Two MediaNation case studies in Yandex PromoPages: content that sells

Below is a short summary. The full cases with charts and client quotes are on the Yandex PromoPages website (in Russian), linked in each section.

Why it matters

Titles and awards are what we say about ourselves. A case study published by Yandex itself, on its own platform, with numbers and quotes from the client's marketers, is an outside view. For me it's the best assessment of the team's work.

Moneyman: removing the barrier before a loan

A person may see a loan ad when they need money urgently but aren't ready to apply right away: they want to understand the terms, compare with a credit card and weigh their options. A banner can't answer that. So the MediaNation team wrote 14 articles around real audience questions: how a credit line works, what hurts a credit history, why an application might be declined and what to do next.

×2.8conversion from site visit to an approved first loan vs plan

+78.5%Search Lift — after the articles people searched for the brand more on their own

+110%visits with loan approval among those who saw the ads vs a control group

−30%cost per new loan after weak articles were switched off on day 14

The most interesting part is which articles worked. Almost a third of sign-ups came from “Declined for a loan? Here's why and what to do”, at a third of the average cost. The detailed product explainer brought the most approved loans — 44%. The problem-based piece is better at starting an application; the product explainer is better at getting to the result.

Full Moneyman case on the Yandex website (in Russian) ↗

ROBINZON: warming up a suitcase buyer

A suitcase is a rare purchase with a long choice: hard or soft shell, which size, whether better wheels are worth it. Instead of product ads MediaNation launched two articles: an expert guide, “6 common mistakes when choosing a suitcase”, and a first-person buyer story. From day one the campaign optimized for on-site conversions, not clicks, and the strategy stayed the same for six months — only the budget was reallocated.

139Kread-throughs in January–June 2026, read-through rate steadily above 60%

86Ksite visits at about 10–13 ₽ each

×3.8growth in purchases from the channel: from 13 in January to 50 in May

643post-view conversions — 3.6× more than last-click reporting shows

In June the expert guide was read for 4 minutes 21 seconds on average — more than twice the platform benchmark. An honest caveat from the case itself: growth coincided with the season, and suitcase sales in the category rose by a third, so not all of the effect can be credited to the articles. But by peak demand the channel was already trained and working cheaply.

Full ROBINZON case on the Yandex website (in Russian) ↗

What a loan and a suitcase have in common

Both campaigns first answered the questions people already had, and only then led to a purchase. It's the same logic I talked about in the AI search podcast and at PMF: search, AI models and advertising increasingly reward whoever is useful, not whoever is loudest.

Answer a specific question instead of describing the whole product. The best articles were built around a recognizable situation: “I was declined”, “how not to pick the wrong suitcase”.
Judge articles by the whole funnel. The read-through leader isn't necessarily the sales leader. Decisions were made on the cost of the final result.
Count the delayed effect. Last click understated results in both cases: Moneyman would have lost almost every fifth sign-up, and ROBINZON had 3.6× more post-view conversions.

Thanks to the Moneyman, ROBINZON and Yandex PromoPages teams — and to our MediaNation team, who made it all happen.

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