Alex Cook

The first video was Yelp Love, a lifestyle video of 2 Yelp users discovering businesses they love, and ultimately meeting at the end (sweet, right?).

This concept performed well on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

The second was called The Magic of Yelp, a stylized concept that highlights the app and the top searches on Yelp.

This concept performed well on Google, DSP, and some versions performed well on Instagram/Facebook. (But the lifestyle performed the highest on IG/FB)

We created 143 ads across all our paid channels (FB/IG, Pinterest, Snap, Google, DSP, Twitter, etc.). Both concepts were extremely successful across the board, and ran for 6 months post V- Day.

The executions above ran on Pinterest, where the lifestyle versions performed the best.

We saw performance change based on specific nuances of the platform, message, and execution. These learnings were extremely valuable, and helped drive creative strategy down the road.

The executions above were for DSP, where stylized performed the best.

I helped Yelp become a top advertiser on Pinterest from a performance standpoint—reaching over 1% CTRs.

Over the past two years we’ve tested different types of messaging/copy. Seeing that elevated/clever copy consistently outperforms direct copy.

EX: Get your summer sleeve.   vs   Find a 5-star tattoo parlor.

Sometimes you have to spell it out for people, especially for performance. But sometimes people just want a pretty image with enjoyable copy. That’s why I’ll always love Pinterest.

The video above has been our highest-performing Snap ad for 1.5 years in terms of impressions, CTR, and CVR (it’s of our team’s Senior Copywriter, and it’s crazy but it works)

We’ve shot a lot of our own videos, and have learned to work within a tight budget. And for the most part what we’ve learned is to give the people what they want. Food.

This is another video that we shot in-house with help from our studios team. This is also where I began and ended my hand-modeling career.

DP: Kelly Dessoye; Editor: Chloe Fitzmaurice-Shean

This, along with the video below, were top performers on IG Story and Snap.

Above is a video that we created with assets from a food shoot we did last summer. The images and videos we captured during that shoot have sustained us for almost a year, and continues to perform well on multiple platforms.

Also, call your mom.

During my time at Yelp I helped develop a lens with the Snap team that’s going live in April. We owned everything from conception and functionality, to design and final approvals. It only took 2 months, 85 emails, and 4 meetings but we got there!

Our team was tasked with creating a video that walked people through the request a quote process on Yelp. The video above was what we shot in-house with our studios team and was our highest-performer for 8 months.

Also, shoutout to Kevin Sandoval, Bobby Durben, and Jason Palumbo for being Yelp employees that could also act.*

* smile really well for the camera

Like book a nail appointment. Or hair appointment. Or a whole lot of other things. This was a gif we created with original content for re-targeting, which performed very well.

We don’t always get to shoot our own videos, so we have to rely on stock. And, for the most part, people are ok with stock.

But what I really learned from stock was patience. Patience scrolling page after page looking for good stock images/videos.

Above is an example of the types of tests our team would do. Over the past two years we’ve tested concepts, visuals, and copy. Basically, we’ve failed a lot, had a lot of success, and know a whole lot about Google.

Every brand or company is different, but after years of testing this is the type of creative we’ve seen perform.

The biggest thing I’ve learned at Yelp is to enjoy and appreciate the art of an A/B test.

After testing B2C concepts for two years and successfully discovering what works on different platforms, we’re now in charge of creating all B2B performance videos.

We’ve just started testing different execution styles—lifestyle, illustration, full-type, testimonials, etc. Across multiple platforms: Google, facebook, yahoo, bing.

Currently has over a 2% CTR on Facebook and Instagram.

The campaign is one of the most successful LinkedIn has ever seen with a 1% CTR.

I had the opportunity to help HubSanfrancisco with their business pitch for the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Their concept was based around the sentiment, “Share the love.” You love the aquarium, and so would your loved ones.

I was tasked, along with a few other copywriters, to write headlines for the upcoming business pitch. Hub chose one of mine, and thankfully the client liked it as well.

You can see the rest of the campaign here.

The aquarium did a station takeover at the Powell street station. (Above)

They also wrapped pedicabs around the city. (Below)

The entire campaign also got a shoutout on the SF Egotist!

Earnest helps with student loan refinancing. I worked on digital ads, for the Amazon Kindle, that helped introduce Earnest as a company.   

I worked on all of the social media posts for Earnest. These two posts were recognized and featured on nanigans.com.