Reviewing Yelp!’s Passport to Kendall Square

Last night, I was fortunate enough to partake in Yelp!’s Passport to Kendall Square at the Microsoft Research & Development Center in Cambridge.  The event showcased over two dozen local businesses, including restaurants, coffee shops and gyms, who were sampling their wares as an introduction to the neighborhood.  Yelp! invited a select group of their power users in the Boston area and also other users chosen at random. The event’s conception and execution was handled by Clearly Creative.

As somebody who both enjoys social media and has produced events for a living, I must say, this was a fantastic affair.   Attendees were given a passport book upon entry.  They made their way from table to table, as each business served food, drink or other goodies (the lobster ravioli was a personal favorite) and stamped the booklets.  The stamped books could then be used as coupons back at the participating venues.  It was well organized, well attended and well executed.

The location is beautiful – Microsoft has a great space and has been generously opening it up to the community after hours for events like these. I was at an SEO meetup in the same space the week before, but this time we had access not only to the second floor, but the beautiful balconies on the tenth and eleventh floors as well, which offer tremendous views of the city.

I like to see online companies go offline and bring people together in the real world.  It is easy to see how this event is a great marketing tool for Yelp!, allowing them to engage the local business that are reviewed and advertise on their site, and at the same time reward their most valuable users.  Although I suspect this event was incurred as a marketing expense and not  a source of revenue for the company this time, it’s easy to see how events like these could grow into revenue generators.  Of course, such events are not as easily scalable as the websites that  internet companies like Yelp! traffic in, but it could certainly grow into a nationwide program with the right team in place.

One complication for Yelp! has always been a revenue model based around charging the businesses that are reviewed on its website.  After all, if bad reviews appear on the site, these businesses are unlikely to spend money on Yelp! or, even worse, will put pressure on the site to remove negative reviews.  I would like to see Yelp! publicly adopt a policy (if they haven’t already) of strict separation of between its content and its clients, like you see in reputable newspapers.  This event didn’t complicate this particular issue any further, but it did bring the potential conflicts to mind.

Nevertheless, the value for the businesses in events like this is clear.  You can write about food all you want online, but the only way to judge for yourself is to taste it.  This event enabled Yelpers to do just that, and I know that I discovered some new restaurants that I will be trying.

I heartily congratulate Yelp!, Clearly Creative, Microsoft and all the participating venues on a fantastic event.  I sincerely hope this is just the first of many, if for no other reason than I would selfishly like to attend more events like this.  Great job!