What if our biggest customer wasn't a person?

How identifying an emerging shared-mobility opportunity helped expand GenZe beyond B2C—and eventually put more than 1,000 GenZe electric vehicles at the center of a global climate moment.

The Opportunity

GenZe, Mahindra's electric mobility company, had built an innovative line of electric bikes and scooters and was largely approaching growth as a consumer brand.

But the challenge was bigger than convincing someone to buy our product. It was to get on two wheels in the first place. And through that lens I saw an opportunity to think bigger than selling a single vehicle at a time.

Shared mobility was taking off at the time. Companies were building entirely new businesses around giving people access to transportation they didn't need to own. And they were promoting the same movement we were championing as well: get out of your car and on two wheels.

And we already had the products they needed.

I identified and initiated the first conversation with what would become GenZe's largest shared-mobility partner, opening a relationship that ultimately went far beyond a traditional marketing partnership.

It also helped us see the business differently. Instead of asking simply how to sell more vehicles to customers, we were able to open the aperture to who could build a business using our vehicles.

From B2C to B2B + B2C

That question opened an entirely different growth channel.

Shared-mobility operators could purchase and deploy fleets of GenZe vehicles, creating meaningful B2B sales while putting our product in front of thousands of consumers.

The product hadn't changed. The way we thought about the market had.

GenZe began moving from a primarily B2C approach toward a model that incorporated B2B sales and strategic partnerships alongside the consumer business.

And those partnerships created value well beyond the initial sale.

Our vehicles were now operating throughout major cities as part of people's everyday lives. That gave consumers an opportunity to experience GenZe without buying one—and gave us a physical presence that traditional advertising couldn't replicate.

A few years later, that ecosystem created an opportunity to do something much bigger.

Turning a Keynote Into a Citywide Climate Activation

In 2018, Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra was a co-chair of the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco. It was a major platform for Mahindra to demonstrate its commitment to climate action, and GenZe was an obvious proof point.

We could have given GenZe a mention and called it a win. But I saw an opportunity to make the story tangible.

What if people could actually experience Mahindra's climate work while they moved around the city?

Through our partnership with Scoot, more than 1,000 GenZe electric scooters were already operating throughout San Francisco. And as the initial OEM for Lyft’s bike share program as well, we were well positioned to connect the dots and truly demonstrate the power of this movement.

I connected with our shared-mobility partners, the GCAS team and our internal team to turn the Summit into a citywide activation. Everyone agreed to offer a citywide Free Ride Day in San Francisco to show support for the Summit, and commitment to Climate Action.

Suddenly, the product Anand Mahindra could talk about from the stage was also moving people around the city outside.

Instead of simply telling people about sustainable transportation, we gave them a reason to use it.

One Idea. A Lot of Jobs.

The activation wasn't built to accomplish a single marketing objective. It worked across the business.

It demonstrated Mahindra's climate commitments.A corporate sustainability story became something visible and useful happening on the streets of San Francisco.

It showcased GenZe at scale.More than 1,000 GenZe electric vehicles throughout the city made the technology much harder to think of as a concept or niche consumer product.

It strengthened our B2B partnerships.Our shared-mobility customers became collaborators in a much larger story, while GenZe demonstrated the role its vehicles could play in powering their businesses.

It drove consumer trials.Free rides removed the cost barrier and gave people an easy reason to experience electric shared mobility firsthand.

It supported the Summit's climate goals.We weren't simply talking about reducing transportation emissions. We were helping give people a zero-emission option for getting around the host city.

And it created a story worth covering.The activation generated significant PR because there was something tangible for the media to talk about: global climate commitments translated into thousands of real-world rides.

The Bigger Story

The Free Ride Day was a great marketing moment.

But the part I'm proudest of happened much earlier.

I saw that GenZe's biggest growth opportunity might not be limited to convincing more individual consumers to buy an electric vehicle.

Our next great customer could be another business.

I found the opportunity, initiated the relationship with what became our largest shared-mobility partner, and helped demonstrate the potential for GenZe to operate as both a B2C and B2B brand.

Then we kept finding ways to make that relationship more valuable.

Eventually, when Mahindra had one of the world's biggest stages for talking about climate action, the pieces were already there to turn a keynote into something much larger.

Products became partnerships.Partnerships expanded distribution.Distribution amplified experience.Experience strengthened (and built) the story.

That's the kind of marketing I love most.

Not starting with: What campaign should we run?

But: What opportunity is sitting right in front of us that nobody has connected yet?