Yext’s “The Man Without the Answers” Campaign Wins Big at 12th Annual Shorty Awards

Yext, Inc. (NYSE: YEXT), the Search Experience Cloud company, today announced that its first-ever brand campaign, "The Man Without the Answers," won Shorty Awards in three categories — Best in Business to Business, Best Use of LinkedIn, and Best Use of LinkedIn Video — and was a finalist in the Best Use of Humor category. The Shorty Awards, now in their 12th year, recognize the most influential, popular, and culturally relevant brands, organizations, agencies, campaigns, and influencers across social media.

The ad spots behind Yext's winning campaign, "The Man Without the Answers," were developed with creative agency TBWA\Chiat\Day New York and personify the problem of misinformation online plaguing brands and consumers with the hilariously uninformed character Todd Munion. Brought to life by character actor Mike Rock, Todd represents the myriad of unverified sources on the internet that often mislead people as they seek out information from businesses. In the spot, Todd relentlessly — and confidently — interrupts strangers' conversations with ridiculously inaccurate "facts." The campaign serves as a warning for businesses and organizations to beware of the Todd Munions of the world, as well as an urgent call for them to be the first responders when customers have questions about them and need official answers.

"We are honored to be recognized by the Shorty Awards," said Josh Grau, Chief Brand Officer at Yext. "We had a big challenge to articulate that misinformation online is a real business problem, and Todd Munion helped us do so in a funny, relatable way. Humor isn't usually the norm in B2B, but thanks to the tremendous creative collaboration with TBWA\Chiat\Day New York we pushed the envelope and developed a really successful campaign — and a memorable character we love to hate."

"The idea shows people how easy it is for the wrong person to answer a question online. It's funny, but it should be troubling to any CMO who has customers with questions," added TBWA\Chiat\Day Chief Creative Officer Chris Beresford-Hill. "Yext has an important and valuable proposition, one which we were proud to help bring to life, and glad to see rewarded."

Yext and the rest of this year's class of Shorty Awards winners were announced in Adweek and will be celebrated at a star-studded, digital-only awards ceremony on May 3rd.

Winners were selected by members of the Real Time Academy of Short Form Arts & Sciences (rtacademy.org), comprised of experts in advertising, media, entertainment, and technology: Rosemary Mercedes, (EVP & Chief Communications Officer, Univision), Sonal Dabral (Group Chief Creative Officer & Vice Chairman, Ogilvy & Mather), Matthew Digirolamo (Chief Communications Officer, L'Oreal), Rebecca Messina (Global Chief Marketing Officer, Uber), and Lilian Tomovich (Chief Experience & Marketing Officer, MGM Resorts International), among others.

Meet Todd Munion, the man without the answers, here.