[tn13]

That is absolutely right. Uber most certainly needs to fire their PR people. If I had to design a campaign to ensure Uber loses the vote, that is how I would designed the PR. It was unbelievably bad.

Asking for votes is essentially an emotional argument and you need to play on people's emotions just the way Coke sells their soda or Axe sells deodorants. Uber should have shown "we are creating well paying jobs". "We are helping women", "we are helping environment" type of emotional arguments showing babies, blondes, mothers and cats.

Just to give an example how horrible Uber is at PR:

Uber's surge pricing is an excellent feature. But why on earth would you name it "surge pricing"? It is like BMW calling its cars "Overpriced Metal". Both "surge" and "pricing" are bad words and combined they are the worst possible naming for a feature.

The correct naming for surge pricing should have been "Uber Urgent" or "Uber VIP". The way it should have been designed is that: 1. Drivers opt in for Uber Urgent. Whenever there is a surge in demand driver goes into Urgent Only mode. 2. Let the passengers wait for the usual low fares or select Uber Urgent and get their rides quickly. In fact asking passengers to bid in 3-4 levels would make a lot of sense.

Uber Urgent could have been advertised as: 1. Empowers drivers to earn more by helping those in urgent need. 2. Helps people in need get the cars faster 3. Reduces traffic on road during rush hour. 4. Skip the line as if you are VIP. No more waiting.

[zaidf]

You're underestimating the value of being a company that always has a cab for you within minutes. With your approach, the default in the public's mind would be "there is no uber till 3am!" vs. "Uber is the on the way...btw it's 25% extra due to the rush."

A name like VIP is bad because it discourages regular use. It sounds like something you use once a year on special occasions.

[tn13]

You are correct. VIP might be not the right word but there could be better wording than the official "surge pricing". If you are charging someone 25% more clearly tell why and what the user is getting more than those who are not willing to pay 25% extra.

Or simply don't tell anything about increased prices. Just show the estimated price and let the user decide if he wants it or not.

In fact you can on-board the user into app to simply be blind to price increases up-to 75% or something.

[eric_h]

Not to mention that Uber already has a VIP concept in their product that's quite interesting. Pairs frequent customers with the highest rated drivers.

Amusingly, in less Uber dense neighborhoods in NYC (i.e. anything that's not Manhattan) Uber VIP is a worse option for getting a quick ride. For me, when I'm in the outer boroughs I opt for regular uber x, but when I'm in Manhattan I do Uber VIP.

[CamperBob2]

If I had to design a campaign to ensure Uber loses the vote, that is how I would designed the PR.

Is it possible that's exactly what Uber's opposition did?

[pc86]

It's possible Uber is run by lizardmen and the Illuminati. But without any evidence actually pointing to that it doesn't really make sense to just throw accusations out into the air.

[CamperBob2]

This isn't a random idea I made up just to dissipate some extra karma on Hacker News, you know.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_job

Edit: Also, who's accusing anyone of anything (besides you)? I'm just asking questions here.