In the e-hailing business, in the UAE, growth had proved difficult for Uber, with Careem, the local home-grown brand being a more preferred choice.

Although promo codes can provide a brief surge and short-term growth, actual and sustainable growth is only achieved by increasing the average trip per rider.

And increasing usage through repeat journeys can only be done by changing passive passengers into loyal riders.

But, converting passive passengers into loyal riders wasn’t an easy task, since our riders found Uber foreign and distant; rarely feeling any kind of human connection with Uber.

Therefore, we needed to do something meaningful for our riders.

UBER LEGENDS:

Each Uber rider’s trip data told a unique story, so Uber riders (and drivers), those who keeping Uber moving, needed to become the face of Uber.

We identified surprising and share-worthy insights about different Uber riders through analyzing the trip data of the riders and converting those data-insights into creative content and stories that celebrated Uber's riders across media.

Moving away from typical paid influencer marketing, we created new influencers" Ubers riders through their rider data.

And brought those stories to life in a targeted manner through offline and interactive channels.

DATA-DRIVEN INSIGHT:

Each Uber rider’s trip data and history told a unique story of their life and what mattered to them.

Each trip’s data tells a story about each rider and their lives. Uber had a lot of people using its app; but Uber had never tapped into identifying who these people really were, beyond the booking numbers.

DATA-DRIVEN STRATEGY:

What if we could make Uber’s riders and drivers the face of Uber; the real secret behind what kept Uber moving?

In a world influenced by real stories, authenticity resonates; it has the power to create bonds and influence emotions. And that’s why people relate best to people. Since Uber was perceived as being distant and foreign (it didn’t even have a call center), we needed to turn to our only human element - our riders and our drivers. By telling their unique stories, we wanted to make our brand loyalists the faces of Uber, allowing them and their stories to turn other riders into loyalists as well.

DATA-DRIVEN EXECUTION:

Putting a data mining team, we looked for the most unique Uber rider statistics to uncover unique insights into our riders’ usage and behaviours, to fuel the creative content.

Moving away from typical paid influencer marketing, we created a data-driven content platform where we featured Uber riders and made them our brand advocates, each

telling their own authentic and legendary Uber story.

Films across social platforms were written for 100s of riders based on the most legendary data insights uncovered from mining their trip data.

Beyond films, their legendary stories went on billboards, across banner ads on popular sites and as Instagram and Facebook ads, making them mini-celebrities.

They even had their own website from Uber! And were featured on emails to other riders telling their stories. We also gave them a shout-out in Uber’s app. And then, threw them their own private awards bash.

We invited more riders to submit why they should be an Uber Legend, and we were flooded with data and facts, that we converted and showcased as stories showcased across more media channels.

+14% brand preference points amongst active riders vs. previous quarter (vs. KPI of +10%).

+3% brand favourability points among riders vs. the previous quarter and +4% brand satisfaction points among riders vs. the previous quarter.

Highest unique landing page views in Uber UAE’s history with an average time on the site of 2:59.

+39% trip per rider among new riders exposed to ads vs. those not exposed.

+11% trip per rider among active riders exposed to ads vs. those not exposed.

Additionally, we witnessed an unexpected growth of +3% in Uber VIP trips (i.e. 10 trips or more taken a month); i.e. Uber witnessed a surge in high value riders.

Due to its success, Uber Legends, a campaign originating from the UAE, has become a global marketing campaign, across different countries worldwide (Brazil, Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Pakistan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia).

Now, that’s pretty legendary.