Uber: What Next? With the June 20 ouster of Travis Kalanick as CEO (though he keeps his board seat), what should Uber do to regain the public trust? A better question might be: Has Uber lost the public’s backing? Despite its well-documented PR trouble that began several years ago but crested in February when Susan Fowler, a former Uber engineer, blasted the company for sexual discrimination in a Huffington Postblog, Uber remains the dominant player in ride hailing. True, it’s lost a bit of market share lately, according to Second Measure, a data firm the Wall Street Journal cited. In the Dec.-May timeframe, Uber’s share of the U.S. market fell 6% from 84%. Chief U.S. rival Lyft grabbed Uber’s lost 6% and is now at 22%. So what’s a brand to do? “The best opportunity [for Uber] is to leverage the fact that today’s customer greatly values an understanding of a brand’s impact on social issues. If Uber can focus on showing its consumer base that it not only delivers highly effective services, but also provides long-term social value, it can change the conversation and continue to push forward,” says Jennifer Granston Foster, WE Communications’ global COO. The most obvious takeaway for brands seems to be, once again, the power of social media and the court of public opinion. “Uber is a classic case of ‘Love you today, shame you tomorrow,’” Granston Foster says. In its recent Brands in Motion study, WE found “nine of 10 consumers said they will gladly shame a brand they love if they believe it stepped out of line.” If there was some good PR in all this it was the very proper reaction of Lyft. Its co-founders sent an email to employees June 23 urging them to avoid gloating. “The faults of our competition” do nothing “to deliver a better experience for our customers,” John Zimmer and Logan Green, Lyft’s co-founders, wrote in an email to employees, the Wall St reet Journal reported. It’s not a good move to take too much advantage of a rival’s bad fortunes. Recall Uber’s misstep in late January in NYC when cab drivers, in sympathy with those protesting President Trump’s executive order blocking some travelers to and from the Middle East, staged a work stoppage. In a move that was seen as an attempt to break the strike, Uber dropped its prices. The move backfired as a campaign to #deleteUber trended on Twitter. Uber later claimed it was not attempting to break the strike.
News Bits: In an attempt to re-connect with consumers in an authentic voice, Polaroid has gone all in with user-generated content (UGC). Its corporate site, relaunched June 23, boasts 100% UGC. To update the site Polaroid will be able to pull UGC from Pinterest and Instagram as soon as it’s created. The site is far from the only place where the brand is featuring UGC. Polaroid packaging and ads also are all UGC, says tech provider Social Native. – Snap’s acquisition of map app Zenly resulted in the debut on Snapchat of Snap Map, a feature that lets users share their location with friends on a map. It also updates if you move. – What’s in a name? The Supreme Court ruled June 19 on a case involving Simon Tam, who wanted to trademark the name Slants for his Asian-American rock group. The justices ruled blocking the name as offensive would be unconstitutional,citing the 1st Amendment’s free speech protection. The ruling probably means legal challenges against the Washington Redskins’ name are defanged. There’s still the court of public opinion, though. – Facebook said June 23 it’s offering journalists tools and training to “help... protect their accounts and themselves on Facebook.” Part of THE Facebook Journalism Project, a dedicated page will provide guidance about two-factor authentication, privacy settings, moderating comments, blocking harassment, controlling location sharing, reporting abusive content, impersonation and hacking. -- For the first time, Facebook changed its mission statement—”to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected”—to giving “people the power to build community and bring the world closer together.” In a CNN interview Mark Zuckerberg says the platform must build “common ground so that we can all move forward together.”
Growth: Chicago indie agency Schafer Condon Carter unveiled SCC|PRISM, its merged PR, influencer marketing and social media offering. SCC managing partner Mike Grossman will head the unit. – Veteran communicator Brian Hickey launched CMO Unboxed, a NY-based marketing communications firm focused on financial, fin tech, law and consulting companies.
People: Weber Shandwick (WS) added president WS West to GM San Fran/Silicon Valley Luca Penati’s title; Rana Komar (photo, p. 1) becomes president, WS Central; CEO WS Canada Greg Power adds president, WS North to his remit; Joy Farber-Kolo adds president, WS East. New WS global public affairs president Pam Jenkins ( PRN, June 12), adds president WS South.