The Undercover Lyft digital series was designed to create a cultural moment to give the public another way to interact with the Lyft brand. Its objectives were and are to; give potential and existing passengers other ways to get to know Lyft's brand persona, highlight the memorable in-car aspect of the Lyft experience and collaborate with celebrities that embody Lyft's DNA and amplify its message.
The Lyft experience is about highlighting meaningful connections between drivers and passengers, and developing the overall community. The Undercover Lyft series showcases Lyft's key differentiators that positions the brand as playful, fun and relatable. Lyft has been able to tell this story by sharing the series with press and earning relevant media placements and social media posts.
Undercover Lyft resonates with a range of audiences because it gives consumers a unique proof point to more deeply understand the brand. The series highlights two of Lyft's core pillars; fostering relationships between passengers and drivers and creating a unique experience.
Each Undercover Lyft episode is timed around a moment relevant to talent to create a robust wave of buzz and awareness - whether a focused release date or clever use of names/places relevant to the driver. After the first few episodes, Lyft expanded its focus outside of the sports world and highlighted musicians to take part in the series, leading to a broader range of coverage including: music, entertainment, fan-sites, and general lifestyle.
The Undercover Lyft series has moved the rideshare needle by showcasing memorable experiences and generating positive reactions to the brand.
Reporters have come to love and expect new Undercover Lyft content, often referencing past episodes in their coverage. The series has garnered over 1,000 press articles with impressions exceeding 5.6 billion and 820 million social impressions. Total views across Lyft's social channels along with partnered talent exceed 73 million with an additional 2 million engagements (reactions, comments, shares).
Undercover Lyft's campaign posts saw over 11 million views on Facebook and almost 26 million views on YouTube. Collectively, partnered talent saw over 37 million views on Facebook as a result of their shared campaign posts.
The series made a positive impact on Lyft's overall brand awareness, resulting in a significant shift from previous quarters for Lyft's key brand metrics: unaided awareness increased by 2%, consumers' familiarity around the brand increased by 4%, Lyft usage increased by 2% and customer loyalty (competitive net promoter score) also increased by 2%. In the fourth quarter, unaided brand awareness increased by 9 percentage points, while aided brand awareness increased by 6%. In 2016, Lyft was able to triple its rides from 53 to 160 million, and 52.6 of those rides occurred in the last quarter of the year.
