Uber Eats has unveiled its latest iteration of its “rogue umpire” campaign starring Sacha Baron Cohen as a hapless chair umpire at the Aussie Open.
The work of creative agency Special Group, the quartet of spots features Aussie world number one Ash Barty and tennis’ enfant terrible, Nic Kyrgios and Baron Cohen doing a brilliantly awful Australian accent.
“The first week of the campaign has been going gangbusters, said Julian Schreiber CCO & partner, Special Group Australia. “People are really getting into the second screen experience of watching for when the score is love so they can snap up codes on Instagram in order to score food on Uber Eats”.
“We couldn’t be happier with how Sacha Baron Cohen’s ‘Rogue Umpire’ character has grabbed national attention,” said Tom Martin, CCO & Partner, Special Group Australia. “His antics with Nick Kyrios, and now with Ash Barty, have been getting coverage on national morning shows, the news and even interviews during the Tennis itself.”
Barty added: “This is my second year collaborating with Uber Eats as part of their Australian Open campaign. After 2020 I was keen to see what was coming this year. When I saw the scripts and the cheeky comments from Sacha Baron Cohen’s Rogue Umpire I knew it would be a laugh. I hope people have as much fun watching it as I had making it.”
Head of marketing, Uber Eats ANZ, David Grifiths, said: “Having the world number one and young Australian of the Year in our campaign for a second year is huge and it’s a partnership Uber Eats is incredibly proud of given Ash Barty’s class on and off the court.
“Ash brings a great warmth to the campaign alongside our cheeky Rogue Umpire and did a great job helping us explain the campaign mechanic – when the score is at love, you could eat for love. Given Ash only dropped ten points her entire first match there was plenty of love on the scoreboard, and understandably she’s getting a lot of love from fans on our channels who’ve been the recipients of thousands of free meals as a result of her on court dominance.”
Marketing Manager, Uber Eats ANZ, Rebecca Kemp said: “There’s unsurprisingly been a huge amount of hype and buzz about the star turn of Academy Award winner and Golden Globe nominee Sacha Baron Cohen in our spots to date – the Rogue Umpire get more wild and closer to the line as the tournament goes on. But we’ve been just as delighted to see the positive reception Aussies Nick Kyrgios and Ash Barty are soaking in across our channels.”
