In my sophomore year, I developed a detailed IMC plan for a new navigation product. It included marketing research, creative elements, and message design, communication channel identification, budget estimation, and evaluation plan. I created a concept app that uses and analyzes crime rates in addition to GPS tracking to deliver to its users the safest and efficient walking route. You can read my professor's thoughts on the project in my recommendations below.

1. Kelly Hannigan
WalkWaze: An extension of Waze, a GPS navigation system, intended for walking navigation
Part I: Concept Development
Background
Our company has recently been hired by Waze, a Global Positioning System (GPS)
navigation application (app) that uses crowdsourced information to report traffic, crashes,
roadblocks, and police activity. Waze believes that its “service allows car drivers to navigate to
their desired address. It allows drivers and users to assemble and update maps to reflect road
conditions and occurrences on them, such as traffic congestions, road accidents, etc.” (“Terms of
Use from Waze”). Waze uses mostly software to bring to life their successful business model.
GPS navigation, authorization, geolocation and voice instructions are the core features of Waze
and many other GPS apps. Waze sets itself apart from other navigation apps such as Apple Maps
and Google Maps because of the interactive and unique features they offer. These features are on
top of features many navigation apps offer such as the speed limit, turn-by-turn voice navigation,
and traffic patterns. Where the competitors stop, Waze goes a step further with their business
model when integrating the social elements from their customers to “develop solutions that
empower people to make better choices, from taking the fastest route to leaving at the right time
to sharing daily commutes” (“About Waze”). Waze has proven itself as a reputable navigation
system through its accurate travel time and partnership with Lyft as the official navigation app,
along with Spotify and Google Calendar partnerships. Waze, similarly, to their competitors,
filters out possible routes to your destination to provide users the fastest route.

2. Concept
What Waze doesn’t have, along with apps such as Google Maps and Apple Maps, is a
map that uses current demographics on certain crimes that determines the safest way home when
on foot. While time is of the essence when driving, no company has considered safety when
analyzing possible routes to take to get to your destination while on foot. Walking safety has
become a concern as of the late with the increase of street crimes and the growth of urban cities
which amounts to GPS systems leaving safety gaps in their operations. Waze has noticed this as
a potential market to expand into to grow on their current interactive features. Waze has decided
to launch an app as an extension of Waze. The new app will use and analyze crime rates in
addition to GPS tracking to deliver to its users the safest walking route while filtering out streets
considered unsafe, while also ensuring it is an efficient route. This is the next step to grow on
Waze’s current model that gives the power of navigation and safety back into their consumer's
hands. When analyzing crime rates, three demographics will be used to analyze the best route.
The three are as follows: robbery, homicide and forcible rape. The hope is that using these
demographics will offer the most accurate data while remaining unbiased. Also, it is crucial to
define what is viewed as a “safe route”. To begin with, streets that are well lit, which are usually
busier main streets, and are well frequented at night with people walking to and from their
destination tend to be safer due to the increase of foot traffic and bystanders. The end goal is to
increase the use of certain streets for foot traffic which will result in more people on the street to
increase civilian safety.
Part II. Marketing Research
Navigation App Users

3. In the 185 countries Waze is used, the United States alone has thirty million users a year
(Smith). Waze references themselves as a “global community of over 115 million people”
(“About Waze”) and this includes their drivers, riders, map editors and beta testers who all work
together to offer real-time accurate updates on navigation. Everyone who uses Waze, from
editors, testers, and users simultaneously and probably unknowingly work together to put forth
accurate calculations and data. The same four categories of contributors will be necessary for the
success of the new app. The use of navigation apps will only increase as our dependency on
technology does, in 2018, Statista surveyed over twenty thousand people asking who used their
phone in the past four weeks for online maps or navigation services. Despite the age ranging
from eighteen to sixty-four, the percent only ranged between 53% to 55%. On average 54% said
they used their phone to determine their navigation route. (Kunst) It is clear in today’s digital age
that people have become more dependent on phones to tell them how to get to their destination
instead of relying on their memory. Users do this because they trust the reputable GPS apps to
provide the most efficient route. With these high numbers, Waze believes it’s their moral duty to
also incorporate safety into the routes being offered to their consumers with their new launch.
Launch City
The city that Waze will first launch its new app in is Orlando, Florida. Orlando is a prime
city for product testing due to two major reasons. First, crime in Orlando is manageable and will
be easy to measure in regard to discovering if the app is reaching its goal of reducing crime
numbers. The Orlando Police Departments (OPD) 2018 Annual Report stated an increase in
violent crimes from 2017 to 2018. In 2017 the total number of violent crimes was 2,113 while in
2018 the number was 2,287. Overall, the OPD stated that crime was down 6.4% from 2017 while
leading into 2018 (“Orlando Police Department Annual Report”). These precise numbers along

