SEARCH PARTY
After leaving Wealthfront, I took on some consulting projects and was introduced to Yext, who needed help with their brand transformation. While I wasn’t naturally drawn to B2B/enterprise brands (candidly, I felt most were pretty bland with their marketing), Yext stood out in large part because of its Willy Wonka-esque founder and CEO, Howard Lerman, who loved storytelling and took a very creative approach to running the business. We hit it off immediately, and what I thought would be a short consulting opportunity resulted in me spending three years as their CMO, where I got to do some of my favorite work.
For background, Yext was founded in 2006 as the digital alternative to the very analog Yellow Pages (in fact, Yext’s unusual name is derived from the concept of the “next Yellow Pages”…get it?). The company initially focused on small and medium-sized businesses with physical locations, helping to organize and update their essential information (like hours and location) so that search queries online yielded accurate results. Yext became a category leader and the gold standard in data knowledge management, which led to a successful IPO in 2017. However, Howard had a bigger ambition to help brands become powerful search engines in their own right.
Google was the dominant player in search and where most people started their customer journey. That was in large part because the experience was just so damn good. But another, less discussed reason was that most business websites were terrible at surfacing information due to outdated search technology. Howard wanted to solve this problem and help every brand have a search experience as good as Google’s. And when that happened, there would be “perfect answers everywhere.”
To help him realize the new vision, we repositioned Yext as the Answers Company and a disruptor in the fast-growing AI search category. With a new total addressable market of any business in the world with a website, we set out to transform the enterprise with our cutting-edge search technology and make Yext an essential ingredient brand. Similar to how Intel and their “Intel Inside” stamp signified a superior PC, a brand using Yext would mean a superior digital experience.
But if you build it they won’t necessarily come, and AI technology wasn’t yet the hot topic it is today. So we needed to make some noise.
PARTY Search like it’s 1999
Yext had established a relationship with one of the top global ad agencies before my arrival, so one of my first tasks was to work with them on our first brand campaign as the newly minted Answers Company. The agency landed on an interesting insight that misinformation is a business problem and charged forward creating an ad to highlight the issue. But most associated online misinformation with political content on platforms like Facebook and Twitter, and while there were some mistruths about brands circulating online that wasn’t the problem we were solving. The ad was creative and entertaining and garnered some nice awards, but the message missed the mark. After getting tepid feedback from the world’s toughest critics – our sales team – we shelved the campaign.
It was time for a do-over, and I decided to do it all in-house. We had the talent, but we also had the best sense of who we were and why we mattered. We were a search company, not a social media misinformation vigilantes. Our end solution worked really well and could drive meaningful business outcomes, and we built a clever diagnostic tool to show a brand just how bad they were at surfacing information on their own domain. We just needed to get their attention, which meant we needed a good story.
We realized we had a classic tale of “good vs. evil.” The “evil” was keyword search, an outdated technology all the rage during Web 1.0 but now lagging due to advancements in language models (LLMs) and natural language processing (NLP). Companies invested in just about every other modern technology, but search technology was woefully behind. The other “evil” was the opportunity cost to a business because of outdates search – fewer transactions and more costly support calls. The “good,” of course, was Yext and our powerful AI search technology.
The updated Yext homepage featuring the campaign tagline.
Keyword search was stuck in the late ‘90s, which led us to our central theme: Search made for today, not 1999. We knew we could have a ton of fun with a nostalgia-themed campaign, so we then sketched out a year-long, global, and integrated campaign strategy with specific phases, using different flavors of that message and a multimedia approach to “surround sound” our target customer.
In the first phase, we updated the homepage with a new design and tagline, as all roads would lead back to Yext.com where we would drive demos and deliver a diagnostic. Next, we developed some anchor content to educate on the drawbacks of using keyword search vs. the myriad benefits of using AI-powered search. A white paper dubbed The Curious Case of Keyword Search, a new stump speech for Howard, and a media blitz led the way). To help scale those insights, we became the presenting sponsor of Vox Media’s popular Land of the Giants podcast anthology, in which our season told the story of Google. In every episode we had a branded content segment, so I worked with our brilliant Chief Data Officer, Christian Ward, to write scripts centered so we could shawocase our position on search within a podcast all about search. How meta! (Zuck pun unintended.)
In branded content segments we educated listeners on old vs. new search technology..
In the second phase, we deployed a series of witty digital video ads that compared running your business with keyword search as the equivalent of still using outdated technologies and tropes from the 90s, like a dial-up modem, fax machine, and bowl cuts. Next, we chose an old-school medium: print advertising (it’s still a thing!). But for good reason – we were targeting CMOs, so AdWeek’s annual CMO Awards issue was a great fit. But it wasn’t just a print ad; the goal was to really catch their attention, so we did a back-cover takeover and included a sleeve insert of a CD similar to the iconic AOL dial-up CDs from the ‘90s, where we promoted (ironically, of course) using keyword search.
While the CD itself didn’t play anything, the packaging and companion ad included a QR code that took people to a custom-built ‘Escape the 90s” digital game. Players “saved” their businesses from outdated ‘90s technology choose-your-own-adventure-style, culminating in a trip to Yext.com to learn more about and get a demo of our modern-day search. Additionally, we took over New York City, home to Yext HQ, with digital out-of-home ads that posed 90s trivia questions and QR code to access the game. We even got 90s boy band icon Lance Bass to help us create some buzz on Twitter, frosted tips and all.
