The relationship between Gold Coast agency 40/40 Creative and Uber has shifted up a gear, with the agency delivering its biggest campaign to date for the ride-sharing behemoth.
The national ‘Be a Friend’ campaign, which is also in partnership with alcohol industry body DrinkWise, comprises of three 30-second ads encouraging young people to look out for their mates when they go out drinking.
Two of the three ads, which feature 1970s hit and Golden Girls theme song ‘Thank You for Being A Friend’ as the soundtrack, have had almost 980,000 views collectively following a soft launch last month, with the third ad to be released shortly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ59LTx6i1Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHxyAhAFyrc
Ty Kudla, account director at 40/40 Creative, said the campaign communicated a serious message in a light-hearted way.
“Our brief was to make it relatable for a mass audience, so we crafted the message in a way that said you can look after your mates in a way that doesn’t have to turn into a buzz kill,” he said.
“The feedback from Uber headquarters in San Francisco was that they were impressed with the campaign’s playfulness, so there’s potential for it to go even further than national.
“There’s even talk that it may land on MTV.”
Nic Nichols, creative director at 40/40 Creative, said the campaign was their largest body of work for Uber since linking with the company in 2014 for a part in its Gold Coast launch.
“Our relationship with Uber started as a result of our street art skills, which they wanted for some beat-up cars at their launch at Miami Marketta,” he said.
“From there we went on to deliver on-demand campaigns for UberPUPPIES, UberIceCream and UberJET, as well as doing work for Uber for Business and on the controversial ‘Fine the Premier’ campaign last year.
“Then Uber entrusted us with this national campaign with DrinkWise, which we basically controlled from inception to execution – it was a huge step forward for us.”
Nichols said the agency conceptualised the brand and was responsible for the logo, talent casting, video production, sound design, web design and photography.
“It was an opportunity for us to really prove ourselves,” he said.
