio Director / Adam McChane
Director of Photography / Chloë Fitzmaurice
Cinematographer / Kelly Dessoye
Editor / Jenn Sosinski Rubin
Junior Editor / Tevin Tak
Motion Designer / Nic Sutter
Executive Producer / Jason Fassler
Lead Product Designer / Tate Chow
VP of User Acquistion / Eyal Grundstein
User Acquisition Analysts / Daniel Carrero / Trang Vo / Sarah Keokham / Rose Miller / Ankur Damani
Director of Business Operations / Jack Hart