How Hyperloop Sells the Future

Selling the Future
Jul 24, 2017 · 3 min read

What it is:

The Hyperloop is a high-speed transportation concept that propels pods through reduced-pressure tubes for short distances (e.g. NYC <> DC). The pods gradually increase in speed using a linear electric motor, then glide above their tracks through magnetic levitation or air bearings (think air hockey), but all you need to know is: Hyperloop saves you time!

How they Sell it:

Put down your car keys! Delete your Virgin app! The Hyperloop will be able to get you from Melbourne to Sydney in under an hour.

The above is a near perfect example of benefit-driven, higher order value proposition. Hyperloop instantly places their service in context, creating a dramatic “why better” comparison against a single, critically important benefit: time. It also serves double-duty by establishing the hyper loop use case (near-ish, commonly traveled routes), and by using real cities and real times the hyper loop, well, seems real. Lastly, it’s a visual feast for the eyes, complete with an irresistible little animation.

Unfortunately it’s totally buried on their website. Instead, we are met with:

Industrial imagery in a barren desert, swapped in with images of engineers white boarding something smart probably, and CGR (?) videos of a completed track and happy commuter and then a soaring image of Burj Khalifa in Dubai. What?

First lets start w/ the copy: Be anywhere, move everything, connect everyone. This is the definition of over promising. Hyperloop is still in its nascency, but even in the foreseeable future, its intention is not to create a vast and complete network. “Move everything” hints at an interesting extension into B2B, but feels out of place here. “Connect everyone” feels like a stretch for a transportation company to pull off and jumps right into the already-tired territory of software and social media promises.

Now the imagery: the kick-off image of a barren desert paired with the intro copy of “be anywhere” invites me to think…. I don’t want to be here. It feels like this collage is a mix of real photography of test sites + CGR or concept imagery of competed loops + aspirational locales in the middle east. The front page can’t decide who it’s for, the curious consumer? The potential B2B partner? The prospective employee? As a result, the leading story on prime web real-estate is disjointed.

How to fix it:

There’s a way to do it all without getting tripped up in the narrative:

As a reader, I’d love to immediately know why I should care. Paint me the picture of the future state (CGR clips of happy, relatable business commuters getting on and off, traveling in comfort, businesses loading and managing inventory like never before) And elevate this excellent mission statement- currently buried 5 clicks into a text carousel, half way down the page: “When cities become metro stops, regions will flourish.”

Follow this with evidence that your team is uniquely positioned and hard at work making this a reality (test sites, white boarding engineers if you must, maps of planned or in-progress routes, plans to launch cargo before passengers, etc.).

This cleaned up storyline would weave together an aspiring future state for both consumers and businesses, with the reasons to believe that this future is imminent.

Also, can’t wait!

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