Lime’s Biggest Ever Campaign Suggests a ‘Clean Break’ from Cars

Lime, the world’s largest shared electric vehicle company, is prepping for sunnier climes in its key markets with the launch of one of its biggest campaigns ever. 

Entitled ‘Make a Clean Break’, the campaign was created and produced entirely by Lime’s in-house creative team and is built on the brand’s core belief that a better world is possible through the use of greener transportation and less reliance on cars.

“We know that today, car owners often are forced to navigate multiple headaches while operating their vehicle including parking, traffic, endless payments, maintenance, and more,” says Christian Navarro, director of brand marketing at Lime. Research from Christian’s team that backs that up reveals that transportation is the leading contributor to carbon emissions in the United States and second globally, primarily due to car and truck use. Cars kill more than 1.3 million people globally each year, and particulate matter from tires is nearly 2,000 times more polluting than car exhausts, severely damaging air quality. “It’s time to make a clean break from cars, and instead, ride Lime,” adds Christian. 

The tagline plays on the human truth that some changes in life, though hard to make, are worth it and often transform our lives for the better. “We’ve all been in relationships (romantic or otherwise), where a change was needed - a clean break, to really start over and make life better,” says Christian. “This parallel was too good to not be our way in for this campaign. We wanted to make the campaign super relatable to our riders and potential riders, and this was a great way to do it. This led us to the idea that we want people to ‘Make a Clean Break’ and ride Lime. Lime can be a source of newness, freshness, and an unexpected way to go about your day - and a way to escape the things that you think are inescapable - traffic, car payments, stress, etc.”

‘Make a Clean Break’ is a truly global campaign. It’s launching in nearly four times as many markets as prior campaigns, with activity in cities including Los Angeles, Denver, Milan, Dusseldorf, Minneapolis, Washington DC, Seattle, Atlanta, Rome and Berlin. Christian and the team at Lime worked closely with local operations and government relations teams to ensure that the campaign, while global in nature, felt local in essence and would resonate with each city. 

Some examples of localised copywriting across the US are:

What’s more, the launch follows Lime’s February announcement that it became the first micro-mobility company to post a fully profitable year. This financial success is key to doubling down on larger marketing campaigns such as ‘Make a Clean Break’. With this in mind, Christian and the team remained diligent in how they conceived the campaign as well as how they planned the media. “Our goal with this campaign,” he says, “and future marketing campaigns, is to continue driving our leading market position as well as to continue investing our marketing dollars into bolstering our global presence.

“This year,” he adds, “we’re continuing to drive brand awareness using the channel that’s probably most in front of our riders and potential riders: out-of-home! With impactful buys across Los Angeles (bus sides), and takeovers like our Union Station buy in Denver or digital six-sheets in Milan, we are showing up in transportation spaces where our message can be most relevant.”

Christian also points out that for the first time ever at scale, Lime is using its vehicle fleet as moving billboards for the campaign, something that he says is ‘ownable and unique to us’. “Hundreds of our e-bikes in Atlanta, Washington DC, Denver, Minneapolis, Rome and Milan will carry the campaign, allowing us to reach riders in a new way across every corner of our campaign cities – and in places (and for audiences) that traditional out-of-home media couldn’t reach,” says Christian.

Outside of this campaign, Christian is pleased to share that it’s somewhat of a beginning of marketing activity for Lime. The brand is actively gearing up for one of its biggest global Pride campaigns to date. Launching in June, Lime is partnering with local LGBTQIA+ organisations in eight cities across the globe to support local Pride events and encourage riders to travel on Pride flag-wrapped Lime vehicles. Lime will also make donations to all participating partners. In addition to wrapping its vehicles, Lime will conduct an ongoing brand awareness campaign via social media as well as in-app and email messaging to let its riders know about the opportunity to support global brand organisations throughout the month of June. “Our Pride campaign is the latest example of our value-driven approach,” says Christian, ”building upon our industry-leading Lime Access program, which offers discounts for riders in need, and our Lime Hero program, which allows riders to round up the cost of their rides to support local community organisations.”

“While I can’t share too many specifics [about other future marketing activities], I can say that the core of our marketing strategy is to find meaningful and authentic ways to engage with riders and non-riders alike. All of our marketing campaigns are rooted in our mission to build a future where transportation is shared, affordable and carbon-free.”

“We are always on the move to bring life and purpose - and brand love - to our brand, and this new campaign (‘Make a Clean Break’) continues to double down on that principle for us.”