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Tag Archives: Uber

The myths and lies of the fake sharing economy…

08 Saturday Apr 2017

Posted by Malcolm Auld in Digital, Digital marketing, Marketing, Social Media, Thought Leadership

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

airbnb, digital marketing, sharing economy, social media, Thought Leadership, Uber

The headline for this post could easily have been any of the following:

“Stop all the lying you marketing bastards” OR

“Happy birthday to the sharing economy now 200,000 years old” OR

“Change hands please and describe your business accurately”

As you all know, we marketers love our buzzwords. The “sharing economy” is one of the most popular from recent times. It’s used in seminars, in articles by “thought leaders” and anywhere someone out of their depth is trying to make an impression.

To set the scene, let’s briefly review the definition of “sharing”

sharing = “use, occupy or enjoy (something) jointly with another or other”

AND

sharing = “give a portion of (something) to another or others”

There is no definition of sharing in any dictionary on the planet that says sharing involves a commercial transaction, where one party charges another party for services.

The sharing economy is one of the oldest on the planet. It’s been around since the arrival of humans. I suspect cavemen (and cavewomen) shared their caves and food with people other than their family. Maybe even passed a rock among themselves to use as a tool?

All of us have shared things throughout our lives and will until we die – food, drinks, seats, newspapers, spare beds, car pooling, stationery, lawn mowers, chores and much more.

At no time in this “sharing process” do we ask for payment. The reason is simple. You cannot call it sharing if you charge for the service. Because by definition, it’s not sharing, it’s a commercial transaction. You are conducting business if you charge for services – you are not sharing.

So please, all you marketing wannabes, just tell the truth.

A Bed & Breakfast (BnB) service is a commercial business, so just putting the word “Air” in front of it doesn’t suddenly make the service free, in terms of sharing.

Airbnb is a room booking service. Uber is a taxi booking service. And both companies do their damnedest to avoid paying tax in any of the countries in which they operate, as do most of the people who deliver their services.

Airbnb actively advertises on radio for pensioners to supplement their pensions by becoming an “Airbnb host”. It offers no advice to the poor pensioners on how the extra income will affect their pensions. They may lose their pensions by becoming a host. That’s not much of a sharing, nor caring, way to do business.

Meanwhile, Uber is losing $Billions annually and is plagued by all sorts of management problems and legal action. And when you read its business strategy, (it’s not a sharing strategy) the future is about driverless cars, so where’s that leave current drivers funding its “growth”? I suppose the reason is, Uber’s sharing model, sorry I meant business model, relies on financial transactions, rather than sharing, for its survival.

So given there is absolutely no sharing involved in the fake sharing economy, maybe a correct name for this new service category could be “the make a quick buck while avoiding tax economy“?

It’s certainly more accurate. And it’s not teaching our children that lying is an acceptable business practice, so it’s much more ethical.

Have to go now. I can hear my bride calling. I think she wants to share my wallet. So I guess there is payment involved in sharing after all…

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Uber and other startups starting to smell a lot like 1999 – again…

01 Wednesday Jun 2016

Posted by Malcolm Auld in Advertising, Branding, Digital, Digital marketing, Direct Marketing, Marketing, Media, Sales Promotion

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

advertising, branding, digital, digital marketing, disruption, Hello Fresh, marketing, media, sales promotion, Uber

I was working in New York just prior to the first dot.con collapse. I still recall the chancers and opportunists standing on street corners with suitcases full of business cards. They were literally handing them out to any random passer-by, as the primary way to get traffic to their websites. An early form of geo-targeting by the first generation of digital marketers.

business card

The activity reeked of desperation, but hey, they were heady times. Rich veins of gold were just waiting to be tapped by the dot.con zealots.

I’ve been reminded of those times again recently. It seems the street hustlers who harass you to support a charity, are now competing for sidewalk space with the latest cyber-hustlers selling online retail and App-based services.

Hello Fresh promoters are everywhere. I mentioned them in my last post – they are major users of print distributed by mail, letterbox, inserts and face-to-face (or hand-to-hand as some now call it).

hello

Interestingly, in a few short months Hello Fresh has moved from $30 off your first order to $50 off your first order. That’s not a good trend and indicates a very competitive market with too many suppliers. Watch this space for brand consolidation in the near future. Like 1999, the predictions are that some of these home delivered food brands won’t last.

hello fresh 2

Hello Fresh

And sometimes fate steps in. Just as I was finishing editing this post there was a knock at my door and a charming lady selling Hello Fresh appeared. She even agreed to a photo for my blog. I didn’t become a customer as we are well-stocked for food. But what an innovative channel – knocking on doors to sell things. Did anyone see that digital disruption coming? Well it certainly disrupted dinner.

Hello Fresh door knocker

Helpling also uses printed inserts, brochures in letterboxes and hand-to-hand via street walkers to grow its business. Like all online retailers, they use that amazing digi-breakthrough of giving away a discount with your first purchase. This is a disruptive technique used by marketers for, hmmm, since the beginning of time!

hello 2

helpling

And this week, outside a CBD train station in Sydney, an Uber street walker shoved this in my hand.

