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hailey fitzgerald / strategist ☆
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entry no. 2.
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Reimagining Waymo for Women
This project explores how Waymo can build its brand around women’s safety after dark.
Content advisory: Topics in this project include sexual assault.
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My Passengers: Marrissa Price (CW), Lorna Graham (AD)
The Brief
PROBLEM: Waymo is not the first pick amongst rideshare apps.INSIGHT: People fill what they don't know with fear.TARGET: Women who want to feel in control of their nights out. STRATEGY: Make Waymo women's refuge on the road.
My Spark
With the rise of AI tools, it was both refreshing and motivating to apply an AI product toward solving a real-world problem.
Research Methods
Surveys
Quick polls revealed common patterns in safety concerns, routines, and trust issues especially around solo travel and late-night rides.
We started by diving into the rhythms of a night out—where people go, what keeps them out late, and how they decide it’s time to call a ride.
Bar Interviews
A night of bar interviews turned into real conversations, with everyone from friends out for drinks to teen soccer players and their parents from California, some of whom use Waymo.
Social Listening
Hours of TikTok scrolling showed how Waymo appears online (from safety stories to viral complaints) until my feed became nonstop Waymo ride videos.
Competitive Analysis
Compared Waymo to Uber and Lyft across trust, tech perception, and safety: revealing a clear gap in emotional connection and human-centered communication.
for every 1 waymo rider...
there's 3 in an Uber or Lyft
why is that? ✎
Rideshare is a habit. Most people open Uber or Lyft on autopilot: they know what to expect, and that familiarity is hard to compete with.
THE CHALLENGE
WAYMO ISN'T THE FIRST PICK FOR RIDESHARES
WHY NOT?!
In a space ruled by human drivers, skepticism and misinformation about autonomous safety keep people from trusting the very technology built to protect them.
For most, when they think about safety in OTHER rideshare vehicles, they think about: seatbelts, airbags going off, and if the car can survive a crash.
Social's View
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ridesharetalk
Most negative reactions to Waymo come from misunderstanding, not experience.
🚗 safety first
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↑ trust is the real roadblock!
THE INSIGHT
PEOPLE FILL WHAT THEY DON'T KNOW WITH FEAR.
WHY ?!
When something is unfamiliar, people don’t leave it blank, they instinctively try to make it make sense. Without real information, their brain defaults to protective thinking, often imagining worst-case scenarios as a way to stay in control.
FOR WOMEN, SAFETY IS NEVER ASSUMED .
THE REALITY
OTHER RIDESHARE APPS HAVE A HISTORY OF REPORTED SEXUAL ASSAULT. WOMEN ARE LEFT TO PLAN AROUND THE RISK.
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why is that? ✎
safety precautions women take
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WOMEN HAVE CHANGED HOW THEY RIDE. NOW THE RIDE NEEDS TO CHANGE.
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STRATEGY
Make Waymo women’s refuge on the road.
HOW?!
Waymo becomes a space women can trust when they feel most vulnerable; a reassuring alternative to traditional rideshares.
CAMPAIGN: No Drivers Here
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BAR ACTIVATIONS
← where it all begins ✎
It starts in the bathroom: where women feel safest, surrounded by other women. Waymo shows up with essentials and stall signage that play on the cultural moments women use in conversation, making safety part of it.
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♡
☆ safety, one stall at a time ☆
HOW IT SCALES
← extending it ✎
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Waymo shows up in the moments that matter, with bar coasters that share key safety facts and prompt safer choices about getting home.
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♡
Planned to launch during April’s Sexual Assault Awareness Month, the campaign partners with Take Back the Night: combining donations with a powerful Motorcade event that reclaims the streets and drives awareness.
EXPERIENTIAL
← taking it to the streets ✎
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☆ reclaiming the night, together ☆
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What I Learned
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This project’s framing to solve a real issue showed me that advertising can have meaningful impact when approached with the right perspective.