what marketers can learn from uber
TRANSCRIPT
What Marketers Can Learn From Uber
Like any good startup, Uber, the rideshare taxi service that launched in San Francisco in 2009, has disrupted an industry that prior to the conception of ride share services hadn’t seen much change or excitement in, well, quite a while.
From a marketing perspective, Uber has been pretty spectacular to observe. From
“UberKittens” where Uber brings kittens to your doorstep on National Cat Day, to just recently being heavily criticized for jacking up prices in Sydney during the hostage crisis, charging a minimum of $100 for horrified people to escape the area (they later retracted
this)—Uber’s marketing highs have been high but their lows have certainly been low.
From the good to the bad, Uber’s rollercoaster has been a trove of marketing and branding lessons to glean both inspiration from and what to watch-out for. Here is a list of a few favorite Uber-Lessons witnessed along the way.
1. What Uber Did:
Surprise and Delight Consumers At Every Corner
Beyond their famous UberKittens, where they partnered with Cheezburger and local animal shelters to deliver-on demand kittens to pet for 15-minutes or even adopt during National
Cat Day, Uber has thought up share worthy, Did-You-Hear-They-Did-THAT type stunts that gets loads of buzz. From offering helicopter rides in East Hampton for $3K, to having Uber drivers deliver roses and cards during Valentine’s Day, to allowing people to hail ice cream
trucks—these sorts of stunts get noticed and get talked about—en masse.
What We Learned:
A brand surprising and delighting a fan doesn’t go too far if no one but the fan hears about it. Uber’s PR-stunt surprise and delights and special promotions however, do much more
than just provide a fun service to the few consumers who take part in it—the $3K helicopter Hamptons package was not about driving mass scale around Hampton helicopter rides
after all—but these stunts get major amplification and word of mouth buzz. Pairing an over the top stunt or surprise and delight with cultural or topical moments, like
National Cat Day and Valentine’s Day, gives people social fodder to share with friends. “Did you hear what Uber did today with the kittens?” Whether or not you experienced it, it’s a
cool story you’ll want to pass on.
2.
What Uber Did: Made People Really Like Them
All of these stunt-like surprise and delight efforts make people really like Uber and become
brand advocates. But the stunts don’t necessarily make more people try Uber at scale. So how does Uber achieve mass first time riders? They give away rides for free so people can get a taste for the service and then, ideally, become repeat costumers.
In Austin, Texas during SXSW this year, Uber paid Austin residents to use their personal
cars as taxies and paid the drivers an hourly rate. The folks on the ground looking to get from one place to another—which is difficult enough during the crowded festival—didn’t just get a ride easily and quickly, but they got it for free. This gave people not only a great first
impression of Uber but a clear understanding of how the product works, and most importantly they left the experience with the Uber app downloaded on their phone—ready
to open up and use when they need their next ride.
What We Learned:
These type of efforts to both get new people who might not otherwise climb over the barrier to try Uber if not for a free incentive, as well as continuing to pepper in feel-good marketing
stunts that give people fun social fodder to share with friends, builds an invaluable base of passionate brand advocates.
For a startup that is disrupting a traditional industry, it is absolutely vital to convert people to be brand advocates first. Now, as Uber battles government regulations and works to skirt
around traditional public barriers, they have an army of passionate consumers regionalized in cities where Uber is currently working. If Uber gets pulled out of markets now, people would complain because not only do they like the company, but they have become repeat
customers and have therefore gotten used to the service Uber provides.
If Uber can continue to transform people to love their technology and brand, people can influence municipal leaders to embrace Uber and allow the platform to continue to grow.
3. What Uber Did:
Not Play By The Rules, Not Even Acknowledge the Rules Exist
Uber is disrupting the transportation industry. But Uber is quick to say it is not a transportation business, it’s a technology business. So therefore when things go wrong,
which they have, Uber has a tendency to vehemently deny blame. For example, in San Francisco a 6-year old girl crossing the street with her mom was struck and killed by an Uber driver. Instead of taking responsibility, Uber was quick to release a statement
clarifying that the driver wasn’t working for Uber, and then later released another statement clarifying that he wasn’t working right that minute for Uber—he was logged onto his driver
app but was between picking up passengers, which for Uber meant they bore no responsibility. There have been a slew of recent bad-driver behavior incidents that have
come out over the last year, from rape allegations to anti-gay rants to physical assaults. What these instances all have in common is that Uber is quick to skirt responsibility for any
of them, continuing to hammer in that they are a technology company, and therefore if people abuse the technology it’s their fault—not Uber’s.
What We Learned:
A basket filled of UberKittens isn’t going to make up for an Uber horror story. It’s not just bad for riders and drivers, it’s bad for the brand. Without proper regulations, and as more and more of these stories come out and Uber remains publically flippant, people may begin
to view Uber not as taxi replacement, but as modern day hitchhiking. Put up your thumb, hope for the best, but don’t dare tell your mom you did it because we all know it’s
dangerous. Uber needs to take responsibility and ownership for the industry they are disrupting—
transportation, which has heavy safety regulations in place to keep drivers, riders and pedestrians safe. Uber needs to recognize this and lean in as opposed to fight against the
system where people’s safety is concerned. As a brand delivering a product or service it’s imperative to show you are listening, not just
to where the money is, but listening to the people using your service. Stand behind your riders and your drivers to help provide a safer, better service. Uber says it’s about a
technology that is disrupting a traditional industry, but really, at its core Uber is about connecting people together. Uber needs to fully accept this and realize that without these people, Uber is still a piece of technology, but that technology is now obsolete.
Questions? Thoughts to add?
Contact Mary Snauffer, [email protected] Or the NY Social Team at [email protected]