4. with statistics on where the crimes are most frequent will help us analyze Waze’s new app
success. The second reason Orlando will be a prime location is because of the residents. Using
data from the 2018 US Census Bureau, we found the ages 20 to 50 make up the majority of the
female population (figure 1). As of 2018, the median female age is 34.2 with the female ratio 6
percent above the male population at 142,805. Orlando’s total population hangs below 300,000
with an annual growth rate of 1.63% (Orlando Population). Because of the measurable crime
rates and population in Orlando and high female population we will be able to measure the
success of the app in its first few months of launching. The opportunity to provide our consumers
with a safer route while walking and ultimately contributing to making our streets safer to walk
is what encourages us to succeed.
Target Market
While the new app can be used by anyone, we are targeting women from the ages of 20
to 50 due to the information we discovered above. This wide age will allow us to capture the
majority of the market segmentation in Orlando given the United States Census Bureau data that
has led us to conclude that women these ages equal around 109,432 (+/- 13,086) residents in the
Orlando area (Orlando Population)
Situational Analysis
Our positioning is on safety and accurateness to build trust with our consumers, and
especially women, to convey that we have their best interest in mind when routing their walk. A
study was done, titled Safety in Pedestrian Navigation: Road Crossing Habits and Route Quality
Needs, by the Austrian Institute of Technology that surveyed 139 people to analyze what factors
were most influential when deciding on a certain route to take. More than 40% of the
respondents ranked safety as the third factor in terms of unsafe routes (crime) and poor street

5. lightning (Schwarz, Stephanie & Sellitsch, D..). The survey was conducted in a metropolitan city
in Austria which offers a good model for Orlando. In six studies conducted since 2009 by Gallup
Crime Polls, 38% of Americans report feeling unsafe walking alone at night. The study also
concluded that there is a 20% difference between the fear of walking alone at night for men and
women-despite equally being likely crime victims (Norman). Given the numbers above, we
concluded our strength is the need for this app for our target market, women, and the fact that no
app similar is available to pedestrians. The new app being an extension of Waze allows growth
on intellectual property, advanced technology, and capital. One weakness we foresee is
convincing our target market that this app will benefit them to use and to increase their walking
patterns instead of turning to other travel assistance programs. Orlando has a high use of
ridesharing programs, from Lyft and Uber to Lime Scooters, and even horse and carriage rides
for a fee. These services offer safe and affordable travel options similar to our app, which is why
it’s crucial to set ourselves apart. With our new app, our opportunities are endless. We can begin
to grow the app after its initial success to let users submit a warning if they see instances such as
a street fight, a streetlamp shortage on a particular street and so on. We can also extend an
opportunity to neighboring businesses to mark their bar/store/company as a ‘safe spot’ if a
woman finds herself in trouble and needs assistance. External threats can be from those who
criticize the demographics used to determine a street's safety level, or people start using our app
for the wrong reasons to target our recommended streets.
Competitors
Our company has an advantage over our competitors given that an app like ours does not
currently exist meaning it is an open market for growth and innovation. That being said, shortly
after our launch other big names in the GPS navigation business will work towards creating their

6. version of our app service using our business model. Competitors that currently compete with
Waze such as Android Maps, Apple Maps and Google Maps may join the new market. Currently
all the listed apps offer the same walking services and features that Waze offers which sets no
app as a preference when using them for walking navigation.
Part III: IMC Planning
WalkWaze
Waze, which was founded in 2008, and owned by Google since June 2013, was titled as a
play on the word ways. This is where the idea for WalkWaze came about. WalkWaze is an
extension of the current app and will utilize the preexisting logo and brand associated with Waze
to spark brand loyalty among current users and people who are familiar with Waze but don’t use
it will trust our product because of Waze’s positive name recognition.
Our Brand
Having Waze’s brand recognition to build off of will make it easy for consumers to
recognize the familiar color scheme and icon. Waze’s slogan is ‘Outsmarting Traffic, Together’
so we came up with WalkWaze’s slogan: ‘Arriving Safely, Together’ (figure 3). From the
animated smiling car logo to the animations they use on the app during navigation with emoji
like images to represent car crashes/restaurants/gas stations and whatever else you might see
while driving, Waze has a happy-go-lucky vibe with relaxed undertones to help users associate
driving as a fun activity. WalkWaze is going to brand with the same images and animations to
make walking alone, especially when it might be nerve racking, a fun experience with users
knowing they’re in safe hands.

