Uber Eats are a food delivery service known all over the world. Their company research has shown that 84% of clients use the delivery service for meals with family and friends. However, they have recently come under mixed public review for a series of advertisements that went live earlier in the year during the Australian Open. Was their light-hearted and humourous approach genius or a fail?

Uber Eats incorporated a broad Integrated Marketing Campaign (IMC) with their latest ‘Tonight, I’ll be eating’… campaign. They not only used social media posts and videos to entice customers to their catchy and humourous ads, but also used more traditional approaches and face-to-face promotions.

Their television advertisements took Australia by storm earlier in the year and launched during the airing of the Australian Open. With plenty of broadcasting time and millions of viewers watching the tournament, it was the perfect opportunity for the food-delivering haven to launch their campaign. Through the use of Australian celebrities such as Rebel Wilson, Ruby Rose and more, Uber Eats was able to entice viewers and gain their attention in a humourous and light-hearted way.

However, the company came under mixed reviews when they decided to launch their advertisements during the Australian Open and use real players to do so, causing confusion in viewers. Described as a bamboozlement for viewers, Uber Eats’ stream of television ads with tennis players stopping their match to order food aroused feelings of annoyance in some viewers. The company cleverly disguised their ads and in the process confused viewers to discern between what was in an ad and what was actual game play.

Not all reviews were negative. A large majority of twitter responses were praising Uber Eats and the celebrities chosen to endorse the ads, and created a great amount of buzz for the campaign. Australian sporting legend Lleyton Hewitt featured alongside Hamish and Andy, and other tennis players who competed during the tournament (like superstar Rafael Nadal) had their own ads too.

The rest of this campaign incorporated an IMC strategy through the use of promotional discount giveaways in the city and at Flinders Street Station, tram and bus wraps, billboards and social media posts. All of these advertisements featured various celebrities who had the ability to appeal to large and varying demographics. They successfully targeted a younger audience through featuring homegrown Hollywood stars such as Rebel Wilson and Ruby Rose. The ‘Queen of news’, Lee Lin Chin and the ‘King’ of Current Affairs, Ray Martin also featured, illustrating the company’s attempts at addressing all target audiences’ likes.

Uber Eats excelled in this campaign and created a lot of word-of-mouth buzz, not necessarily in regards to the process of ordering food (the purpose of the app), but to the campaign itself. The campaign slogan drew from the insight that one-third of Australians struggle and don’t know what they’re having for dinner between 4-7pm.

So what do you think, was Uber Eats’ ‘Tonight, I’ll be eating’ IMC campaign pure genius or a failure in enticing customers and producing entertaining content?

Let me know in the comments below!

Consumer behaviour has changed dramatically thanks to the introduction of social media marketing. You could argue that companies’ largest presence should be online, as it’s the primary touch point for society. However, are brands really taking this into consideration?

Looking at the Social Media Metrics research, the Engagement Food Chain is an essential framework that companies should follow, if they want to connect with their customers in an effective way.

Many organisations believe that the amount of likes is what drives product, sales and consumer engagement. After all, today’s society has taught us that likes mean everything, right? Wrong.

The level of consumer engagement is pivotal to the long-lasting impression of a brand or product and should be prioritised when companies looking at how they can better reach their audiences. Engaging with customer comments should be the focus of social media posts, as this is where elaboration on products, services and quality takes place. Posts can be shared with friends, family and the wider community.

Studies show that 91% of people regularly read online reviews before they buy a product. Furthermore, the research states that 84% trust these online reviews just as much as they do a word-of-mouth recommendation. It is figures like these that illustrate the power of people and how one word can influence the actions of many.

This is where Craig Bloem believes that monitoring your engagement comes into consideration. By ensuring you are checking in with customers by perhaps sending a satisfaction survey after a purchase has been made, or replying to both positive and negative comments online, you can speak volumes for the quality of your brand.

