Context

In 2016, the Australian takeaway category was dominated by offline (phone), direct-to-consumer players like Dominos and McDelivery, while online-food-delivery (OFD) aggregator apps represented just 1.4% of total category value. Uber Eats launched fourth-to-market, after Deliveroo, Foodora and well-established market-leader Menulog.

Challenges

1. Acquisition run-way running out - after an initial boost from cross-selling to the Uber parent-brand base, there weren’t many existing ride-share users left to acquire by mid-2017.

2. Far behind main competitors on all metrics - Menulog had over double the market-share and a 15+pt lead on all brand health metrics, while Dominos dwarfed all OFD players.

3. Entrenched behaviours - Despite 3-in-4 Aussies ordering over-the-phone takeaway at least monthly, 57% didn’t think they needed a new way to order food.

Strategic Solution

Research revealed that Australians were stuck in a takeaway rut, with 90% ordering the same thing, from the same place, every single time (usually pizza or Thai food).

The way to make online-food-delivery appealing was by emphasising the wide selection of food now available at people’s fingertips. Yet competitors were already owning this functional benefit, with communications all focused on the same thing - ‘craveable’ food selection.

So instead, we focused on the feeling that this unlimited selection inspires, not the function. That almost-childlike moment of self-indulgence that comes with knowing you can order whatever you want for dinner tonight (even if all you want is pizza, again). By making the ordering moment the hero, not the food itself, we could elevate Uber Eats above functional category norms and sell an experience, not just 100 different types of cuisine.

Idea

Establishing a new dinner-time catchphrase for the nation that captured the unapologetic indulgence of ordering whatever you want for dinner:

‘Tonight, I’ll be eating...’

Via 360-integrated campaigns, celebrities, influencers, sports stars, media personalities and beyond, all seeded the catchphrase in culture by announcing their dinner-order directly to viewers, in ways that felt like entertainment, not ads - making the brand joyful, salient and sticky at that crucial dinner-time decision-making moment.

People heard ‘Tonight, I’ll be eating...’ on repeat, from multiple sources and in multiple (often surprising) places. Where possible, media was booked to feel guerilla - the catchphrase interrupted podcasts, sports games (like the Australian Open tennis), radio shows and live traffic reads.

For the next 5+ years, ruthless repetition was the name of the game, using a creative construct that remained remarkably consistent, while bringing fresh entertainment with each campaign. In 2018, this evolved to playing with pop-culture by bringing unexpectedly funny celebrity combinations together to create what feels like a ‘cultural high five’. The kinda thing that happens when you pair iconic local character Kath from comedy show ‘Kath and Kim’, with the wrong Kim (Kardashian), who gets taught how to pronounce her dinner-order like an Aussie.

The idea, irreverent tone-of-voice and distinctive brand assets it created, were taken through the organisation - from CRM, always-on social, partner co-marketing to in-app and point-of-sale. It’s even printed on the now-iconic brown delivery bag!