Speaking to Uber’s relationship with agencies EssenceMediacom and Special, Andy Morley, director of marketing at Uber & Uber Eats, APAC, told Mediaweek “they’re a true extension of our team.”
“Undoubtedly, the reason we began with, and stay with, both agencies is the brilliant people within them,” he added.
The relationship between EssenceMediacom (then Essence), Special Group, and Uber began in 2017 with the star-studded ‘Tonight, I’ll be eating…’ campaign, which featured Boy George, Poh Ling Yeow, Beau Ryan, and Sophie Monk.
Both the media and creative agencies won the respective work accounts independently when the business was new and growing in Australia.
Rob Frost, national head of strategy at EssenceMediacom, told Mediaweek it has been interesting to see how each party has grown in the partnership.
“It means that a lot of us have been able to get to know each other well over the years, consistently find new ways of working together and continue to push for great, breakthrough work.”
Celia Garforth, head of strategy at Special Group, told Mediaweek the agency’s relationship with Uber is “familial in a way that’s rare in this industry.
“With that comes all the wonderful messiness, closeness, push and pull of a familial relationship,” she said. “It’s hands-on, everyone leaning in and working at pace together, rolling with the many punches as they come!”
The evolution of Special, EssenceMediacom, and Uber
For Garforth, the early days of the partnership consisted of smaller teams, very little formalisation, and clients willing to “back big ideas.”
Now, teams have expanded, relationships are deeper, with more layers that added time to the process, yet the “let’s all get stuck into it together basis” of the relationship has remained the same.
Frost said the trio’s relationship was “dynamic”, and working with Uber meant everyone needed to be agile and prepared for change.
“While we have key roles and processes, there often isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution that can be applied to every brief. So, our relationship has had to continually adapt in line with that.”
Rob Frost
Frost noted that great relationships and support to achieve a common goal have been consistent over the years between all parties.
“This way of working means that we’re always pushing what we can do to break through, deliver great campaigns, unlock something new and drive growth for Uber.
“Leaning into each other’s work – even as far back as when I worked in the US and Special was launching ‘Tonight, I’ll be eating’ (TIBE) in market – meant that we always had one clear point of view, where creative and media came together as one.
“We’ve tried to maintain this way of working across several markets. Today, we’re a lot more consistent with how we do this,” he added.
The biggest development for the network has been how it has matured as an agency village.
Frost said there are greater opportunities for the agencies to craft ways of working together through formalised work processes with the client.
Celia Garforth
Garforth highlighted this cooperation in a recent example during the production stage of an Uber One campaign, which required a change of purpose to parts of the OOH plan “from a visual-led brand message to various harder-working value messages.”
“Our creative pivot had a big knock-on effect with the media plan. However, EMC quickly reshaped the media plan to ensure we were showing up in places and spaces that accommodate a harder working, less visual-led creative,” she added.
In addition to highlighting the maturation of the agency village, Morley also pointed to Uber’s growth as the client. “We were such a needy and painful client in the early years, always trying to move at a ridiculous pace and changing our plans regularly.”
“As our teams have grown and our function has matured, we’ve become much better planned and implemented processes and a culture, which continuously improves our effectiveness together. Both agencies have also matured in partnership with this.”
Andy Morley
He added: “We’re definitely not perfect – and I’m not sure we’ll ever be – but it’s a pretty great operation, and we’re proud of the work it produces in a magical way.”
Morley said the partnership between the agencies has resulted in a strong partnership that has built world-class programs.
“The opportunities we’re working on for improvement are getting clearer on our processes and the roles each partner plays in each stage, which we’re continually refining.
“I think it’s good as everyone brings a teamwork perspective, respects each other and gets along brilliantly,” he added.
Shaping each other’s work
A creative and innovative dynamic in close working relationships can lead to considerations that need to be made that shape the output of the work, such as the case with EssenceMediacom and Special.
Frost said that the media agency prides itself on continuously and closely reimagining how creative ideas are brought to life.
“The secret to doing this well is having a media team that truly understands the creative strategy and idea as well as anyone at the creative agency.”
He noted that was evident in long-lasting platforms such as TIBE and ‘Get Almost, Almost Anything’ (GAAA).
“Special are great at determining what makes these platforms successful. Our team then spends a disproportionate amount of time channelling that thinking so that it can be applied in creative ways through media.”
Frost noted that this is the same for media ideas built off extensions of a creative idea and that Special’s creative input “helps to fine-tune experiences to feel truly cohesive and part of the campaign.”
He highlighted Uber Eats’ collaboration with the video game Starfield as an example that delivered an activation aligned to the campaign tone and bespoke billboards aligned to the game and strategically placed.
Frost added: “Creative considerations should always be pulled through to what we do, while media considerations should ultimately impact the shape of the creative execution. It ultimately needs to work as a system.”
Garforth said that the beauty of having close relationships is that “briefs aren’t approached in silos but collaboratively and iteratively, the thinking from both sides influencing the other as we go.”
“In particular, some of our most innovative work has been heavily informed by what’s possible from a media perspective – like several of our Australian Open partnerships that involved hacking live broadcasts or being responsive to real-time play.”
She noted the ‘Get Almost, Almost Anything’ campaign, in which Special worked closely with EssenceMediacom to identify media signals that can inform a specific combination of Uber Eats delivery products, as shown in the ‘Yes/No’ creative.
Morley noted Uber plays the role of realigning focus in every brief. “Usually, the bigger the brief, the more the complexity of the process, and this is where the marketing managers need to play a more active role in steering the ship,” he said.
He said that building the first ‘Get Almost, Almost Anything’ campaign, which took over a year of work, was a prime example as it needed to be pulled back on track at multiple points.
“However, it has now scaled out to ten other countries and is proving to be a very successful multi-year platform, so it was well worth the effort.”
The key to the longstanding relationship (and applying it elsewhere)
With seven years of partnership under their belt, Garforth said everyone in the village is “rather comfortable with getting messy together.”
“Our projects are not a straight line, so respecting each other as we go, being transparent in it and quite frankly having fun in the maze (or mess) is where the magic happens. We’re in it together.”
Garforth also praised EssenceMediacom for hiring “wonderful people” and Uber for fostering a close and collaborative agency village that encourages time spent together not just on the tools but outside of it at social events.
Frost also shared Garforth’s points on people, agency culture and love for the work as keys to maintaining the longstanding relationship.
“Ultimately, this all comes together in a desire to achieve success together,” he said.
“Sharing successes and wins has been a great motivator for the kick-off of the next campaign, and so on. The Uber AV winning marketing team of the year a couple of years ago is a great testament to this.”
The partnership has also been successful in yielding positive results for the client both in terms of business results and campaign awards. Special has tallied over 100 awards won, while EssenceMediacom recently bagged several finalist nominations for Uber at the New Zealand Comms Council’s 2024 Beacon Awards.
Morley noted that the industry can continue to expect a mix of fantastic work from EssenceMediacom, Special, and Uber. “Some epic failures, some innovative approaches and an agency village who all have a lot of fun and pride along the way.”
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Top image: Rob Frost, Celia Garforth, Andy Morley