Our digital and connected TV ads playfully “shaming” businesses that use keyword search.
The AdWeek CMO issue takeover with AOL-replica CD insert.
The third phase was a first for Yext: a national television campaign. I had an idea to personify ‘90s technology and have them hang out at their high school reunion. In our story, the characters of Cell Phone, Storage, and Internet reunite two decades later, looking very sleek and modern compared to the 1999 versions of themselves. However, one classmate hasn’t changed at all: Keyword Search. He’s a total loser, but the headscratcher is that he’s the most successful in his whole class because businesses keep buying him. We teased THe Reunion with another AdWeek takeover (a “before” old school yearbook page), and then when the TV spot went live we launched a modern, digital yearbook featuring rich backstories of the characters and behind-the-scenes content.
Our web 1.0 themed Escape the 90s online game.
Before: The teaser print ad featuring the Tech Class of 1999 yearbook page leading up to the debut of our first ever national TV campaign.mpaign.
“The Reunion” – Yext’s first national TV campaign. Fun fact: it was shot in LA in the same high school gym where the Back to the Future prom scened was filmed.
After: “The Reunion” digital experience, with in-depth bios of the characters, behind the scene interviews, and plenty of shade thrown at Keyword Search.
In the final phase, we executed 40 in-person events we named the “Reunion at the Search Bar” to tie into the campaign and generate new business. COVID had isolated everyone for more than a year, so when it was safe we traveled to multiple cities to host “reunions” with customers and prospects eager to get together again. We built a drinks bar in the shape of our signature search bar (as seen on business websites), and Howard delivered his persuasive stump speech about keyword search.
Overall the “full-funnel” campaign was a huge success. First, we helped grow the business. The messaging drove demand and helped us get named a “Cognitive Search Provider” in Forrester’s Now Tech Report, fortifying our position as an AI search company. Next, the campaign kicked ass creatively. We earned Brand of the Year honors from the Shorty Awards (along with Duolingo and MTV), and also took home top honors for humor and multi-platform use. But the best part was what it did for the company and team culture. The employees (including the sales team!) expressed great enthusiasm for this work, and my team took great pride knowing they built something that had a such an impact.
The Reunion at the Search Bar live event series.
The Shorty Awards, where Yext earned brand of the year for the 1999-themed integrated marketing campaign.
No Budget? No problem!
I’ve been asked often in interviews how big my budget was at my previous company. I guess size matters to some (hey-o!), but to me, the more pertinent question is: how efficient are you with your budget? My answer is that I have a lot of experience with doing a lot with a little. For instance, the 1999 campaign was built on a relatively modest budget, in large part because we did the vast majority of the work in-house.
There were times, however, when the pursestrings were incredibly tight. Our business, like so many others, was navigating the effects of COVID, and, as it usually goes, when times are tough marketing budgets are usually the first to go. For some that constraint would be debilitating. For my uber-talented team, it became a fun challenge.
The “Season of Search” video and growth campaign, featuring a cast of Yext employees. Sadly this project didn’t get yield them SAG cards.
One example was our “Season of Search” campaign, where we cast Yext employees in a homegrown ad we used to drive more business at the end of the year (a time when many businesses saw a big increase in site traffic and search queries). We rewrote the classic “T’was the Night Before Christmas” and made it all about search. We filmed the spot at Yext HQ, and our narrator – one of our talent sales execs –even supplied his own tuxedo. For nearly no budget, we created a successful campaign that helped generate important incremental revenue and drive pipeline for the next quarter. Like the 1999 campaign, it was also was a great cultural moment for the company.
The Yext Talks content platform featuring Yext execs.
Another example is the Yext Talks content platform. We wrote, shot, and edited everything in-house and featured our execs who were designated subject-matter experts. And when we needed a voiceover artist, I gargled some hot water and lemon and did my best Don LaFontaine to become the “voice” of Yext on a few occasions.
From our podcast series to product marketing videos to ad campaigns, we always found a way to create exceptional, award-winning, and – most importantly – business-driving content, without breaking the bank.
In a world… where yours truly was the voice of Yext.
YEXT.GOV
When COVID hit we, like every other business in the world, scrambled to determine what the negative effects would be on our business. However, a unique opportunity emerged that allowed us to display our new AI-powered Answers solution in a critical light – while also helping a world in crisis.
In short order, we partnered with the World Health Organization, the U.S. Department of State, the States of New Jersey and Alabama, and the City of South Bend, Indiana to build Yext-powered COVID-19 websites to help each entity better manage the surge of questions they were getting about the then-mysterious coronavirus. From understanding symptoms to safety protocols to job postings specific to the health crisis, our technology allowed them to deliver direct and accurate answers at scale, as well as make updates in real-time since new information was surfacing constantly.
Above: The Yext-powered COVID information hib for the State of New Jersey. Top: The announcement of the partnership with the WHO.
This pro bono work helped stimulate new business. Many of our customers were also struggling to keep up with COVID-related questions about their business, so our public sector partnerships were invaluable case studies and important validation of our technology.
The .gov initiatives during COVID unlocked a longer-term opportunity to work with the public sector and help modernize how local, state, and government agencies communicated with and distributed information to their constituents. We built out a sales team new team and hit the ground running, proving that in every crisis there is, indeed, an opportunity.
The announcement of the new Public Sector vertical.