Film as a medium was the perfect tool to playfully twist the language and behaviour we all know from using Uber, applying it to the world of trains in a no-nonsense, slightly absurd way.

Short observed scenes allowed us to play out seemingly ordinary exchanges between passengers and drivers, where the passenger character behaves as though they are taking an Uber car, creating a humorous interaction with the unknowing driver.

Uber. The world's most famous ride sharing app was launching train tickets.

But how do you make the go to app for booking cars, the go to app for booking trains?

In this new campaign we lean into the oddness of this new offering, by colliding the worlds of Uber and trains. Each spot takes language and behaviours synonymous with Uber journeys and simply modified them to train travel.

The dialogue leans into typical exchanges between passengers and drivers in Uber cars - such as introducing yourself or negotiating a drop off point - and plays with the absurdity of these conversations playing out in a train setting.

In this film, a young woman named Gina prepares to board the train she booked via the Uber app, literally just as if she were getting inside an Uber car. She first announces herself to the train driver - who’s obviously not really familiar with train passengers ever doing that - proudly showing her ticket on the Uber app. As the driver keeps staring at her in disbelief, our woman rushes to the other side of the train to prevent a second passenger from entering a carriage - “I’m sorry, this is mine” explains Gina in a very matter of fact way - as if the other person had try to steal her Uber ride.

Uber had been selling train tickets through its app since 2022 - but hardly anyone had been buying them. Why would they, when Uber was for booking cars - and they were happy booking trains how they always had?

Whilst using Uber to book trains felt odd, introducing a new, unfamiliar idea is easier when you build on existing, familiar references. So, as much as Uber’s associations were a weakness, its established language, iconography and behaviours were also a strength.

So, we created a campaign introducing the unfamiliar world of trains through the familiar world of Uber.

Within a week, Uber saw an +85% increase in first time Trains users, a rise of 69% in ticket sales in London and almost double the amount of ticket sales at London Waterloo, with other major stations following closely behind.

Humour is often dependent on the context, and in this campaign context is everything.

By taking well known languages and behaviours familiar to all Uber users and playing those in a different setting - the world of train - we create those absurd, incongruous situations that bring a smile.