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Mastering PA & PR for New and Shared Mobility
Understand how to manage public affairs and public relations around mobility solutions.
Are you wondering how you can influence policy and utilize PR to get your message across and improve mobility in cities? I’m Julia, here to show how you can navigate political momentum, public scrutiny, and media attention.
Why it Matters
Whether you’re an emerging startup or a well-known operator, your product can face challenges in being misunderstood by regulators and undermined by incumbents. By engaging in PA and PR, you can:
- Foster trust and credibility with key stakeholders, such as politicians, local communities, and journalists. You can accomplish this by openly addressing concerns and showcasing the real benefits of your mobility solution in creating greener cities.
- Inform public opinion by countering untrue narratives before it’s too late. Ultimately, you can create a friendlier climate for your services.
- Influence policy rather than simply reacting to it. This can potentially mitigate or reverse unfair regulations
When done right, proactive engagement saves time, money, and resources, while strengthening both your reputation and your market position.
Recent article from Movability:
Recognize the Political Influence
Many overlook the possibility of influencing policy, assuming it’s a distant or impossible process or assuming that the point of view of your industry is known. In reality, if a proposed regulation is biased, you can (and often should) speak up.
In Norway, new platform based taxi operators in 2017 faced a potential shutdown by meeting with the authorities, explaining the benefits of their model in helping to avoid overpricing that happens in on-street hailing. They then asked to be regulated. By working closely with officials, operators helped shape regulations that paved the way for ride-hail apps.
Here’s how you can do the same:
- Research the political landscape
Understand existing regulations and what’s in the pipeline. Political processes can move slowly, but changes can still arrive with little notice if you aren’t following the right channels. - Assess your alliance options
Sometimes, it’s more effective to unite with competitors to form a common front, especially if you share the same regulatory challenges. - Engage early
Being ahead can stop unfair and illegitimate regulations before they’re set in stone. If you wait, reversing them can be time-consuming and costly, not to mention a severely difficult process.
Politicians are seldom experts in any particular field. Businesses can absolutely affect decisions, especially when a regulation doesn’t make sense for cities.
Combine PR and Public Affairs to Show How Your Solution Solves a Real Problem to Win Public Support
Political advocacy and PR go hand in hand. A good example is how the food delivery industry in Norway has shown politicians how food delivery has peak demand making fixed employees impossible to maintain. Instead they coined the “Norwegian model” where a fixed base of employees take the constant demand, while freelancers handle demand peaks.
Regulators are sensitive to public opinion. Building support among citizens, local communities, and the press is essential in order to make lawmakers realize the value of your service.
- Highlight real benefits: Show how your solution reduces traffic, cuts emissions, or increases accessibility for vulnerable groups.
- Address negative narratives quickly: If the media is painting your product in a negative light, e.g. focusing on accidents or clutter, respond promptly and transparently to avoid letting that perception set in.
- Leverage neutral voices: Find credible third parties (e.g., academics, or industry experts) who can validate your service in a balanced way without being dismissed as self-interested.
In many cases, the key to shaping public sentiment lies in showing how your product or service can provide a net positive for society as a whole, both users and non-users alike.
You won’t get politicians on board unless you have the public on your side. If you have happy customers, you have a supporter base. Provide them with a platform to speak up, and let their voices be heard all the way into the chambers of power.
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Build Bridges – Even with Competitors
Navigating new or changing regulations in a growing industry can be challenging, with strong interest groups that may influence the process excessively. As a measure, competitors with common political interests should stand together on major issues. When e-scooter operators faced restrictive regulations in Oslo, competing operators worked together to advocate for shared industry guidelines. This joint effort helped prevent blanket bans and instead promoted structured tender frameworks. Cooperating with competitors is complicated, so be aware of these factors:
- Establish a common baseline: Identify which parts of the proposed regulation harm all operators equally. An example from micromobility could be overly restrictive vehicle caps or high licensing fees. Whatever they are, create well crafted argumentation to counter them, and make sure everyone is on the same page.
- Seek third-party facilitation: Just as couples use counseling, mobility competitors sometimes need a neutral consultant or PR agency to broker common ground.
- Beware hidden agendas: Some competitors may initially feign interest but later undermine the group’s efforts. Trust is earned over time. However, the payoff for a successful collaboration can be enormous, including shared legal strategies, better media coverage, and a more viable market overall.
It may feel counterintuitive to join forces with competitors, but if you share a political goal, a united industry front can be far more powerful than a single company.
Responding to Media Scrutiny
When you’re offering a product that is misunderstood and doesn’t yet have universal acceptance, media storms can flare up. Again, micromobility offers great examples to learn from. When e-scooters were blamed for pedestrian accidents in several European cities, leading operators proactively engaged with the media to explain new safety measures, such as lower speed limits and designated parking zones. If you need to navigate the media effectively, here are the important lessons:
- Stay accessible: Journalists often interpret “no comment” as a sign of wrongdoing or disorganization.
- Acknowledge real concerns: Authentic transparency builds credibility. Acknowledge stakeholder issues with your product, show empathy and offer data and concrete steps you’re taking to address them (e.g., safety measures, research).
- Be timely: If you notice an incorrect narrative gaining momentum, respond quickly before it becomes an entrenched story.
A balanced approach involves showing empathy for public concerns while clarifying misconceptions. This approach can significantly shift perceptions to a fairer and more constructive discussion where you help solve issues instead of being the issue.
It’s better to take the call and be honest than to hide. One or two negative articles don’t kill your reputation. Going silent might.
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Long-Term Reputation Building
Political processes don’t always align with the rapid pace that you might be used to in the mobility sector.
To foster long-term resilience:
- Plan for the long haul: Serious regulatory shifts or an extended advocacy effort can span months or years. Budget accordingly.
- Stay adaptive: Politics can shift overnight, or a sudden event (like a safety incident) may transform the debate. Remain ready to pivot.
- Hire for expertise: When crucial regulatory changes loom, specialized consultants or employees with direct political or media experience can make a decisive difference. The world of politics has a logic of its own, and it takes someone with experience to navigate the many obstacles.
Ultimately, success in new mobility hinges not just on technological innovation or a foolproof business model. Its entirety can very much depend on effectively engaging the whole ecosystem involving politicians, local communities, and the media. Mastering the environment that you operate in shapes whether your service will thrive or not.
You can’t guarantee overnight success in influencing policy. But not trying at all guarantees you’re stuck with rules you dislike.
Conclusion
Navigating new or changing regulations in a growing industry can be tough, with strong interest groups exerting their influence.
Public Affairs and Public Relations play a key role in whether a new mobility product succeeds. Understanding that policy influence is possible can help shape opinions and secure better regulations for your business. This involves using both political planning and strategic communication, and uniting forces with competitors.
While dealing with negative media coverage or approaching politicians may feel difficult, taking action early is often cheaper and more effective than dealing with bad regulations later. In the fast-changing mobility sector, having a clear and well-planned PA & PR strategy is not just helpful. Indeed, it can be the key to long-term success.
What PA & PR challenges has your company faced in new and shared mobility? Let’s discuss!
