Uber One worked with agency Special Group to serve up an integrated, comic campaign leveraging its Tennis Australia’s 2024 Australian Open partnership fronted by (re-mulleted athlete ambassador and tennis legend Andre Agassi.
Rolling out from early January, this integrated activation ran across TV, BVOD, online video, OOH, radio, social media and online owned channels.
The creative idea sees US multiple Grand Slam winner Agassi in the stands at a tournament expressing disappointment at losing his famous mullet whilst surrounded by mullet-wearing fans, players, officials, cameramen, TV commentators – and even a dog. The underlying message is that while Agassi’s missing mullet is disappointing, Uber One savings don’t disappoint!
The campaign was spearheaded by a hero spot which dropped digitally on 13 January and was officially titled ‘Uber One Savings Don’t Disappoint’. The lead add and supporting content seeks to drive viewers online to find out more about Uber Eats at https://1eb4.short.gy/aYXNxS.
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The campaign was commissioned and co-developed by a team at Uber APAC which included Senior Marketing Director (International) Lucinda Barlow, Director of Marketing Andy Morley, Head of Marketing (ANZ) David Griffiths, Senior Marketing Manager & Brand Lead (ANZ) Channa Goonasekara, Marketing Manager, (ANZ) Rebecca Selth, Marketing Associate (ANZ) Holly Dover, Senior Manager Communications (ANZ) Nick Vindin, Executive Creative Director (International) Jerome Austria, Creative Director, (APAC) Adam Ledbury, Media Lead (APAC) Louisa Chu, Strategy Lead (APAC) Josh Pickstone, Legal Director & Talent Manager (ANZ) Cameron Loughlin, Legal Counsel & Talent Manager (ANZ) Jessica Shao, Social Media Senior Associate (ANZ) Chanelle Murray and Social Media Associate (ANZ) Vince Lam.
The creative agency was Special where the group working on the project included Partners/CEO Lindsey Evans and Cade Heyde, Partners/CCO Julian Schreiber and Tom Martin, Creative Directors James Sexton and Sarah Parris, Creatives Lauren Regolini, Locki Choi, Edwin Concubierta and Ekin Gunes, Managing Director Lauren Portelli, Team Lead Rebecca Grant, Business Directors Edward Nash and Kelly Griffiths, Business Manager Genevieve Bowes, Head of Strategy Celia Garforth, Strategy Director JJ Bender, Head of Film & Content Production Sevda Cemo, Senior Producer Margot Fitzpatrick, Integrated Producer Will Sealey, Head of Stills Nick Lilley, Stills Producer Danielle Senecky, Head of Design Adam Shear, Designer Maggie Webster, Creative Services Manager Kristie Dagg, PR Managing Director Alex Bryant and Creative Strategist Kate Wilkinson.
Film production was by Good Oil with Director Dave Wood, Executive Producer Sam Long, Producer Lee Thomson and Cinematographer Ross Giardina.
Post Production was handled by Arc Edit Editor Drew Thompson, Online Richard Lambert, Executive Post Producer Daniel Fry and Post Producer Jess Ryan.
Audio post was by Rumble Studios, still production by Chee Productions, the photographer was Christopher Tovo and Executive Producers Matt Chee and Tamiko Wafer. Social production was run by SPECIAL MADE and the media agency was EssenceMediacom.
“When I first heard about the mullet joke I knew it would land well because I was familiar with Uber’s creative campaigns featuring some of my tennis contemporaries like Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal,” said Agassi. “My family and I are frequent users of Uber and Uber Eats, so I was happy to work with their team and be part of this campaign.”
“We’ve fused our self-deprecating tone with one of the most lauded tennis identities globally to show that while there are disappointing moments in life – our membership platform Uber One isn’t one of them. Working in collaboration with an internationally celebrated figure like Andre Agassi enables us to embed that message in an unforgettably compelling way. We anticipate this campaign will both underline that Uber One’s ‘savings don’t disappoint’ and be a precursor to more mullets appearing in sports clubs and workplaces in 2024. We make no apologies for either,” said Uber ANZ Head of Marketing David Griffiths.
“Life’s full of disappointments, a first date, the ending of that TV show, the adaptation of your favourite feline-based theatrical show, or simply that mullets are back and the majestic mullet you had in your prime is long gone; luckily for Andre and all Aussies, Uber One saving are definitely not disappointing,” added Special Uber APAC Creative Director James Sexton.
There was a time when young Agassi was seen by many as party at the front and the back, but as brand endorser his approach has been distinctly mullet like – business at the front and party at the back,
The Australian Open has become a blockbuster global, APAC regional and host country marketing platform: with brands keen to reach the record breaking 1m+ fans attending the tournament in person.
The 2024 men’s final reached 4.75m Australians and this year saw the Australian Open became the first Grand Slam to reach 100m YouTube views in a week. Overall AO social media created and published 7250 pieces of content during AO 2024, achieving 1.7bn impressions and 1.1bn views and 58m engagements.
Indeed, AO 2024 saw a 45.5% increase in global hours viewed year-on-year (across 12 key markets), while the website saw more than 22m sessions – a 15% increase on AO 2023. The AO app saw increased engagement time of more than six minutes per user over the course of the tournament, while the AO’s metaverse – AO Adventure – saw over 15.5m sessions (becoming the most-played Grand Slam game on Roblox).
Indeed, after this year’s tournament, primary partner KIA’s marketing boss Dean Norbiato described the company’s reported $107m AO partnership as “the best sports sponsorship in Australia”.