7. Social Media
At the launch of the app, WalkWaze is going to establish its social media presence on
three platforms; Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Waze currently has an account on all three of
these platforms that has a combined following of 2,894,380 million people across the world
which is why we believe these three platforms will provide a strong starting presence for
WalkWaze to benefit from Waze’s following. Having a verified business account on these three
platforms proves the validity of the app and helps potential users feel safe as they research us. On
these platforms’ users can also easily interact with us by asking questions, leaving reviews, and
being able to read about our mission as an app. In addition, WalkWaze can also benefit off of
free advertising on the original app, Waze. Waze currently lets local businesses and major
companies advertise on their app and prices range from 2 to 1,000 dollars a day (Waze). This
along with Waze’s Carpooling feature amounts to all of Waze’s revenue which is estimated at
37.7 Million dollars.
Advertising
Our advertising mix is going to be combined between digital media and traditional media
to be as effective in our marketing as possible. Firstly, we will also use our business accounts on
the three social media platforms above to also promote WalkWaze and specify the ads to target a
specific region (Orlando) demographic (females) and age (20-50) for whatever time period we
see needed. This form of advertising is going to reach our target market the best because of how
precise we can set our ad exposure (figure 2). In addition, Instagram and Facebook are both
owned by the same company therefore allowing cross-ad sharing to be easily accessible. We’ll
also establish a traditional media presence by renting billboards, bus stop ad spots and building

8. space surrounding our launch city, Orlando, and hanging up fliers in local restaurants and bars
promoting its launch. We see the use of traditional media for our advertising as a must to reach
consumers while they’re walking to a certain destination, enticing them to download it on the
spot to try out WalkWaze.
Creative Element
Our digital media promotions will mimic similarly to Waze in which the app regularly
interacts with consumers and posts on social media (figure 4) and we’ll be able to tailor the ads
to our target market like mentioned earlier. Our traditional media will be focused on the most
during the startup period because we believe the best exposure and possibility of a user
downloading WalkWaze is when they are out in the city. We know traditional media will reach
our target market because a lot of our demographic lives and works in the city and they walk
around on any given day from finding somewhere to eat during their lunch break, going to
classes at UCF’s downtown campus or perhaps meeting friends for dinner. While WalkWaze is
an extension of Waze with a similar brand, we do see an opportunity to take loyal customers
from other navigation apps with our safety feature. We feel Waze should also advertise with
messages using the fear appeal for an emotional connection to consumers and with a comparative
feel for rational comparisons between us and our competitors. Flyers that will be hung in
Orlando Businesses’ will be informational with the hopes of catching a passerby’s attention with
enough time to be intrigued by WalkWaze (figure 5). Bus stops around Orlando will take on an
informative stance insinuating a feeling of fear in consumers before they realize they could
eliminate that fear by downloaded our app right then (figure 6). Billboards would be used on
highways surrounding downtown Orlando that would serve as an informational advertisement

9. (figure 7). Lastly, billboards throughout the city would serve as a comparative for consumers to
think about the navigation apps they currently use and whether or not the app considers their
safety a top priority (figure 8). These creative elements can easily be alerted for WalkWaze to
promote as ads to our target demographic on our three social media platforms.
IMC Goal and Budget:
With all the above information collected and in consideration, we have decided our
integrated marketing communication plan is going to be tailored towards Orlando, our launch
city, the first three months after launching WalkWaze. After three months, we will evaluate our
advertising plans, fix any feedback we have regarding the apps functions and see if we have
successfully captured our target market. After the first three months we hope to have captured
10% of our market. We set 10% as the goal after carefully considering the advertising platforms
well be using.
Advertising Cost:
Mentioned above, Waze currently has a revenue 37.7 million dollars from selling ad
space to companies. Waze is also owned by Google which as a company just reached one trillion
dollars in value (Wakabayashi) . That being said, advertising costs are luckily not an issue
regarding what we can afford to reach as far as brand exposure through advertisements.
The following are the average cost of the three social media platforms we’ll have a presence on
(“How Much Does Social Media Advertising Cost in 2020?”).
Facebook: $200 to $1500 a month & $0.97 CPC

