Uber Advertising and Omnicom Media Group Australia (OMG) have announced a landmark partnership that brings Uber’s advertising inventory directly into OMG’s proprietary planning platform, Omni, making it possible for brands to reach Australian consumers as they go about their daily lives, from the backseat of an Uber to the tap of an Uber Eats order.
The collaboration, described by both parties as a game-changer, is the first of its kind in Australia. It will allow OMG’s suite of media, creative and commerce agencies to strategically plan campaigns using Uber’s mobility and retail media inventory as part of a fully connected media strategy.
Chatting exclusively with B&T, head of Uber Advertising ANZ Michael Levine and OMG Australia’s chief investment officer Marelle Salib explained why now was the right moment to bring this partnership to life.
“We know that brands are increasingly looking to connect with consumers as they move through their days,” said Levine. “With over 10 million users across Mobility and Eats in Australia, Uber offers both scale and high-intent moments. Partnering with OMG Australia allows us to take that demand and incorporate Uber into media planning through the Omni platform.”
Salib agreed, adding: “The marketplace is rapidly evolving and becoming more sophisticated. OMG Australia is uniquely placed through our localised marketing orchestration platform and vast capabilities. We bring the best media partnerships and data sets to move clients from optimising and reporting against media metrics to shifting the focus to business metrics, ultimately delivering business growth.”
With Uber’s global ad platform live in over 30 markets, Levine said the Australian market’s strong user base made it an ideal launchpad.“In Australia alone, Uber connects with over 10 million consumers. This partnership taps into a truly global network with strong local relevance,” he said.
Salib was more direct: “Australia is typically not great at driving innovation at scale. That’s what makes this partnership so unique.”
Combined with OMG’s Flywheel commerce platform, she said, “We are able to deliver transformative business results for clients.”
The Shift to Real-World Media Moments
According to both leaders, the collaboration reflects a broader industry shift toward moment-based marketing.
“Brands want to show up not just when people are watching or scrolling, but when they’re doing—moving through their daily lives to go anywhere and get anything,” Levine told B&T. “That’s where Uber is uniquely positioned. Pairing our insights with OMG’s planning approach creates a powerful way for brands to activate real-world touchpoints in a seamless, measurable way.”
Salib noted that Uber’s growth as a media platform made it the right partner: “Uber, as an advertising platform, has scaled and built out its offering and capability at pace in this market. By collaborating with advertising platforms that have high-quality data sets, we ensure that our advertising strategies are effective and impactful.”
Bringing Uber Into the Heart of Media Strategy
The partnership enables Uber Advertising’s formats, such as in-ride video and Uber Eats in-app placements, to be fully integrated into the Omni system, meaning Uber can now be planned alongside traditional channels like TV, out-of-home and digital.
“What’s exciting about this partnership is that it brings Uber Advertising directly into the heart of how media is planned,” said Levine. “By bringing together our mobility and retail media inventory into Omni, OMG Australia agencies can now incorporate Uber into the broader media mix. It’s a first in Australia, and it means brands can tap into high-attention formats as part of a much more connected, strategic approach”.
Salib highlighted the strategic value of the data integration. “The data collaboration between OMG Australia and Uber through the Omni platform offers brands a multitude of opportunities to enhance targeting, measurement, personalisation, and strategic decision-making. By leveraging this powerful integration, brands can benefit from closed-loop performance analysis and a strong focus on driving business metrics as opposed to media metric optimisation”.
To illustrate the potential, Levine described how a brand might activate around a major event like the Australian Open.
“Imagine a retail or beverage brand which wants to activate around a major cultural moment. With Uber inventory now integrated into Omni, that brand could plan a campaign that includes in-ride video ads on the way to the precinct, in-app offers on Uber Eats post-match, and align those with audience segments built from intent signals like recent trips or order behaviour.”
For Salib, the key benefit is smarter targeting: “We are connecting brands and media partners in a more meaningful way to deliver incremental growth. Uber reach and engagement data within the Omni ecosystem allows OMG Australia to turn this activity into a core part of the campaign and to better understand its role alongside other activity, as opposed to it being part of a fragmented group of tactics.”
Rethinking the Funnel
Both leaders believe the partnership redefines how brands will blend commerce, mobility and media in a single strategy.
“Consumers move, shop and engage, often all in the same moment,” Levine said. “As the boundaries between commerce, mobility and media blur, this partnership gives brands the tools to plan holistically across moments, using Uber to bridge intent and action in real time. It’s no longer just about awareness or conversion, it’s about creating relevance in the flow of someone’s day”.
“The way we approach planning changes every single year, given the vast and rapid changes within the consumer and media landscape. The focus now is on how we’ve moved from media metrics to optimising and delivering on business metrics. To enable this for our clients, OMG Australia has the best data partnerships in market to deliver business growth for our clients,” Salib added.
Levine told B&T the response from the market has been “incredibly positive.”
“Advertisers are excited by the scale and intent that we can offer,” he said. “This partnership with Omnicom Media Group Australia is a major accelerator—it gives us scale, credibility, and access to leading brands through their agencies.”
When asked how Uber ensures the ads enhance, rather than disrupt, the user experience, Levine emphasised that relevance is key.
“We design our formats to blend into the experience in ways that make sense—whether you’re mid-ride or finalising an order. It’s about delivering relevance without compromise and helping brands connect without interrupting the journey.”
What It Means for Commerce Strategy
Levine also teased new eCommerce products on the horizon. “We’re exploring a range of new eCommerce ad products that are in development, so while we can’t share too much just yet, the focus is really on creating formats that add value, both for our users and for our advertising partners. Connecting brands with consumers in moments that feel natural and useful,” he said.
From Salib’s perspective, Uber’s integration into Omni and Flywheel enhances OMG’s broader commerce ambitions.
“Where people are, where they travel to and what they purchase are about as fundamental a set of building blocks to real customer understanding as you could get,” she said.
“Uber is the rare case of an app that is core to consumers’ lives in all these areas. Because of that, the integration of Uber’s mobility and retail inventory presents compelling opportunities for brands to harness real-time data, enabling deeper insights into consumer behaviour and more refined targeting strategies. This synergy allows for personalised promotions tailored to users’ travel patterns, facilitating seamless cross-channel campaigns that enhance user engagement. Not only that, but the OMG Advantage partnership with Uber allows for multiple innovative advertising formats, including augmented reality experiences which will amplify brand interaction and drive conversion rates, enabling marketers to create meaningful connections with their audiences”.
She pointed to opportunities like augmented reality experiences, AI-led automations, and full-funnel campaign integration across awareness, consideration and purchase.
“With Flywheel’s API integration into Uber’s Sponsored Product ecosystem, we’re able to deliver higher-than-benchmark results and unlock insights to drive further growth,” she said. “This is a sign of what’s to come.”
A Seamless Next Step
For both Uber and OMG, this Australian-first integration marks the next evolution in data-led, moment-based advertising.
As Levine put it: “We’re creating a powerful new way for brands to identify and connect with current and future customers, right at the moments that matter most.”
Or as Salib summarised: “This collaboration not only enhances our media planning capabilities but also gives our clients early access to innovative ad formats that reflect the way people live, move and shop today.”
