Lyft has a plan to become Washington, D.C.'s favorite ride-hailing app.
In the District, there's almost an embarrassment of riches when it comes to transportation services. Uber, Lyft, Split, Bridj and others all have their presence, but Uber is arguably the most established and well known. Any ambition to overtake Uber would need something impressive, and that's what Lyft is ready to roll out.
"We've done three campaigns. This is something different thematically," Steve Taylor, Lyft's D.C. general manager, told DC Inno in an interview. "We're launching this new campaign in conjunction with a national TV ad to heighten awareness about ride-sharing in general and Lyft as one of the options."
The campaign's new ads were designed by noted Israeli-born artist Noma Bar, and reflect a popular minimalist style, with Lyft's characteristic colors. They'll soon start replacing the current ads for Lyft you see around the District: the D.C. Metro map with a thousand pink dots. Technically that campaign already ended, Taylor said, it's just that nothing has replaced them yet. The new ads will appear in D.C. and 18 other markets, but the District still stands out.
"We want Congress and their staffers to see the ads"
"Right now, D.C. is a top priority for Lyft," Taylor said. "It's a fairly young market as relates to ride-share but it's an important one. The size of the market matters. It's also important because a lot of policy decisions that get made here. We want Congress and their staffers to see the ads."
Taylor acknowledged the possibly daunting task of trying to carve out a bigger share of the market in a city that sometimes already feels saturated. Though he didn't mention Uber by name, competing with that company would explain the new campaign, as well as his own role. He's the first GM for D.C. that Lyft has ever had, while Uber's organization on the ground in the District began in 2012 and has grown to over 200 people counting the regional and UberEATS team that work out of the D.C. office. But competition is just a spur to better Lyft service, Taylor explained.
"It's not just how to get from A to B, it's how to think about car ownership," Taylor said. "Certain competitors made people aware of ride-sharing, we want to make them aware of a better option. It's not a zero-sum game. There's room for more than just one competitor in the market."
Check out Lyft's new ad below.
