Tag: Uber

Australia – Special has appointed acclaimed creative duo Peter Defries and Alan Wilson as regional group creative directors for Uber and Uber Eats, further strengthening its leadership across the APAC region.

Defries and Wilson bring 14 years of creative partnership to the role, returning to Australia after nearly a decade in New York. During their time in the U.S., they served as executive creative directors at BBH NY, where they led work for the J.M. Smucker Company’s portfolio of FMCG brands, along with major accounts including Walmart and Cadillac.

Their work has been recognised with more than 30 international awards. In 2022, both were named among D&AD’s Top 20 Executive Creative Directors worldwide.

“We’ve been massive fans of Special for some time now. Watching from the other side of the world, we were consistently blown away by the breakthrough work they produced, especially with Uber and Uber Eats. So when the opportunity arose to be part of it, we couldn’t say no,” Wilson shared.

Defries added, “Leaving New York wasn’t a decision we took lightly—it gave us some of the best experiences of our careers. But the chance to come home and join this extremely talented team, pushing creative boundaries at a world-class level right here in our own backyard, was simply too good to pass up.”

Defries and Wilson will join Celia Garforth and Lauren Portelli as part of Special’s leadership team on the Uber account across APAC. Garforth and Portelli have played a key role in growing the agency’s strategic and creative remit with Uber and Uber Eats in the region.

The partnership now spans ANZ, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, with all work led from Special’s Sydney office. In 2024, the team’s work was recognised with a Gold Effie for the ‘Get Almost Almost Anything’ campaign in ANZ. Special also operates an on-the-ground team in Tokyo to support the expansion of Uber’s business in Japan.

Tom Martin, partner and CCO at Special Australia, commented, “We’re pumped to have Pete and Alan boomerang back to Australia and back into Special. We’re at our best when we bring together top-tier humans who get what it takes to make great work and do it with care, craft and real collaboration.”

Cade Heyde, global partner of Special, added, “The magic of Special Group comes from the extraordinary people behind it. Celia and Lauren have been instrumental in building our creative reputation across APAC. And now, with Peter and Alan joining them, we believe we have one of the best, most exciting teams in the world.”

Taiwan – The country’s Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has announced its decision to block the proposed merger between Uber Eats and foodpanda, citing concerns that it would significantly harm competition. 

The government agency had argued that since foodpanda is Uber Eats’ primary competitor, the merger would give Uber Eats unchecked market dominance, potentially leading to higher costs for both consumers and restaurants.

The FTC also emphasised that Uber Eats relies heavily on individual customers and small to medium-sized restaurants for its business. If the merger went through, these groups would have limited alternatives outside the platform, leaving them vulnerable to the company’s increased influence in the food delivery sector.

Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission (FTC) vice chairman Chen Chi-ming, said, “Post-merger, UberEats would be less constrained by competition, giving it more incentive to raise prices for consumers and even increase commissions for restaurant operators.”

He added, “The disadvantages to market competition from this merger far outweigh its economic benefits,” noting that the merged companies’ market share would exceed 90%.

While the merger promised some advantages, such as improved operational efficiency and cost benefits tied to denser networks, the FTC concluded that these potential gains were far outweighed by the harmful impacts on market competition.

Uber Eats had proposed measures to address the regulator’s concerns, but the FTC dismissed these as short-term fixes that would fail to sustain the existing level of competition in the industry.

It should be recalled that Uber Technologies and Delivery Hero SE have reached an agreement for Uber to acquire Delivery Hero’s foodpanda delivery business in Taiwan for US$950m in cash back in May this year. Delivery Hero SE had also previously confirmed the sale of select foodpanda businesses, albeit the only confirmation they had was for their SEA businesses.

Hong Kong – As the peak travel season approaches, Uber Hong Kong, in collaboration with Omelette Digital, has launched the ‘Airport Code War’—a two-week interactive social media campaign spotlighting the travel hurdles Hong Kongers face when journeying to the airport from different districts.

The campaign kicked off with an Instagram Reel featuring local celebrity Neo Yau, who shared his frustration over the challenges of getting to the airport while preparing for the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival. Pledging to help fellow travellers, Yau promised to work with Uber HK to secure promotional codes.

The next day, Yau announced he had secured 5,000 promo codes and officially launched the Airport Code War. Hosted on the newly created Instagram page @airportcodewar, the campaign invited residents from all 18 Hong Kong districts to vote for their neighbourhoods to win geo-targeted promo codes. Humorous, district-specific content further engaged the audience and fuelled the friendly competition.

Created by Omelette Digital, Uber HK’s campaign unfolded with unexpected twists and surprises over its two-week run. A playful rivalry within Neo Yau’s production company, Trial and Error, added to the drama as Hui Yin and So Chi Ho—staunch supporters of Kwun Tong—challenged Yau, who backed Tuen Mun.

