General Motors 2015-2016

‘Car sharing’ first started in the early 2000s answering a need to help get people (without a car) and goods move around urban / suburban areas from A to B safely & efficiently. General Motors (GM) saw the opportunity to do something unique and capture value in car sharing.

My role - FIlling the Gap

In 2014, while in the trenches of urban mobility vehicle and system development I noticed we are developing 12+ brilliant micro-macro mobility types in an interconnected ecosystem and there was no clue, story, or soul holding them together.

In late 2014 to early 2015, I worked on different types of brand proposals and met with Chevrolet and other marketing executives making them aware that the mobility systems under development should not be a ‘Chevy’, or a ‘GM’ product due to the unique customer, value proposition and target locations. Also, I identified a skillset gap that no one / organization in GM could effectively build a compelling brand from scratch in this ambiguous space, diverse offerings.

Months later, I secured a $1.8M budget and hired Landor, the father of modern branding to help us build a brand that would resonate with the core customer, be uniquely positioned in the market, and thrive over time.

Core Customer & Position

General Motors (GM) had strong brand presence throughout the US in many mid level urban area and mostly suburban and rural regions. When it came to dense urban and highly populated portions of the country GM’s brand penetration was at, or close to zero.

Also, there was an opportunity for GM through a new brand to resonate with the large millennial population.

Target + Values:

Targeting the younger urbanite, the ‘Trend Blazer’ architype, we noticed a sense of community and belonging was deep in their ethos and behavior.

Positioning:

I helped guide GM CMOs and urban mobility business executives to learn insight and gain empathy for this target group and to establish a strong car sharing brand positioning around community and how the brand + offering can bring people together in unique ways, creating authentic experiences in uncommon / desired locations. We were confident this would bring lasting value and is difficult to effectively replicate.

Maven: An expert, Experienced, in the know

Since 2011, GM had been focused on urban mobility problems and opportunities. One of the greatest outputs of all of GM’s develop was building an ecosystem of products that were interconnected via V2X to one another, customers, and the rest of the infrastructure.

Internally, we called it the Mobility Maven, a smart connected network acting as the glue of all of our products and services. Upon building this, I patented this work as Integrated Travel Services, US Patent US9201926B2.

After rounds of naming, working with Landor we landed with “Maven” based on the emotional / intellectual promise for what is stood for.

Other naming proposals that had promise:

Weave

Triffic

There were others made it to the final test.

I learned that naming and branding in a legacy company is very political, emotional and is best done with a small tight team, while managing approvals and process.

Maven Architecture

Originally the brand architecture was setup to be infinitely expandable, being separated from other GM brands. Due to being hyper focused on car sharing the architecture stayed close to the core offering.

Maven was used in general awareness and marketing.

Maven car sharing is exploit.

Maven + focused on initial pilot in NYC, then later on peer to peer sharing on campuses (related to #shareitforward, Maven).

Maven GIG was a fleet offering of GM vehicles, co-branded with Maven for ride hailing drivers without a vehicle to gain access to a vehicle to drive strangers area for a day, or a week, or more.

Maven Identify + Color Guide

As you can see, the ‘A’ in Maven is the focal point as a simplified ‘A’ turned into a pointer carrot and the symbol of the app and used in other applications.

It is inspired by the double yellow lines on the road. The double lines is used in main messaging and making up key words.

It also symbolizes movement, signifying progress and momentum, pointing the way to the desired destination coupled with human connection.

There is a raw, honest and dynamic lighting in the imagery of Maven moments in a deep urban setting, or a very earthy, almost rustic feel.

A modified Din front was created for Maven is to be used identity and key creative messaging.

Maven Messaging + Application

The continuity of connection from the continuous line captivate the viewer of the next step and the consistency of Maven connecting humans to humans, places and moments that matter.

Shout out to Julio Desir Jr Group for the visuals for launch advertising visuals.

FUnctional Maven Application

Metal signs were posted at every Maven parking location. Sometime the Maven carrots was posted on the ground on stall itself.

Maven branding was applied to the back bottom of each read window of each Maven car.

Maven Experience

Yes, a few years have past since the Maven experience. I guided the product and design to streamline the end to end experience based on target customer needs in dense urban settlings (our NYC beachhead location).

Maven Impact

More Maven Stats: 2016-2020

Total members: 200,000+

Cities: 19

Countries: 3 (USA, Canada, Australia)

Est. miles driven: 500M+

Lessons Learned

Creating Maven from scratch, helping to launch it, and seeing its progress over the years was an exciting experience!

It created jobs for thousands, and helped move 200,000+, over half a billion miles driven. It was an honor to be part of this historic brand and moment for GM. The longevity of Maven did not survive the COVID 19 pandemic due to many restrictions, financial pressures, and social / technology shifts to other services.

I have applied my knowledge and skillset to refining other mobility / clean energy brands since Maven.

Top