Maven – Its Growth and Success in Detroit and the U.S.

I had the opportunity to attend Adcraft Detroit’s most recent event where Maven’s Chief Marketing Officer, Megan Stooke, spoke about the organization’s latest and greatest efforts. Maven, a subsidiary of General Motors, is a mobility service that touts free lifetime memberships for people to rent vehicles for personal use and jobs in the gig economy. The organization’s presence in dense urban populations allows people to skip on leasing/owning a vehicle and simply leverage their services when needed, all through via Maven’s app.

Fun stats Stooke shared:

• There are over 10,000 ride sharing initiatives globally; this is the biggest shift since the industrial revolution
• 6 years of life is spent in traffic
• 30% of fuel is wasted waiting for parking
• For every Maven vehicle used, 10 cars come off the road
• Maven can be found in 11 North American markets, including Detroit, and is growing rapidly
  • (In fact, one of the Detroit locations is in the same building we’re in, the GMRENCEN and our team loves using Maven!)
• There are over 120,000 Maven members, 80% of which are millennials
• There have been over 24M miles driven in Maven vehicles
• 100 Maven employees are making their success possible

From an advertising/marketing perspective, Stooke highlighted that Maven is proud of being something of a startup. Having an entrepreneurial spirit and noting that mobility is an extremely competitive field where there are tens of thousands of start-ups, Stooke shared her tips for success:

• Be obsessed with performance
  • Stooke stated that Maven strives to continually redefine the traditional OEM process
• Focus on a clear rallying cry
  • Maven’s rallying cry this year is 6-10-4 aka the team works 6 days a week, 10 hours per day and strives to become a 4star app
• Be agile and responsive
  • Consumer needs are changing and Maven wishes to innovate to accommodate these preferences
• Be curious
  • Maven is always measuring its success and curiously discovering ways to improve

I think Maven is an amazing, innovative company that is making a huge difference around the country, especially here in Detroit. Other startups can learn a lot from the organization’s business model. I will certainly be taking the ‘be curious’ motto to heart – looking for new solutions every opportunity I get in my work.

How is your organization making groundbreaking innovations? Here at Franco, we stand by a Detroit Inspires Me motto – helping Detroit, Michigan and national companies tell their stories through marketing, social media, PR and more. Contact us today if you’re ready to kick it up a notch.

Megan Bonelli is a senior account executive at Franco, where she works on automotive and B2B accounts. She can be reached at bonelli@franco.com.