Talk
The 30M Impression Campaign: How strategic storytelling and earned media turned a brand activation into a cultural moment
30M+ Impressions | Earned Media: Bon Appétit • Page Six • NY Times
The Challenge
Yelp needed to break through in a crowded restaurant/local business space dominated by Google, OpenTable, and Uber Eats—with a limited paid media budget.
The goal:
- Generate meaningful brand awareness, not just vanity metrics
- Drive engagement beyond impressions—get people to interact
- Earn media coverage that extended reach beyond paid channels
- Create a replicable framework for future campaigns
The constraint: We couldn't buy our way to 30M impressions. We had to earn it through storytelling.
My Approach
I built the campaign around a cultural insight: People trust community opinions more than brand messaging.
Lead With Story, Not Product
- Celebrated real Yelp users, reviews, and local businesses (not Yelp itself)
- Made the narrative participatory—people wanted to be part of it
- Positioned at intersection of food culture, local pride, community celebration
Make It Irresistible to Press
Crafted multiple story angles:
- Food media: Celebration of local restaurants and culinary culture
- Local news: Community impact and neighborhood pride
- Business press: Platform innovation and user-generated content power
Build for Shareability
Created interactive elements:
- Community participation mechanics (voting, UGC, social sharing)
- Made local businesses and users the heroes
- Staged rollouts with surprise moments
- Social-first assets designed to be remixed and owned
Execute Across Channels
Coordinated launches:
- Paid, owned, earned media told the same story simultaneously
- Localized activations for each market
- Influencer and creator partnerships for organic amplification
Results
Reach & Awareness
- 30M+ impressions across paid, owned, and earned channels
- Earned media placements in:
- Bon Appétit (national food culture authority)
- Page Six (NY Post, cultural moment coverage)
- Commercial Appeal (Memphis, local market impact)
- SanTan Sun News (Phoenix market)
- KRTV (broadcast coverage)
- Organic social amplification exceeded paid reach by 3x
Engagement
- Meaningful interaction beyond vanity metrics—comments, shares, UGC, participation
- Community-driven momentum that extended campaign life beyond paid flight dates
- Brand lift measured through awareness and sentiment studies showed positive movement
Business Impact
- Drove traffic to Yelp platform and increased search behavior in target markets
- Created replicable campaign framework for future seasonal and partnership activations
- Demonstrated ROI on storytelling-led campaigns vs. performance-only approach
Story First, Product Second
The campaign wasn't about Yelp—it was about community, culture, and local businesses. People participated because it mattered to them.
Earned Media Through Narrative
Press covered it because it was a good story with natural news hooks, not because we paid for placement.
Built for Participation
Every asset was designed to be shared, remixed, and owned by the community. Passive viewers became active participants.
Coordinated at Scale
Paid, owned, earned media told the same story at the same time. Localized activations made it feel relevant to each market.
What Made This Work
Key Takeaway
Big reach doesn't require big budgets—it requires big ideas.
By focusing on storytelling that resonated culturally and building in participation mechanics, we turned a brand campaign into a moment people wanted to be part of.
The 30M impressions weren't bought—they were earned through narrative, community, and strategic media engagement.
Good To Know
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