Super Bowl teaser success is judged only on how much conversation is created for the brand, in a moment where feeds are saturated with celebrities, and the fight for attention is at an all-time high. It was critical that our launch lived and breathed internet culture to dramatically out-earn attention, and create outsized engagement. By partnering with the Beckhams to react in real-time to their surging social virality, “Be Honest” delivered just that. Launched on David & Victoria’s social channels, it delivered 30M+ unique engagements in just 24 hours, generating 1.7B earned impressions and US$17M+ media value.

The Beckhams, while long-adored globally, were never more culturally relevant in the US than in the wake of the Netflix docuseries ‘Beckham’. One scene became truly viral: Victoria’s initial claim to be ‘working class’ - conveniently ”forgetting” her dad drove a Rolls Royce, which prompted David to push her to “be honest”. This surprisingly hilarious and self-deprecating exchange endeared the pair to audiences in the US, taking them to new cultural heights. With the hilarious exchange taking over social feeds across the US just as we were preparing to launch our campaign, it provided the perfect opportunity for Uber Eats to respond in real-time, creating a truly talk worthy launch asset that cut through the Super Bowl seasons’ celebrity-laden noise, rewarding fans and fueling conversation on an unprecedented scale.

SITUATION

Uber Eats were set to launch ‘Don’t Forget Uber Eats’, which featured stars “forgetting” their famous pasts - playing with collective memories to prove that Uber Eats now delivers so much it’s impossible to remember it all, unless you forget something else. We needed to find a way to tease the campaign that would cut through the industry’s celebrity-laden fight for attention, and create outsized reach, engagement and conversation for Uber Eats.

BRIEF

While a teaser brief can sound simple, it’s incredibly challenging to deliver true results against. Not only to cut through peak competitive noise, but most “ads for an ad” speak to the industry, with little impact on culture. Our challenge was creating a teaser that truly fueled social virality and cut through, to create cultural conversation for Uber Eats, driving unprecedented attention for our campaign.

OBJECTIVES

Social & PR earned impressions, views, shares

Reach & engagement

BE HONEST, WHO CAN FORGET A ROLLS ROYCE?

Rather than competing with advertising noise, we turned the cultural zeitgeist into attention for Uber Eats, launching through the most talked-about entertainment hit of the time: THAT viral docuseries exchange between David and Victoria Beckham. The surprisingly self-deprecating humour saw the Beckhams become the internet’s surprise comedy stars. As the internet buzzed with conversation on the charming moment, we acted in real time seizing the cultural momentum, transforming the burgeoning conversation into an unignorable teaser for our campaign, taking Posh’s meme-worthy moment of conveniently ‘forgetting’ her posh roots and reinventing it to launch the campaign.

FUELING FANDOMS & CREATING CONVERSATION

We didn’t simply mimic the meme, but created a new interpretation that told our own story - this time, the Beckhams forgot literally every detail of the campaign they were there to announce - creating unprecedented earned brand conversation and attention.

TEASING IN THE LANGUAGE OF THE INTERNET

To create conversation and engagement among a mass US audience, we knew we needed to offer more than a campaign trailer splashed across channels. Instead creating a social-first launch, offering true entertainment value for fervent fandoms - responding perfectly to the cultural moment.

CENTERING UBER EATS IN THE SOCIAL HEAT

With the docuseries exchange gaining virality in our final stages of production, we acted in real time to meet the moment, redeveloping concepts days before shooting, creating something that truly spoke to internet culture as it was happening.

A SOCIAL-FIRST LAUNCH

We launched via David & Victoria’s social channels. By reinventing the now-viral meme, and launching on platforms that had sent it most viral (Instagram, then TikTok), Beckham fans and meme-makers became our media, dramatically amplifying its reach - sharing, reposting and boosting the content, ultimately delivering 1.7B+ earned impressions.

Social engagement was a critical factor in the creative process from the beginning (May 2023) - with the aim to engineer a launch with outsized impact. While this planning was central throughout the process, this teaser became a case study in reinventing those plans when a prime cultural opportunity presents itself.

Approaching our shoot, we recognized a unique opportunity to capitalize on the mounting virality of the docu-series moment. Seizing the opportunity, we developed new creative just before shooting, reformulating our plan and putting the real-time response as the centerpiece for campaign launch.

Every detail was designed to maximize talkability - from the precision of our opening exchange, to Victoria’s t-shirt (which went on to sell out) to launching simultaneously to press and social to the Beckhams’ fervent fanbases - delivering 30M+ engagements on Victoria’s post in just 24 hours, and creating a global news cycle for Uber Eats.

A US LAUNCH THAT BECAME A GLOBAL PHENOMENON

Put simply, the response was explosive. The launch saw immediate, global impact - an unprecedented response that dominated social feeds and news cycles globally.

The first 24 hours saw it dominate social feeds the world over - with:

30M+ unique engagements on Victoria’s Instagram post alone

50M+ organic unique views

100K+ consumer shares or reposts (organic)

Trended on every major platform

In press, it earned 1000+ pieces of coverage and 100+ unique broadcast features across at least 12 countries. Coverage exceeded all benchmarks - with features from broadcast news to cultural commentary to tabloids - including ABC, CNN, E!, Forbes, Esquire, Hola!, PEOPLE, Time Magazine, TODAY, Vulture, Vogue (US/UK/France), Vanity Fair, OK!, and hundreds more.

In all, the launch delivered 1.7B earned impressions, making the Beckham teaser more talked about, shared and seen than even the most popular Super Bowl commercials.