Research suggests that online shoppers increase their conversations and consumer decisions 133% after seeing positive reviews. If companies choose to ignore these statistics and merely focus on superficial reach such as gaining likes and ‘saw’ encounters, their customers needs will not be met, thus resulting in customer dissatisfaction and harm to the brand.

It is evident that engagement is key to a customer’s social media, decision making journey. So why are some brands fixated on the number of likes they receive vs. making real connections and getting to know their customers?

Let me know in the comment section below what you think is essential for a positive customer experience via social media and if the ‘Engagement Food Chain’ is a good structure to follow!

The Internet of Things (IoT) is known as technologies and systems that have the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction (Rouse, 2016). It has provided us with countless advanced devices that have paved the way for technological advances in our society.

‘Smart’ devices are widely used (23.14 billion devices in 2018) and it’s evident that they have a profound impact on our everyday lives. However, we must ask the question; is there an avenue that ‘smart’ devices have overstepped?

Advanced technologies have placed society in a time where the impossible seems possible. From tracking parcels, animals, automobiles and even human functions such as a heart/pace monitors, we are in an age where the IoT is rapidly taking over. These devices are becoming members of families all around the world, as seen with Amazon’s popular home ‘smart speaker’, Alexa. Alexa is a smart speaker who was created for customers to be able to interact with technology in a more intuitive way.

It is estimated that by the year 2021, there will be almost as many personal-assistant bots on the planet as people. This alarming number indicates a sweep and technology take-over and humans’ tendencies and desired to fall for a genie in a smart speaker.

Alexa has proved to be quite a successful ‘must have’ piece of smart technology, especially due to humourous advertisements such as the campaign below. Popular, celebrities collaborated with Amazon to promote Alexa and the notion of what would happen if she ‘lost her voice’ one day. This element of humour in regards to a robot losing her voice has done well for the device’s popularity and people’s willingness to purchase their very own Alexa.

This kind of artificial intelligence has been around for years. However, it has become a more concerning topic of conversation more recently, when the line between privacy and technology became blurred. With recent research revealing that the Amazon team listens to recordings captured from people’s homes and offices in order to better their systems, the question should be asked – what else are they listening and gaining access to within the four walls of your home?

Do you think that smart technologies have a necessary place in homes?

Would you invest in a smart speaker in the future, even if it meant that your conversations turned out to be not so private at all? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

It’s no secret that smartphones have taken over society and will most likely continue to do so as time goes on. As a society, we have influenced the design progression of these devices and benefit from their ease of use.

However, what is it that makes smartphones and mobile marketing applications so successful and convenient for us to use?

In the Yellow Social Media Report, it has been identified that 87% of Australians own a smartphone, in comparison to the 76% that own a laptop. These figures indicate the growing rate of smartphones in our daily lives and the direction of future marketing campaigns and pathways that businesses are most likely to take.

In particular, I looked at the PTV (Public Transport Victoria) mobile app and how it addresses the aspects of the 4 L’s of mobile social media in order to provide value, efficiency and convenience to its users.

I focused on ‘individualisation’ and how the PTV app offers features that adhere to user preference and interest by customising journey routes and estimated travel times.

The PTV app uses your current location to show what train, tram and bus stops are closest to you, as well as timetable live updates. You can create ‘favourite’ stops such as Flinders Street Station and the app offers multiple journey options depending on where you would like to go.

The app has succeeded in terms of excelling in all areas of individualisation as it identifies what customers want; transport organisation made easier.  This is accomplished through live PTV updates, delay notifications, alert reminders for scheduled transport and more.

Additionally, the PTV website states that you can locate your closest Myki retail outlet and view the next 5 departures from your favourite stop or station, further emphasising its purpose as a one-stop-shop for public transport journey planning in Victoria.

I believe that companies that offer in-app personalised features will be able to succeed and grow, just as mobile marketing will in the years to come. Without the incorporation of such individualised elements, the apps that we use will prove to be useless and unhelpful in our daily lives.

What is an app that you feel best caters to your individual user needs and makes your life easier? Let me know in the comment section below 🙂