The competition gained momentum as more social influencers joined, championing their neighbourhoods and urging residents to vote for promo codes. Two rally events further amplified awareness, sparking lively discussions and widespread sharing across local district Facebook groups.

Eric Ling, demand growth lead at Uber HK, shared, “December stands as the peak month for airport activity with the highest volume of both inbound and outbound traffic. This promo-driven campaign enables us to influence riders’ decisions when selecting their mode of transportation to the airport.”

Andrea Choi, creative director at Omelette Digital, also said, “It all started with a simple local insight, and it has been a rewarding experience to leverage Hong Kongers’ affection for their districts and witness the unfolding of this fun-filled battle. For us, this campaign feels like an experiment – anything could have happened despite our meticulous planning and intensive research. We cannot thank the client enough for the unwavering trust.”

The Airport Code War wrapped up on December 18, with Sha Tin District claiming victory and earning 2,500 50%-off promo codes. To celebrate the travel season, Uber HK also released 15,000 25%-off promo codes as a merit reward for all Hong Kongers gearing up for their vacations.

India – Uber India has teamed up with FCB India for its latest campaign, featuring father-and-son duo Jackie and Tiger Shroff, to highlight how Uber simplifies travel in today’s fast-paced world.

Uber’s campaign seeks to establish the brand as the go-to solution for travel hassles, offering a fresh and entertaining perspective through an engaging inter-generational story.

Conceptualised by FCB India, the campaign showcases a heartwarming on-screen exchange between Jackie and Tiger Shroff for the first time. The film features Jackie, representing the older generation, reminiscing about the “glories of struggle” from his past. In contrast, Tiger embodies the ease of modern life as he effortlessly books an Uber and moves on with convenience.

This light-hearted father-son interaction highlights how travel has evolved and underscores Uber’s role in simplifying it. By leveraging the popularity of this iconic duo, Uber effectively conveys its message to all generations, reinforcing its status as the ultimate travel companion.

Ameya Velankar, head of marketing, Uber India, said, “Uber has fundamentally transformed the way we travel, bridging the gap between generations with solutions that cater to diverse needs and challenges. While we know that struggle is good in life, it toughens us up. Uber believes that there’s always a simpler way to move—literally at the tap of a button.” 

Velankar continued, “To capture this shift, we’ve brought together the popular, fresh duo of Jackie and Tiger Shroff. Their chemistry and relatability make them the perfect ambassadors to reflect how Uber is the perfect solution for all your mobility needs. I would like to thank the brilliant creative team at FCB India for coming up with this fantastic idea that truly does justice to the brief.”

“Nothing moves Indians like a story rooted in a cultural truth, and no one moves Indians from point A to B better than Uber. This campaign is all about these two truths: one about the intergenerational notions of struggles and what they mean in life, and the other about how hassle-free it is to travel with Uber. And helming these stories are Jackie Shroff and Tiger Shroff, together for the first time ever—a marketing coup in itself,” Mayuresh Dubhashi, chief creative officer at FCB India, added. 

Hong Kong – Uber has teamed up with independent creative agency Special and martial arts icon Louis Koo for its latest campaign, spotlighting the challenges of traditional street hailing and showcasing the ease of using Uber Taxi.

The campaign cleverly taps into the double meaning of ‘Kung Fu,’ which in Cantonese also signifies ‘effort.’ Uber and Special set out to depict a dramatic Kung Fu-style standoff as the ideal metaphor for the tiring ordeal of hailing a taxi on Hong Kong’s bustling streets.

In the campaign film, Louis effortlessly navigates through the chaos, heading straight to his e-hailed Uber Taxi and bypassing the struggle of street hailing. The campaign was teased on his social media, where he announced he was “saying goodbye to Kung Fu for good”—only to reveal that it was the wasted effort of finding a taxi he was leaving behind.

Special also collaborated with local partners, including Kung Fu specialist director Adam Liu and stunt coordinator Jack Wong, to ensure an authentic and true-to-genre portrayal of martial arts in the campaign.

Lauren Portelli, managing director at Special, said, “Bringing together a hybrid team of our Australian brains trust with incredible local partners helped us create an idea that truly felt Hong Kong. Filmed in the heart of Causeway Bay, we were able to capture how easily Uber Taxi lets you bypass the obstacles of street hailing, getting you where you need to go.”

Sarah Parris & Dan O’Connell, creative directors at Special, added, “Martial arts films are experiencing a bit of a renaissance in Hong Kong cinema at the moment, and we wanted to make something that felt true to the genre. Working with one of the best directors in the region, Adam Liu, and a bona fide legend of the Hong Kong film industry, Louis Koo, was great. They made the project as easy as e-hailing with Uber.”

