Lyft’s current brand strategy

The company was started in 2012 by John Zimmer and Logan Green as a sub-service of their original ridesharing business Zimride. Zimride actually started in 2007, when the two were on a trip in Africa and observed people using crowd-sourced carpool services to get from place to place.

Lyft is considered a follower in marketing terms as a second to the market player in the rideshare market. They were, however, able to carve out significant market share from UBER and arguably have helped grow the market.  UBER and Lyft have both had their share of growing pains as an emerging market each with their share of controversy.

You’ve just started in your new role as a marketing strategist after successfully completing your Master’s program and the team is very excited to have you on-board. As part of your new role, the CEO would like to have you evaluate the company’s results and provide recommendations for their marketing strategy. They appreciate the unbiased knowledge that new hires offer and the perspectives they bring. They want you to review the company as though you were an outside marketing consultant. The period is short to complete this work and they are expecting a 7- 8-page analysis that includes an executive summary, a SWOT or PESTLE, and strong analysis and recommendations as to what they should do with their marketing strategy.

They are really looking forward to seeing your analysis and reading your recommendations. This time has been challenging, causing opportunities and threats to the company, as the world lives in a pandemic state, which is expected to continue into next year. Given the current environment, they would like you to complete your analysis and include recommendations and insights for both a normal state and a pandemic state.

Lyft is recently publicly owned having issued an IPO in 2019. They have some heavy investors in their business over the years and they have appeared to invest in the business. The company is hoping to create consistently, and continued growth and is looking for your insights as to how marketing can help deliver consistent revenue growth year over year.

In order to provide you with enough information to be able to deliver a well-written, clear and concise, analysis on the items required below, Management has asked that you review the following items first:

1. https://www.bostondigital.com/insights/uber-vs-lyft-battle-marketing-minds
2. https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2019/03/business/lyft-history/index.html
3. https://investor.lyft.com/financial-information/annual-reports

Next, they want you to review the PDF that you’ve been provided on their financial results for 2019. While there are many details in the report that aren’t related to your work in marketing, Management thinks you should have an overview of the financials of the company and you’ll need to pay close attention to the sales and revenue categories. They have had an influx of investment in the business but they continue to operate at a loss. They will need to continue to build growth from some of their new ventures. As part of your analysis suggest the most enticing categories you feel will help them get there.

Finally, as you develop your analysis and recommendations your CEO, would like you to do research and review the following articles:

• https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2019/05/15/1825309/0/en/Consumers-score-Uber-67-out-of-100-in-brand-strength-vs-Lyft-with-just-27-according-to-Landor-Pulse.html

Below is the analysis, information, and format they are looking for you to provide:

1. Summarize what you believe is Lyft’s current brand strategy and briefly describe how it relates to their values and company mission.
2. Explain their brand equity, including their major competitors and market share, and describe the future predictions for growth that you’ve researched for the future state of the rideshare market (IBIS World will be a good resource for this).
3. Provide a SWOT or PESTLE analysis and explain the highlights that you think are most relevant for Lyft’s future market strategy.
4. Given your previous reading on future trends and predictions in the world of marketing, as well as your understanding of consumer behavior, which one of the trends would you recommend Lyft focus on to increase future revenues and remain current with their consumer’s needs. (Please support your choice with why).
5. Lastly, provide a detailed recommendation of what you think Lyft should do to increase sales in their main consumer groups. Please consider and include demographics and consumer behaviors of these groups, and the future trends that you have learned about determine what should be focused on when marketing to these customers. What should be emphasized in the marketing- ease of use of the app, fair treatment of drivers, cause marketing, lifestyle imagery versus the competition, new markets, etc.? It can be more than one thing but looking for your insights and knowledge of trends to make these recommendations. Should they focus on driverless technology or new forms of transportation?
6. Included in your recommendations should be a highlight of opportunities that you think Lyft has because of the current pandemic situation as well.