"Waze saved my life"
That's what the lady at the check-out counter told me yesterday while we were talking about the recent Atlanta ice storm. This is the united conversation topic among anyone in Atlanta. She was telling me her story about how if it wasn't for the WAZE app on her iPhone, she and her daughter would have been stranded for hours that day.
What a testimonial! This was a real word-of-mouth moment that brand marketers fantasize about. Here was a customer passionately promoting their product to strangers because they want everyone to know about it.
During the Atlanta Ice Emergency, WAZE helped people get home safely to their families
The ice storm that hit Atlanta made national news when a layer of ice covered the city, causing many people to be stuck in their cars -- some up to 12 hours overnight in the freezing cold because they were unable to to get home.It's a powerful story. People who had smart technology available in their cars at the time it happened were able to find a quicker, safer way home to their family.
RT @waze: RT @CRCampana: If you had @waze app yesterday in Atlanta traffic, you got home
— Eric Johnson (@itsEric) January 30, 2014
Perfect Marketing Opportunity:
The marketing team at Waze would be wise to launch a massive promotion in Atlanta while it remains fresh in the minds of the Atlanta people. What a huge opportunity to come into a major region to highlight positive stories about how people were able to make it home to their families. Children were able to be fed; elderly were able to have their medicine and emergency workers were able to make it to their jobs to help more stranded motorists.In this case, any real-time marketing efforts to spotlight the stories of real WAZE users that made it home safely during the big ice storm would result in an exponential increase of the app's popularity. Besides emergency situations, WAZE could also be promoted before major sports events or other planned events where traffic congestion is expected to be an issue.
