Yelp Launches Seasonal Spotlight Ads and Sponsored Collections

Yelp today launched Sponsored Collections, expanding Yelp Audiences campaigns to help national businesses better reach local audiences, and Seasonal Spotlight Ads, which helps businesses reach Yelp's high-intent users right on Yelp's home screen.

Sponsored Collections, which appear on the Yelp iOS app homepage, enable companies to showcase local businesses around a common theme. Yelp partners with each advertiser to curate a list of locally owned businesses to support a brand initiative in select markets. There is no cost for local businesses to participate in Sponsored Collections, which are currently available on the Yelp iOS app, with an Android experience coming soon.

"Sponsored Collections are a win-win for national and local businesses," said Tom Foran, Yelp's senior vice president and head of national go-to-market, in a statement. "These campaigns create a local footprint for a national brand to tell its story at a hyperlocal level by sponsoring a business collection on Yelp that helps support its initiatives. Sponsored Collections can be customized, enabling advertisers to create meaningful connections with local businesses and consumers."

The Kraft Heinz Company is currently working with Yelp on a multifaceted campaign that leverages Yelp Audiences and Sponsored Collections. The business-owner focused campaign is a first for Kraft Heinz.

In eight weeks, Kraft Heinz has leveraged Yelp Audiences to reach nearly 4 million Yelp users self-identified as business owners and restaurant operators off the platform. Kraft Heinz's Yelp Audiences campaign uses ads to drive consideration of Heinz Ketchup and Philadelphia Cream Cheese. To further extend the reach of the campaign, Kraft Heinz will run a Sponsored Collections campaign in November and December. The campaign started as an opportunity for Kraft Heinz to spotlight local business owners in 25 cities that are likely to carry Heinz Ketchup products.

"This campaign reinforces to foodservice operators that consumers see brands like Heinz and Philadelphia as signals of quality in a restaurant," said Brandon Potter, head of brand marketing for away-from-home at Kraft Heinz, in a statement. "Yelp's rich data set allows us to target this very specific and hard-to-reach audience both on and off the platform."

Yelp's Seasonal Spotlight Ads help multilocation companies drive in-store traffic by communicating directly with Yelp's high-intent audience about seasonal deals, promotions, and new products. By leveraging a carousel on the Yelp iOS app homepage, individual posts will appear from companies to help consumers learn about their holiday campaigns and other tseasonal specials throughout the year. Seasonal Spotlight campaigns run alongside another Yelp advertising campaign, either on-platform with Yelp Ads, or off-platform with Yelp Audiences.

"With each new ad product we roll out, we’re further enabling national and multi-location advertisers to tell their story on Yelp," said Vivek Patel, Yelp's chief product officer, in a statement. "Our advertising strategy for national and multi-location brands focuses on what's most relevant for the consumer and how brands can leverage seasonal moments to create multiple, meaningful touchpoints. We're thrilled to see that the reaction to Seasonal Spotlight Ads is overwhelmingly positive, as we've actually sold out of this ad space for the 2021 holiday season."