Yelp Launches Local Co-Branded Showcase Ads

Yelp is diving deeper into the ad business game, launching Local Co-Branded Showcase Ads. This new ad unit provides national brands with an avenue to showcase their small business partners by putting them and their products or services in front of Yelp’s high-intent audiences.

Local Co-Branded Showcase Ads give brands the ability to amplify consumer discovery of their products and local business partners. This can be done through engaging photo or video ads in contextually relevant searches within Yelp.

Yelp teamed up with Pepsi and Bilt during the piloting phase of the ad product.

For Pepsi, its “Local Eats” ad campaign seamlessly appeared in real-time during Yelp searches as customized ads, ​​co-branded with relevant local restaurant partners.

“We’re excited to partner with Yelp on the Local Co-Branded Showcase Ads campaign and to work alongside our valued local business partners,” said André Moraes, head of PepsiCo’s Away From Home digital lab, in a statement. “At Pepsi, building strong community connections is core to our mission, and this co-branded approach has made it easier to spotlight local restaurants proudly serving Pepsi.”

As for Bilt, using Local Co-Branded Showcase Ads drove over 300,000 restaurant visits in New York, and showcased restaurants saw an average 5.5% increase in Yelp business page views.

“Yelp’s Local Co-Branded Showcase Ads allowed us to highlight partner restaurants offering exclusive neighborhood benefits at the moment diners are choosing their next spot,” said Nicole Treiman, senior vice president, product and growth marketing at Bilt, in a statement. “By driving awareness to our exclusive benefits directly on Yelp’s restaurant pages, we were able to create meaningful increases in both spend and transaction volume at our partner locations during the test period.”

Yelp noted that national advertisers having their ads appear in search results through Local Co-Branded Showcase Ads gain an authentic, contextual way to support small businesses, while local partners benefit from increased visibility at no cost to them.

Yelp’s high-intent audience already comes to the platform during the decision-making process, with 82% of users hiring or buying from a business they found on Yelp within one week.

Local Co-Branded Showcase Ads join Yelp’s other ad products, Sponsored Collections and Seasonal Spotlight Ads, which launched in November 2021.