Cruise driverless cars had been test driving on public streets for many years. But there had been very little communication from the company explaining the purpose of the cars. So, left unchecked and fueled by fears about robots and AI, public sentiment towards the cars grew distinctly negative.

It's hard enough launching a new brand. Launching a new brand that's preemptively disliked and feared, well, that's a next-level brief. So we broke it into three phases: 1. Change perception of driverless technology, 2. Introduce the service, 3. Convince people to take a ride.

PHASE ONE: To change perception of the driverless technology we needed to infuse more humanity. We introduced Poppy, the official Cruise spokesvehicle. She was our R2D2 to counteract the public’s Terminator perception.

PHASE TWO: Introducing the service wasn’t as simple as it sounds. After many years of driverless testing, people were familiar with the cars and the brand, but not the purpose of either. Were the cars for sale? Was this an aftermarket tech product? The basic concept of a driverless ride service was still unfamiliar to most people.