The brand campaign encompasses TV, online platforms, social media, and out-of-home advertising, complemented by a promotional initiative offering HK $1,000,000 in discounts on promotional cards distributed throughout the streets of Hong Kong.

Toga Leung, head of marketing at Uber Hong Kong, explained, “At Uber Taxi, we are dedicated to providing an effortless experience for the people of Hong Kong. As a local who grew up captivated by iconic Kung Fu movies, I’m excited to see that passion come to life in this culturally relevant and entertaining campaign. Collaborating with a diverse creative team at Special, alongside our talented local partners, has been instrumental in shaping this campaign. With over a decade of experience in Hong Kong, we understand the unique challenges residents face while travelling—challenges that often require their own form of ‘Kung Fu.’”

Taipei, Taiwan – Uber Technologies and Delivery Hero SE have reached an agreement for Uber to acquire Delivery Hero’s foodpanda delivery business in Taiwan for US$950m in cash. The acquisition of foodpanda Taiwan is subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions and is targeted to close in the first half of 2025. 

Separately, the companies have also entered into an agreement for Uber to purchase US$300m in newly issued ordinary shares of Delivery Hero.

Until closing, Delivery Hero is dedicated to continue operating foodpanda Taiwan as before, offering the best possible service for its customers and vendors. In the period following closing, foodpanda’s local consumers, merchants, and delivery partners will be transitioned to Uber Eats.

The deal will combine Uber’s global expertise in operating a high-efficiency marketplace with foodpanda’s extensive coverage across Taiwan and its relationships with beloved local brands. The deal will also give consumers greater choice across food types and price points by bringing the complementary groups of merchants on Uber Eats and foodpanda onto a combined platform.

Moreover, due to its existing presence in Taiwan, Uber is best placed to build upon the significant local operations developed by Delivery Hero and foodpanda over the past years, and invest further into an improved experience for consumers, merchants, and delivery partners.

Niklas Östberg, CEO and co-founder of Delivery Hero, said, “The strength of our Taiwanese business is a testament to the hard work of many teams over the last eight years. In order to build a world-leading service, we have come to the conclusion that we need to focus our resources on other parts of our global footprint, where we feel we can have the largest impact for customers, vendors and riders. This deal gives foodpanda an exciting runway in Taiwan and we wish them all the best in their next chapter.”

Meanwhile, Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, senior vice president of delivery at Uber, commented, “Bringing together our distinct customer bases, merchant selections, and geographic footprints will allow us to deliver more choices and the best prices for consumers, stronger demand for restaurants, and more earnings opportunities for delivery partners. Taiwan is a fiercely competitive market, where online food delivery platforms today still represent just a small part of the food delivery landscape. We’re so excited about the opportunity to deliver even greater convenience and value that this transaction would unlock in the years ahead.”

Once completed, this deal would be one of the largest ever international acquisitions in Taiwan, outside of the semiconductor industry. It is worth noting that Delivery Hero SE previously confirmed the sale of select foodpanda businesses, albeit the only confirmation they had was for their SEA businesses.

Hong Kong – To make it easier for riders on the platform to plan their travels and have a ‘stress-free ride’ to and from the Hong Kong International Airport, Uber has announced the launch of its new feature, ‘Uber Travel’, along with its ‘Peace of Mind with Reserve’ campaign that offers trip promotions and travel amenities.

The new feature and campaign will help travellers from planning their trip, reserving a ride to the airport, to getting a complimentary travel kit including an eye mask and traveller sim card. 

With Uber Travel, Hong Kong travellers can plan on ground transportation ahead of important occasions. It will also enable riders to see all of their travel itineraries, such as flights, hotels and rides, all in one button.

In partnership with AwardWallet, Uber Travel also offers riders the option to manually import

and organise hotels, flights, and restaurant reservations into a single itinerary view. With this and Uber’s ride reservation feature Uber Reserve, the platform promises a ‘more reliable and stress-free ride experience.’

“We want every Uber trip experience to be comfortable and effortless. To celebrate the strong comeback of international travel and the government’s ‘Happy Hong Kong’ Campaign, we are offering travelers and our platform’s riders with trip promotions to try Uber Reserve – a feature that allows riders to book a ride through the app for up to 30 days ahead,” said Estyn Chung, general manager of Uber Hong Kong.

Chung added, “Whether at home town or overseas, Uber wants to make sure every trip of our riders is being well taken care of, and they can always count on the comfortable familiarity of an Uber experience.”

This follows Uber’s launch of Journey Ads in Australia, its first advertising option that is targeted for purchase-minded riders.

Australia – Uber has launched the first ever advertising option, Journey Ads, for Australia with Paramount+ through Wavemaker, that provides share-of-voice and consumer attention from millions of riders across the region. 

