• by Aaron Baar , April 25, 2016

Owning a car can be more headache than joy. Repairs, tickets, obnoxious other drivers and countless other hassles hit drivers more often than the open roads depicted in car commercials. 

In the brand’s first national television effort (and the first national consumer-focused effort for any ride-sharing company), Lyft uses a traffic jam as a metaphor for all the hurdles of car ownership.

The spot, created by the company’s in-house agency and agency Made, begins with frustrated drivers in a wall-to-wall traffic. More cars are added to the fray with different problems: one is driving with a boot on its front tire, another is stopped as a police officer walks a man through an impaired-driving test, a woman putting on makeup crashes into the car ahead of her, setting off a chain reaction.

At the midpoint, a woman gets out of her car, and climbs along all the other cars stuck in the jam, where she opts to order a Lyft car. The ride arrives promptly and she is on her way. The spot ends with the line, “Riding is the new driving.”

“The television spot gives us a lot more awareness and sparks a conversation about how ride sharing is the new form of transportation,” Lyft representative Tim Rathschmidt, tells Marketing Daily. “It’s more than just a traffic jam. It goes through to the downfalls of modern car ownership.”

The television commercial will run on Millennial-favorite networks such as Comedy Central, ABC Family and Adult Swim, and on digital channels as well. In addition, the brand has created a new outdoor effort that will appear in 19 markets, including at airports in 11 of those markets, Rathschmidt says, adding, “This is about three times bigger than anything we have done before.” 

The outdoor pieces use the brand’s signature pink color and a playful attitude to grab attention. Created by illustrator Noma Bar, one piece uses a rabbit, whose profile gaps make the shape of a car, and the headline, “Hop to it.” Another shows a leg with a car acting as a roller skate, with the headline, “Bust a commute.”

“It pulls through what we offer in our service and what we offer [in personality] as well,” Rathschmidt says. “It’s playful and has a double meaning.”