Waze
The real product wasn't navigation.
It was strangers helping strangers.
Turning a navigation app into a brand people love.
Just 6 weeks after I joined Waze, our biggest competitive advantage disappeared overnight.
Google and Apple both launched real-time traffic within days of each other, eliminating the feature that had made Waze different. As a startup of barely a dozen people, we suddenly found ourselves competing against two of the world's largest technology companies.
It was clear we couldn't win by building better maps.
We had to become something else.
So I began talking to users.
And this research revealed something unexpected: people weren't opening Waze because they needed directions. They already knew how to get to work. They opened it because they wanted to know what was happening on the road ahead—and because thousands of other drivers were helping one another get through the commute.
That insight changed everything.
Instead of positioning Waze as just another navigation app, I reframed it as a commuting app powered by a community of drivers looking out for one another. The strategy gave us a category competitors couldn't easily claim.
From there, I worked across positioning, messaging, product strategy, and verbal identity to bring that idea to life.
It influenced everything from our communications and campaigns to product concepts like Baby Wazer, which encouraged participation through playful progression, and the Commute-o-Meter, an early feature designed to help people anticipate traffic before leaving home.
The heart of the brand wasn't traffic.
It was people.
Every report of a stalled car, speed trap, or road hazard was a small act of generosity from one commuter to another. That spirit became central to Waze's voice, personality, and product experience—and eventually found expression in the tagline, "Outsmarting Traffic, Together."
By the time Google acquired Waze for $1.1B, the company had grown from a tiny startup into one of the world's most beloved consumer brands, with over 25 millions passionate users across 100+ countries.
