Yandex Maps

Made maps feel like local discovery.

The task was to move beyond utility and show Yandex Maps as a local-discovery expert: a product for finding places, routes, scenarios and city behavior.

ClientYandex Maps
EmployerPichesky agency
Period2019-2022
RoleStrategic planner

Context

Yandex Maps already had utility: routes, traffic, places and navigation. The marketing challenge was to make the product feel like a city-discovery companion, not only a functional map opened when a user already knew where to go.

One underused behavior was especially important: search by concrete need, not only broad categories. Instead of searching only "coffee shops", "food" or "pharmacy", users could search "flat white", "pizza", "bandage" and other product-level needs.

Work

  • Won the tender as strategic planner and helped set the long-running communication direction.
  • Built and evolved the communication / social strategy over 3-4 years.
  • Created a 12-month communication strategy for advanced-search scenarios.
  • Positioned Yandex Maps as a local-discovery expert rather than a purely functional map.
  • Translated product features into everyday city situations: what people want, where they are, and how the product helps them decide faster.
  • Helped turn city activations into product proof: routes, cultural projects and public-space moments people could actually experience through the map.
01 from categoryPeople knew maps could find places like cafes, pharmacies and restaurants.
02 to concrete needThe strategy taught more specific searches: pizza, bandage, flat white and other real needs.
03 to city scenariosCommunication linked product features to routes, occasions, neighborhoods and decisions.
04 to product habitMaps became less of a utility fallback and more of a discovery starting point.

Results

Before promotion, the function had roughly 30K monthly users according to client-side context. After promotion, the client reported that MAU for the function exceeded 5M. The exact internal data was not disclosed by the client, so this case cites the client-provided outcome.

Product behaviorSearch shifted from category-level discovery to concrete product needs.
AdoptionFunction grew from roughly 30K monthly users to 5M+ MAU, per client data.
Platform3-4 year communication / social strategy.
Category depthMaps framed as local discovery, not only utility.
Street Art Line urban route with pink benches, planters and public-space elements
City activation

Turned the city into a walkable street-art gallery.

In collaboration with a local street-art festival, the project created a Street Art Line: a route that connected the festival works in the city and could also be followed inside Yandex Maps.

Where the route crossed empty or underused areas, it became more than a line on a map: small urban forms, benches, swings, planters and micro public spaces turned navigation into a real city experience.

Exact figures are confidential, but after the project the client reported a shift in brand loyalty in that city: Yandex Maps overtook the competitor and strengthened switching toward the app.