Uber uses Internet’s foolproof weapon to battle bad PR
Published: Feb 5, 2015 6:38 p.m. ET
Uber
recently had puppy, pretzels and kitten promotions
Getty
Image
Uber had a promotion in Australia
Thursday for 15 minutes with kittens
NEW YORK (MarketWatch)—With pretzels
in Philadelphia, puppies in Washington, D.C. and
kittens in Australia, Uber is swiftly working to cultivate a warm and cuddly
image.
But the embattled ride-hailing
company has a lot to overcome, with rape allegations against a driver in India,
widespread regulation problems and criticisms of the company’s tactics.
That’s not to mention the recent
rumors of Google, whose venture arm is an investor in Uber, starting a
competitor ride-sharing service.
So are cute animals really enough to
assuage the public’s concerns?
Maybe not.
“They’re banking on the short memory
of the American public,” said branding consultant Rob Frankel. “I don’t think
they’re going to win this one.”
As Frankel sees it, the company is
focused on spinning the narrative with these feel-good promotions, but what it
should be doing is differentiating itself from competitor Lyft, he said.
Uber did announce a partnership
Monday with Carnegie Mellon to create driverless cars, but Frankel said by the
time the cars are available, he believes competitors will have them.
Uber could not immediately be
reached for comment.
Still, the one-time promotions
aren’t hurting the company, said Tim Calkins, a clinical professor of marketing
at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. They’re nice to
have, but don’t have much staying power, he said.
The kitten promotion did happen the same day as 11 Uber
drivers were scheduled to appear in court on charges of operating a commercial
passenger vehicle without a license. And Uber said it was offering the pretzels
Thursday after the Philadelphia City Council approved a resolution to support
UberX in the city.
Calkins said he believes Uber is
taking its criticism seriously and needs to address its problems with a mixture
of programs, policies and promotions.
The company does appear to be taking
the steps. It released reports in January saying its drivers earn more per hour than cabdrivers and saying
Uber has helped lower the number of drunken-driving crashes. Uber also
announced last week that it was implementing new privacy measures and training
after an outside law firm reviewed the company’s privacy policy.
Beyond the criticisms, Uber suffers
from a lack of prominent founding story, said Calkins.
“Uber is a little bit of this
faceless entity,” Calkins said.
In terms of marketing, Calkins said
Uber needs to tell the public how it came to be and make CEO Travis Kalanick
more recognizable, beyond apologizing for the company.
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Caitlin
Huston
Caitlin Huston is a MarketWatch
reporter based in New York. She covers startups and small business. You can
follow her on Twitter @hustonca.
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