Millennial, Gen-X Opps: Yelp parts ways with top marketer (Score 45)

Sales Lead: Yelp is now in search of a new top marketer since the April 2023 departure of Dan Kimball.

• Kimball, Yelp's CMO since November 2018, led the company's marketing across brand, consumer, growth, local business, midmarket, and enterprise.
• He is now the CMO at Spectrum Equity.
• The company will likely:
  • Need additional marketing assistance in his absence
  • Ramp up spend
  • Conduct agency reviews, especially once it taps a new top marketer
• Target demographic: 
  • Millennials and Gen-X

Additional recent leadership shifts:

• This departure closely followed the promotion of Jane Brady to local business marketing VP in November 2022.
  • She joined Yelp in January 2019 and was most recently the head of its local business marketing.

Additional spending insights:

• Broadcast insights (TV ad creative spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
  • YTD spend: Yelp hasn't utilized national TV since allocating around $265.9k in 2021.
  • 2021 ad programming: Its 2021 commercials targeted Gen-X watching shows such as Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Intervention, Top Gear, Killer Kids, and Ice Road Truckers.
• Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
  • YTD spend: Since the beginning of 2023, the company has spent roughly $2.6m on digital ads, up 4% from the roughly $2.5m spent within the same 2022 timeframe.
  • YTD data: Yelp has earned about 259.8m digital impressions &TD via YouTube (52%), Facebook (33%), Instagram (10%), and desktop display (5%) ads.
  • Last year: The company spent approximately $5.7m on this channel last year, less than half of the approximately $12.6m spent in 2021.
• Additional channel insights  
  • The company utilizes Google Ads along with Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and online video (via Youtube Android and Youtube.com) ads.
  • Yelp sponsors podcasts such as Restaurant Marketing School.

Additional agency insights:

• Opportunity: The company may seek new agency partners once it finds a new top marketer, so reach out soon to be top-of-mind.
  • ​​​​​​​Yelp has already started showing moderate interest in agencies recently.
• Current agency roster:
  • ​​​​​​​No current agency relationships yet confirmed
    • ​​​​​​​Yelp is no longer working with its former digital agency partner, VisualMax.

Insight Sources: Broadcast insights estimated by iSpot; digital spend insights estimated by Pathmatics; additional channel insights estimated by Vivvix; podcast insights by Podchaser.