Project Overview
For my Principles of Marketing final project at WashU, my team and I developed a marketing campaign strategy for Waymo, the autonomous car company. After conducting background research into Waymo’s market and identifying public distrust of self-driving technology as a key challenge, we proposed a public safety campaign called “Waymo Safe.” The initiative was designed to build trust among college students by educating them on the technology and infrastructure behind Waymo’s vehicles. The project culminated in a research paper, slide deck, and final presentation, where we applied market analysis, positioning, and communication strategy to address a real-world business problem.
Research
Challenge
Our goal was to identify a current marketing problem or challenge within Waymo that may dissuade audiences from participating in its services. We found that, because self-driving cars are still relatively new to the market, many consumers have reservations about using them, with safety concerns being the most significant barrier to adoption. The challenge was to work around this concern in a cautious and uplifting way, positioning Waymo as a trustworthy and safe service to boost public confidence in their ride-share features.
To better understand consumer perceptions, we conducted both secondary research and primary data collection through surveys. Our survey, distributed primarily among college students, gathered 90 responses and focused on demographics, transportation habits, familiarity with Waymo, and perceptions of autonomous vehicles. The results revealed that over 60% of respondents had little to no familiarity with Waymo, while 93% indicated that safety and reliability were the most important factors influencing their willingness to try an autonomous ride service. This confirmed our hypothesis that consumer education and trust-building needed to be central to our proposed marketing strategy.
For our research, we combined background research with primary data collection to get a clearer picture of Waymo’s marketing challenges. On the secondary side, we looked at industry reports, competitor strategies (Uber, Lyft, Tesla), and Waymo’s own messaging around safety. On the primary side, we designed and distributed a survey, primarily to college students, since they were our intended target market. The survey had three main sections: (1) demographics and transportation habits, (2) familiarity with and perceptions of Waymo and autonomous vehicles, and (3) reactions to potential campaign themes such as safety, comfort, and customizability. We collected 90 responses, which gave us insights into awareness levels, trust barriers, and the kinds of messaging that resonated most.
Brainstorming
Result
Our survey results highlighted three major findings. First, there is a significant awareness gap, as many respondents were unfamiliar with Waymo or its services. Second, safety and reliability clearly emerged as the most important factors influencing willingness to try autonomous vehicles, with 93.3% of participants indicating that a campaign emphasizing these themes would increase their interest. By contrast, comfort (51.1%) and customizability (54.4%) generated only moderate interest, showing that differentiation features alone would not be enough to win over skeptical consumers. Finally, our results confirmed that skepticism around safety and limited brand recognition remain the biggest barriers to adoption, even among tech-savvy college students.
These insights shaped our proposed solution: the Waymo Safe campaign. Designed as a public education initiative, Waymo Safe directly addresses safety concerns while raising awareness among college students. Through live demonstrations that allow students to test the vehicles, partnerships with universities to subsidize late-night rides, and a social media campaign featuring trusted student influencers, Waymo Safe aims to build familiarity, strengthen consumer trust, and position Waymo as both a safe and affordable transportation option.