Creating relevance across Asia for Uber

The creative approach was to build one hero film for use across seven very different markets. However, each market was unique; in Vietnam they drive mopeds not cars, and in Singapore traffic is not the problem, parking is. Ensuring relevance across distinct cultural contexts required tailoring Uber’s central campaign to localized, relatable issues for stronger audience connections.

Based on conversation mapping, we discovered that the market for attention related to the topic of parking and traffic was limited. Collaborating with the agency Forsman & Bodenfors on insights and the creative, we developed an in-depth study involving over 9,000 respondents. These local insights inspired an activation approach that could apply to each of the seven markets, including strategies for the individual markets to build relevant communication for their region.

The campaign highlighted how challenges related to traffic and parking impact everyday life and how ride-sharing could help “create better cities.”

The campaign succeeded as Uber’s first cohesive pan-Asian brand launch, uniting seven markets under a shared creative concept.

The campaign resulted in $31 million generated in earned media, with 115 million views and 1.6 million engagements. Negative sentiment for Uber decreased by 34% during the campaign. Media engagement soared, with over 500 articles across global media outlets.