Lime offer their services in over 100 cities around the globe, but focus on these cities independently in order to build branding in a more localised fashion.
Lime has very recently laid off a number of staff, including members of its brand team. As noted in The Drum:
“The company will close its operations in Atlanta, Phoenix, San Diego and San Antonio in the North America; Linz, Austria in Europe; and Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Lima, Puerto Vallarta, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo in South America.”
Most layoffs have come from the recruitment team and from 12 closed markets. No marketing jobs have been lost at the local market level.
But in spite of releasing around 100 staff – which equates to around 14% of its workforce – the brand has recommitted to its hyper-local brand strategy.
What is their strategy?
Currently, Lime hire local agencies in order to build their brand. Lime offer their services in over 100 cities around the globe, but focus on these cities independently in order to build branding in a more localised fashion.
Why the re-commitment?
Lime’s chief executive, Brad Bao, has claimed that the closures are related to the company shifting its focus towards profitability due to a saturated scooter market. He wrote that the company wants to become ‘financially independent’ after they raised a massive $310 million in funding in February.
The startup will now focus on efforts on markets which have:
“adopted micromobility transportation solutions quickly and are profitable”
Duke Stump, Lime’s chief marketing officer, has admitted that a hyper-local approach does indeed make marketing “harder to measure” – and is “more work” than centralising strategies. He did however also argue that it promotes sustainability:
“It creates a great foundation and I actually think it just leads to greater insight in terms of how you can be relevant and resonate at the local level.”
So it’s clear that, regardless of the layoffs, Lime still want to make their marketing appealing to every single one of their local markets.