How Lime is leaning on creators to stand out on the bike rack

As a brand with bikes and scooters in 280 global cities, Lime knows standing out in a rack of competitors can’t come from taking any cultural guesses. 

“You can’t take the risk of trying to be local if you’re not local,” said Christian Navarro, Lime’s head of brand marketing. “If you don’t get those nuances, you start to lose credibility as a brand.” 

Whether the topic is jargon or bike safety norms, Navarro is leaning into local fluency to build international loyalty. While Lime has a team presence in some markets outside of the US, the brand is focused on building the right creator partnerships that fill in those cultural gaps. 

From highlighting the sustainability benefits of choosing an e-bike or scooter to positioning their brand as a fun addition to a weekend plan, Lime is also using creator storytelling to chase a consumer base that doesn’t just come back when they’re in a pinch.

“We’re still working on the question of, ‘How do we build a loyal following?’” said Navarro. “It’s an interesting marketing challenge to find a loyal group of people who will choose us when there’s a lineup of so many options in front of them.” 

Courting creators to build brand affinity 

Instead of solely competing on bike quality or price, Lime aims to establish a brand identity that resonates with audience values, which is where both creator and brand partnerships come into play. 

On Sept 22, Lime partnered with Mastercard UK and the Priceless Planet Coalition for World Car Free Day. For every ride that a participant in the UK paid for with a Mastercard, the brand worked with Conservation International to restore a tree. The campaign resulted in 29,049 trees planted. 

“We look for micro or nano influencers that have a highly-engaged following around things that matter to us, like sustainability and accessible transportation,” he said, emphasizing the importance of values alignment over follower count. “The content that performs is about 10% us and 90% them.” 

For people who run through a list of options when they’re going somewhere—subway, Uber,  walk, bus etc—Navarro is first positioning his brand as a solution.  

“Sometimes your nearest bus stop is a mile away and there’s no way for you to get to the bus to get to the city to get to your job,” highlighting the brand’s role for people who live in transportation deserts. “We’re that last or first mile to get you where you have to go.” 

Connecting bikes to a broader story 

To encourage meaningful content from creators, Lime positions its product as part of a greater story of experience. The brand was a sponsor for Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago and worked with Sziget Music Festival this summer to give festival goers discounts on their travel. 

Creators also feature the brand’s bikes or scooters as a fun addition to their regularly-scheduled hobbies. 

“Our line for partnerships like that is ‘Spend less time getting there and more time being there,’” he said. “We’re spending a lot of time just explaining to people how we can benefit their lives by getting them where they need to go a lot faster, which drives more of a value proposition.” 

After a busy summer season of creator partnerships, the brand continues to look for opportunities to position the brand as an efficient transportation option while engaging with consumers that stay for more than convenience. 

“Making Lime a cool brand to be associated with will continue to grow our business when we’ve got all of these competitors in the mix,” he said. “A lot of that is driven by how we show up locally, and how our voice is spread by people like content creators and influencers.”