Case Tier Mobility
Stimulating constructive media debate and strengthening market position in a challenging environment
"The Korner team has the right mix of skills and expertise for us, including storytelling, corporate communications and crisis communications, and they have excellent media relations. They also clearly know how to respond to the specific needs of a rapidly changing environment, which is typical of growth companies like TIER. That combination is exactly what we need from a partner to raise awareness of the TIER brand and build our position in the competitive Finnish market - while responding to industry challenges and increasing positive media coverage. Excellent personal chemistry completes the package."
- Florian Anders, Viestintäjohtaja / Head of Corporate Communications, TIER Mobility
Starting point
TIER Mobility is an international company that rents electric bikes and electric scooters, operating in 16 cities in Finland. At the beginning of 2022, a new, unregulated industry had attracted a lot of negative media attention. Korner's work has been aimed at increasing the solution-oriented media debate around the industry, and we have succeeded in significantly increasing both the number of stories on regulatory developments and TIER's regional media visibility.
Solution
Korner has acted as TIER's media relations partner in close cooperation with the company's international PR team and Finnish management. All media work has been aimed at increasing the debate on safety legislation to safeguard the operating conditions for electric-powered scootering well into the future.
Successful media communication has been a combination of localising TIER's international press releases and initiatives for the media, brainstorming and implementing proactive story proposals and opinion pieces. Media work has covered topics such as the need for promille limits, international examples of best practice in the sector, the results of opinion surveys of Finnish users and the launch of new cities of action. To achieve the best results, PR work has been carried out in close cooperation with TIER's advocacy office.
Korner also trained key TIER staff in media relations and possible crisis communication situations. We also implemented two large-scale marketing campaigns for the company, focusing on influencer marketing and outdoor advertising.
Since their arrival in Finland, electric scooters have been the subject of much debate, and the sector has received negative attention in some quarters, for example because of accidents. Challenges have been posed by drunk driving, lack of knowledge of traffic rules, inadequate infrastructure for micro-transport and insufficient capacity of cities to regulate electric scooter operators in their area.
At the same time, electric scooters and electric bicycles have made urban mobility smoother and complemented existing public transport systems. TIER Mobility believes that climate-neutral micro-mobility is here to stay - so urban space must be made as safe and attractive as possible for environmentally sustainable forms of mobility. TIER's solution is to drive new safety legislation and urban infrastructure development.
Results
We have succeeded in bringing TIER's objectives and new openings into the debate through targeted media work. Through proactive media work, TIER has been featured in more than 30 different media outlets nationally and regionally, with dozens of articles and opinion pieces.
In line with TIER's objectives, the media coverage in 2022 was more active than in the previous year, in particular on the reform of legislation on electric cars and the introduction of speed limits. In 2022, 206 articles were published on the reform of the legislation on electric vehicles or the so-called licensing model, compared to 136 in 2021. This represents an increase of around 51%. In 2022, there were 246 articles on speed limits, compared to 72 in the previous year, an increase of more than 240%.
Regionally, TIER gained a lot of visibility for both electric scooters and electric bikes for hire launches and user data in all its cities of operation. TIER's regional managers were made known to the local media, increasing the company's ability to comment on the debate on electric scooters in the media.
The tone of the stories has also changed. In 2021, a large proportion of articles on EVs focused on problematic issues such as drink-driving and accidents. In 2022, the debate focused on ways to overcome challenges such as pavement driving or drink-driving, in line with TIER's objectives.