Uber 2

Uber 1

Now who in their right-digi-mind would have thought it possible?

The disruptive taxi booking service for the App generation, is resorting to handing out printed leaflets in the streets, with discount offers, to acquire new customers?

What’s really really really really old, is new again – again:)

SP_move-along

And just to clarify other digital myths doing the rounds:

  • Uber is not the world’s biggest taxi service. It’s one of the world’s biggest taxi booking services.
  • Airbnb is not the world’s biggest hotel – it’s one of the biggest accommodation booking services.

But why let the truth get in the way of a good digi-story about the disruption industry? It seems to me, the old quote applies more and more these days – “the more things change, the more they stay the same…”

Though it is ironic that by using fashionable marketing jargon like “disruptive” and disruption” I sound sooo 2016, yet these alleged disruptive brands smell like, umm well, so 1999…

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Would you let your 15 year old daughter ride alone with Uber?

11 Thursday Dec 2014

Posted by Malcolm Auld in Advertising, Branding, Digital, Digital marketing, Group Buying, Marketing, Social Media

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

advertising, airbnb, branding, digital marketing, loveroom, marketing, sharing, social media, Uber

This was the topic of discussion last weekend amongst some civilised adults with whom I was dining. One, a mother of three daughters, said “I don’t let them hitch-hike so why would I let them get in an Uber car. It’s run by a private company with no industry regulations. How do I know the driver is insured, has a good driving record, or has no criminal record?”

Uber, in case you live under a rock, is a disruptive car service taking on the regulated taxi industry around the world. And while I love to see disruptive technology or services – Richard Branson has built a massive business disrupting the planet – this one has touched more nerves than most.

Typical of the questions being asked by the public are:

  • What happens when someone is killed or badly injured in an Uber car?
  • Does Uber have the right insurance?
  • What if it’s the driver’s fault?
  • Is Uber based in some offshore tax haven to protect itself from law suits?
  • Have the drivers been security checked?
  • What if the driver has been a criminal?

And of course there’s the taxi industry protests around the globe:

uber 1

Uber 2

uber 3

Uber protest

Then this week there was the news of an alleged rape in India by an Uber driver. Now I know that ‘regulated’ taxi drivers have also committed rape, so it’s not because he was an Uber driver that he allegedly committed the crime. But the news was not good.

As Uber is a global brand, disrupting taxi services around the world, the fall-out in one country can have serious ramifications in other markets. That’s the nature of the connected world. And it’s usually the negative news that travels fast. You won’t see a headline like this for example: “Uber driver delivers passenger as planned, without any problems“.

I used Uber when it first arrived in Australia. An American friend of mine introduced me to it. Even better, he sent me home ofter a few bevvies in an Uber car on his account. The car was clean. The driver spoke English as a first language, which is rare in the taxi industry. And he didn’t need to know where to go, because his GPS told him.

I’ve been in taxis where even the use of a GPS was a challenge. The driver couldn’t spell, struggled to comprehend (let alone speak) basic English, so entering a street address was nigh impossible. I had to direct the driver to the destination in between him answering at least 2 different mobile phones in his native tongue.

GPS

Uber is here to stay, but it will have to be incredibly transparent and not combative when questioned about its practices.The best thing it could do is run some mass media advertising to sell its message. It certainly can’t rely on people reading a few FAQs to solve its image and consumer confidence problem.

Airbnb is another disrupter facing similar difficulties. Councils have strict rules on short term holiday rentals and then there’s the issues of insurance, hygiene, privacy, noise, neighbours, theft, etc. They are investing more than most in lawyers to fight their cause and build their brand.

Who knows what will happen if Airbnb hooks up with Tinder, so to speak – the mind boggles? Though Loveroom is working on it.

LoveRoomlogo

Yet even in a regulated industry like accommodation, there are still scam artists. I had a relative who owned a holiday apartment in Queensland. He used a local real estate agent to manage the lettings. As nobody had rented it for a while he stayed for a couple weeks.

While talking with his neighbour he discovered it had been rented regularly for many months, but the real estate agent was ripping off all the money and not telling my relative.

We all hate red tape, but regulations are usually designed to protect the majority, define what’s legally acceptable and to clarify expectations. They are the first crutch humans lean on to argue a point when pushed out of their comfort zone.

And so it has been with the taxi industry. The industry is a monopoly of sorts and provides a barely acceptable standard of service as a result. In fact, it was the poor standard of the taxi industry that gave rise to Uber.

Customers are sick and tired of delays, dirty taxis, drivers who cannot speak the language or know where they’re going. So when they find a driver who is polite, has a clean cab, can speak English and enjoys their work, they cut a deal with them and call the driver directly on their mobile, rather than via the regulated booking system.

It’s why so many people use their own registered ‘drivers’ to pick them up at airports, home or whenever they need a lift. So the taxi industry really cannot blame Uber for existing – they built the foundations for its success and eventual acceptance. But it will be a rough ride for a while.

Tuk-Tuk-Song-Taow

Gotta go to a meeting, but it’s changeover time for taxis and nearly Christmas so there’s no chance I’ll find a cab. Where’s that Uber App?

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