This is Uber’s latest strategy for advertisers to allow brands to place relevant content in front of purchase-minded riders from the moment they book their ride through to the end of their trip.

Following the successful trial in the US, Journey Ads is making its way to Australia to make it possible for Uber to personalise advertisements to users without compromising their privacy or experience, or sharing their personal data, by utilising Uber’s first-party data and insights on millions of users. Creating and personalising powerful and relevant user content based on their activities and interests based on previous trips and orders are made possible for brand advertisers.

Paramount+ Regional Vice President Marketing & Growth, Louise Crompton, said, “At Paramount+ we are always looking for new and innovative ways to present our brand and our exclusive content slate to Australian streamers. The targeting opportunities combined with the high dwell environment to reinforce our Mountain of Entertainment over Summer, was very appealing to us.”

Meanwhile, Wavemaker Group Director, Peter Andrew, stated, “We are always looking for innovative ways to connect with audiences and reach them with the right message at the right time. Uber advertising provides a new platform to talk to audiences when they’re in the right mindset. We are so excited to leverage Uber’s new targeting capabilities to feed people content that will excite them personally.”

Lastly, Uber’s Head of Advertising ANZ, Michael Levine, said, “We are excited that Paramount+ is amongst the first to launch Journey Ads on our platform, as we have seen strong levels of interest from brands across Australia looking for innovative ways to connect with audiences. Uber’s Journey Ad format offers brands 100% ownership of the ride. At an average 20+ minutes per ride, our pilot partners in international markets have seen phenomenal levels of engagement with the new ad format. Combined with unique waypoint targeting, Uber’s new advertising formats offer Australian brands a space to create meaningful audience engagement.”

Uber Journey Ads follows the successful launch of Uber’s Advertising division in ANZ earlier in July, which includes a suite of advertising formats for merchants, partners and brands on both the Uber and Uber Eats platform. 

In Uber’s Privacy Centre, users can also set their ad preferences and opt out of certain personalized ads. Furthermore, Uber requires all advertisers on the Uber platform to follow its content and targeting policies, and all ads are subject to Uber’s review and approval.

Pakistan – Technology company Uber is discontinuing its ride-hailing services in five Pakistani cities namely Karachi, Islamabad, Multan, Faisalabad and Peshawar.

According to a report by Reuters, the exit is a move by Uber to reduce market overlap between the U.S. firm and its Middle East unit Careem.

However, Uber will still remain in the city of Lahore, where Uber is aiming at launching new products.

Former Uber drivers that are from the five cities can switch to Careem, a Dubai-based company purchased by Uber for US$3.1b in 2019 to dominate the ride-hailing markets in the Middle East and Pakistan.

“We know this is a difficult time for the teams who have worked incredibly hard to build this business over the past few years. We greatly appreciate everyone’s contributions and our priority is to minimise the impact to our employees, drivers, riders, and Hero partners who use the Uber app during this change in Karachi, Islamabad, Faisalabad, Multan and Peshawar,” the company said in a statement.

Uber first entered into Pakistan in 2016 as part of a US$250m push to expand into the Middle East and North Africa. Uber had also recently offloaded its food delivery services to Zomato, a local rival, and sold its shares in the company recently at an assumed unrealized loss of US$707m.

Hong Kong – Global transport company Uber has launched its newest index which details some of the most common lost-and-found items amongst Uber cars in Hong Kong, conducted across multiple Uber drivers in Hong Kong.

In 2022, phones and wallets remain the most commonly forgotten items. In addition, the index also shows a surge in the number of lost jewellery items, including wedding rings, a Audemars Piguet® watch and a Tiffany heart pendant.

As cashless payments become increasingly popular not thanks to the pandemic, riders have left behind 60% less cash in Ubers this year. Meanwhile, 1 January is crowned the most forgetful day of the year in 2022 and Hongkongers tend to be more forgetful on Fridays – with most laptops left behind on this day as well.

The index also showed that people are relaxed when the weekend starts and tend to forget their valuables. Among the 18 districts, riders in Yau Tsim Mong are the most forgetful, followed by Central and Wan Chai.

“Hongkongers are always on the go, and you will be surprised what’s supposed to be kept in their bags. Parents and caretakers are leaving behind kid items like a dimple fidget toy and a cute pink bunny soft toy, the astrologer who tried to escape the mercury retrograde left behind a string of pink crystal, a winner who lost in the game of lost & found left behind a crystal trophy, and a Calbee fan left behind a Calbee Hot & Spicy Potato Chips tote bag,” the company said, explaining some of the most unique items left by customers.

The index also encourages its customers to always call their driver if they lost items in the car they booked. If they lost their phone on the Uber itself, customers can log in to their account on their computer and contact customer support.