10. Instagram: $200 to $1500 a month & $3.56 CPC
Twitter: $200 to $1500 a month & $0.38 CPC
With this information we can conclude that monthly we’ll be spending a max of 4,500 dollars on
advertisements. We decided to move forward with cost-per-click (CPC) bidding options which
requires us to pay the social media site every time someone clicks on our ad. While this option is
more costly than CPM (cost-per-thousand) its crucial to be able to measure the success of these
ads after the three-month period. The average cost to run a billboard in Orlando for a month
ranges from $800 to $4,500 a month depending on where in the city the ad is placed (Treece). If
we average our billboards at ten 2,000-dollar ones on our highways and more urban areas and
twenty at 4,500 dollars in the heart of the city the price each month will amount to 110,000.
Overall our advertising costs for the first three months roughly add up to 343,500 dollars. With
this number in mind were going to set our advertising budget at 400,000 dollars for buffer room
to offset costs not calculated such as making the billboards.
Part 4: Evaluation Plan
As we know the last step of an in an integrated marketing communication plan is to move
people to action. During this three-month period, we’ll be regularly interacting with consumers
on our social media platforms to increase word of mouth advertisements and build customer
loyalty. Because of our differentiated target market during the startup phase we’ll be able to see
if our social media ads are reaching our demographic with our set audience. If we discover that
our demographic uses other apps such as Pinterest or Snapchat regularly, we’ll be able to switch
gears. It’s harder to measure the success of traditional media advertising but we can install a
‘How did you hear about us’ popup for users first download the app to collect and analyze the

11. data. Lastly, we’ll have to utilize the consumer pricing model to ensure we’re allowing enough
exposure to our market for them to pay attention, comprehend and be moved to action by
downloading our app due to our effective and successful advertising.
Citations:
“About Waze: Connecting Drivers with Live Traffic Maps.” Free Driving Directions,
Traffic Reports & GPS Navigation App by Waze, 2020, www.waze.com/about.
“How Much Does Social Media Advertising Cost in 2020?” WebFX,
www.webfx.com/how-much-does-social-media-advertising-cost.html.
Norman, Jim. “In U.S., Women, Poor, Urbanites Most Fearful of Walking Alone.” Gallup
Poll Briefing, Nov. 2015, p. 3. EBSCOhost,
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=115870700&site=eds-
live&scope=site.
“Orlando Police Department Annual Report.” OPD, 2018,
online.fliphtml5.com/gydm/xocz/#p=10.
Orlando Population. (2020-02-17). Retrieved 2020-02-25, from
http://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/orlando/
Kunst, Alexander. “People Who Use Their Cell Phone for Maps/GPS Navigation in the
U.S. 2018, by Age Published by Alexander Kunst, Sep 3, 2019,doi:10.3897/bdj.4.e7720.figure2f.

12. Schwarz, Stephanie & Sellitsch, D & Tscheligi, M & Olaverri Monreal, Cristina. (2015).
“Safety in Pedestrian Navigation: Road Crossing Habits and Route Quality Needs.”
Smith, Craig. “14 Interesting Waze Statistics and Facts.” DMR, Expanded Ramblings, 6
Feb. 2020, expandedramblings.com/index.php/waze-statistics-facts/.
“Terms of Use from Waze, the Live Traffic Map Map.” From Waze, the Live Traffic Map
Map, 17 May. 2028, www.waze.com/legal/tos.
Treece, Kiah. “How Much Does a Billboard Cost? 2019 Pricing & Advertising Tips.”
Fit Small Business, 4 Feb. 2020, fitsmallbusiness.com/how-much-does-billboard-advertising-
cost/.
Waze. “Advertise Your Business on the Waze Map.” Waze Local - Ads That Reach
Nearby Drivers,
www.waze.com/business2?utm_expid=.DqVcRVTSPiLBEKyWPaHOQ.1&utm_referrer=h
ttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F#home.
Wakabayashi, Daisuke. “Google Reaches $1 Trillion in Value, Even as It Faces New
Tests.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 16 Jan. 2020,
www.nytimes.com/2020/01/16/technology/google-trillion-dollar-market-cap.html.

13. Figure References:
Figure 1: US Census Bureau with 2018 Orlando population satistics

14. Figure 2: creating an audience for a specific demographic on Facebook

15. Figure 3: Using the same font and color scheme to spark brand recognition among consumers.
Figure 4: Recent post from Waze's Twitter

16. Figure 5: Our fliers for Orlando businesses to promote our app lightheartedly

17. Figure 6: a bus stop advertisement in Orlando

18. Figure 7: Billboard near downtown Orlando

19. Figure 8: Billboard in the city