DIRECT MARKETING

High open-rates with direct marketing

The growing popularity of email marketing has seen a decline in direct marketing (DM) or, as
some people call it, ‘snail mail’. This decline actually represents a fantastic opportunity for your
direct marketing campaign. With less mail to compete with, your campaign is guaranteed a
Vgreater success rate!
The cost of professional printing is now cheaper than ever. With the right design, any business
can produce corporate-quality collateral. Innovative direct marketing campaigns are obtaining
impressive results by targeting buyers with superior graphic design and compelling copy.
PROMO CODES

Integrated campaigns maximise results

Results are maximised and cut-through improved with multi-faceted campaigns. Utilising both
direct mail and email marketing has been proven to deliver impressive ROI. Uber Marketing can
assist with designing engaging campaigns that leverage both online and offline equity to drive
leads to your door

UBER NEW FEATURES

Uber is releasing new features that aim to make its ride-hailing service safer for both riders and
drivers who use its app.

The latest features, which will roll out over the next couple of months, give riders a PIN number
they can use to verify they’re getting in the right car, allow in-app texting to 911, and alert riders
if they’re going to be dropped off near or along a bike route. Uber is also strengthening its ID
checks for drivers to prove the person at the wheel matches the person authorized by Uber. The
ride hailing company is giving riders a way to report Uber driver incidents during a trip.

The safety features come after numerous reports of sexual assaults, kidnappings, and deaths from
both riders and drivers using the service across the world. Last month, for example, a suspect
was arrested in Maryland for allegedly shooting another passenger and his Uber driver after
being picked up. In New York a 32-year-old Uber driver was charged with kidnapping and
threatening to sexually assault a teenaged girl in July. And there have been several instances—
and an associated death—of people faking to be Uber drivers in order to take advantage of
unsuspecting riders.

PARTNERSHIP

Uber has implemented a number of partnerships to entice both first-time and loyal customers to
take a ride. Certain Capital One credit card holders can get discounted rides, Starwood
Hotels Preferred Guest members can earn hotel points for every Uber trip they take,
and Spotify users an link their profile to their Uber account to play their music while they ride.
While the Capital One and Starwood Hotels partnerships give those customers a financial
incentive to ride, the Spotify alliance is just a fun add-on for users coming home from the bars.
All of these partnerships, though, give more legitimacy to the gargantuan startup.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

I. DESCRIBING THE CHALLENGE

Particular Product of Feature

The particular products that will be featured in the PR plan are the Uber App and Uber cars. The
Uber app is available on Apple’s App Store, Microsoft’s Google Play and Microsoft’s Windows
Store.

Restating the Problem

Nevertheless, it’s important to mention that although Uber is innovative and highly supported,
they are facing multiple challenges—both regulatory and social. Consumers and the media have
shed light on Uber’s driver hiring policy because it appears to be less monitored, making Uber
vulnerable to more lawsuits and negative brand reputation.

Intention of Challenge

The main problem here is that Uber drivers are unvetted and have been assaulting Uber
customers in multiple locations. The current challenge is to address Uber’s loopholes in its
driver hiring policy and improve the reputation crisis surrounding this issue. The challenge is
twofold: to address a crisis and then to inform customers of the recent improvements made.
 II. IDENTIFYING OBJECTIVES

A recent statement from Uber stated that they promptly respond to driver and customer disputes:

“ In situations where disputes occur between drivers and clients, we act swiftly to provide all
parties with the information and support they need to pursue their legal rights to the fullest
extent of the law.”
However, the media exposed personal, internal emails from Uber’s CEO, Travis Kalanick, that
exposes his disimpassioned demeanor towards addressing the problem. Kalanick wrote that the
media is the blame for assuming that Uber is “somehow liable for these incidents that aren’t
even real in the first place”

These statements indicate that Uber’s CEO is unmotivated and considers driver assault cases
something that Uber has no control over. However, this type of approach to handling such a
problem spearheads more public outcry and negatively impacts Uber’s consumer loyalty. At
this time, Uber needs to make driver-hiring policy procedures more rigorous and inform
customers and the media of what actions they are taking. The strongest defense Uber can have
during this crisis is an honest acceptance that the current driver-hiring policy needs improvement
and that they are dedicated to improving it in an effort to ensure consumer safety. On December
5, 2014, Uber released a statement that they would be smarter and more humble in the future in
regards to some of their previous business practices (Business Insider, 2014). Overall, Uber
customers are the primary stakeholders outside of investors and partners. In order to improve
the reputational crisis and decrease driver assault cases, Uber needs to establish the
following goals over the next quarter:

1. Increase positive media coverage of driver experiences by at least 30-50% conducting surveys
via phone, online, and at events
2. Conduct 6-8 internal or external audits of current driver hiring policies to find loopholes and to
implement improvements
3. Plan a PR campaign Inform the public of the current changes, improvements, and motivations,
on at least 5-10 different media platforms

III. AUDIENCE IDENTIFICATION

In terms of customers, Uber’s target audience is diverse—people who are are willing and able
to embrace technology in order to arrive at their destination. In this since, Uber’s primary target
audiencerepresents most demographics, excluding senior citizens or others who may not be
tech savvy.

Segments and Groups

By gender, Uber’s target audience represents both men and women. In terms of age range, Uber
tends to target ages 18-35 years of age. All racial groups are represented within Uber’s
customers, especially because the Uber app is utilized in the major cities and most cities are
fairly diverse in terms of race. In terms of habits and interests, only people with smart phones,
 credit cards, the knowledge and comfort level of using smartphones are able to actually use the
Uber app. In reference to lifestyle, Uber services are only available in metropolitan cities or
heavily populated areas. Quite naturally, their customers dwell in metropolitan cities or dwell in
heavily populated cities. In terms of personality, Uber’s target audience can be described as
affluent, tech savvy users.

IV. STRATEGIES

The following strategies align with the three previous objectives presented in Section II.

Objective: Increase positive media coverage of driver experiences by 30-50%

 1st strategy: To increase the positive feedback from customers regarding their Uber driving
experience through feedbacks surveys.

Objective: Conduct 6-8 internal and external audits of current driver hiring policies to find
loopholes

 2nd Strategy: To address the loopholes in current driver-hiring policies by working with internal
and external auditing companies to find the inefficiencies in the current process.

Objective: Inform the public of the current changes, improvements, and motivations

 3rd strategy: Raise awareness of the recent improvements regarding strengthening the current
driver-hiring procedures

. PERSONAL SELLING

As companies grow, gaining customers and generating customer loyalty is a must for the benefit
of the company. Creating "personal" relationships with the customer is the goal in order for the
customer to continuing using or going for that product or place.

Uber uses its semi to luxury transportation vehicles to allow the customer to feel comfortable using
the service, as well as continuing to use the service. With transportation services this type of
relationship should be developed in order for continued use and even recommendation and
promotion.