Yelp Local Co-Branded Showcase Ads Connect National Brands and Local Businesses

Yelp recently announced "local co-branded showcase ads," which are a new advertising solution that enables national brands (including those without physical locations) to spotlight relevant, local businesses. The ads allow consumer packaged goods, financial services, and other location-less companies to highlight local business partners for Yelp users directly in search results.

"Local Co-branded Showcase Ads build on the foundation of Sponsored Collections, allowing advertisers to feature their partners in highly visible, contextually relevant placements on Yelp, creating even more impactful connections among brands, local businesses, and active shoppers," explains Ryan Drebin, VP of Product at Yelp. "Whether it’s a neighborhood sushi restaurant where Bilt Members can receive a complimentary item, or Pepsi showcasing their beverages at an independent burger spot, this new ad unit enables brands to amplify consumer discovery of their products and local business partners through engaging photo or video ads in contextually relevant searches."

For small businesses, the ads represent an opportunity for increased visibility as the result of efforts made by larger brands they partner with.

Bilt was an early partner on testing of the new ads. According to Yelp, during the first two months of the pilot program, Bilt’s campaign helped consumers discover over 700 NYC-based Bilt partner restaurants, driving over 300,000 measured location visits. Local restaurants included in the program saw an average of 5.5 percent increase in the number of page views on their Yelp business pages, the company says.

Nicole Treiman, SVP, Product & Growth Marketing at Bilt said that the ads enabled the company to offer exclusive neighborhood benefits to diners choosing their next spot, creating "meaningful increases" in spend as well as transaction volume at partner locations.

Pepsi also utilized the ads early to reach consumers actively searching for local restaurants near them. These users saw customized Pepsi ads, which were 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,” commented André Moraes, Head of PepsiCo’s Away From Home Digital Lab. “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. Just halfway through the campaign, we’ve already seen promising results—including a more than 25% drop in cost per lead for our restaurant partners and lift in restaurant visits—underscoring the impact of reaching consumers at the moment of decision. We’re excited to build on this momentum and deepen our collective impact.”

Yelp says the ads leverage its deep connection to local communities and high-intent users, making them an effective way for the bigger brands to not only reach their audience, but also to support local businesses. The company also says that as the program grows, it intends to foster additional "authentic connections" between brands, local businesses, and the communities they serve.

The ads appear to be a win-win situation for both bigger and smaller businesses, as well as for consumers who may be able to discover a great local business because of a partnership that business has with a national brand.