Why is this work relevant for PR?

Uber Eats as a marketing strategy strives to create not just ads but explosions in storytelling to promote themselves. Trying to build on this competitive edge and raise the cultural bar, we used their long running ‘Tonight, I’ll be eating…’ platform to not just be part of culture, but to create and earn it. By pairing Luke Skywalker and Captain Picard, our aim was to further cement the Uber Eats brand by enhancing its reputation and virility. We wanted to gift the world with content that was watched, shared and shared and engaged with by choice, to earn attention.

Background

In a year where many were wishing it was science fiction and the goings on of another planet entirely, we were tasked with bringing some joy to audiences in the form of our highly anticipated and latest instalment of the Uber Eats ‘Tonight, I’ll Be Eating’ series… So, we took the home-grown ‘Tonight I’ll Be Eating’ concept to new galaxies. Following four years of successful origin advertisements in Australia and then Japan, Taiwan, Mexico, New Zealand and Brazil, the Australian born concept also made its way to the screens in the United States. To celebrate the North American debut and latest Australian iteration we were tasked with pairing a combination of talent that would be our boldest yet: Luke Skywalker vs Captain Picard. The aim? To actually create a cultural moment (not just be part of it) and earn the attention and hearts of two opposing countries America and Australia.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

We created a pairing that embodied one of the largest cultural debates in entertainment history - which space franchise is better? Star Wars or Star Trek? We had Mark Hamill and Patrick Stewart feature in the showdown the world had long been waiting for, creating a massive cultural collision. Eagle-eyed viewers felt the cultural tension from the start as the duo met on Australian screens in a dimly lit, dank warehouse. We then shared the showdown with franchise fans first and then watched the internet explode. Skywalker and Picard went face to face and rivalled each-other on the simplest of things including how to pronounce ‘tomato’. The pair are also seen competing against each other for the better Uber Eats meal, while simultaneously trying to beat each other at Air Hockey and Connect Four.

Describe the PR strategy (30% of vote)

We know generations have always wanted a cross-over between two of the greatest space franchises of all time so we decided to deliver the world the nerdgasm it was after. These global franchises came preloaded with enormous global fan bases. By pairing Star Wars’ Luke Skywalker with Star Trek’s Captain Picard it gave us the ability to create instant enormous PR hype and virility. Fans of both franchises watched the film, shared the film, debated the film and even recut and made their own edits. To execute this, we created a ‘Tonight, I’ll Be Eating’ iteration which sees the British and American actors star in an imaginative concept that is now being seen on a continent with nearly 600 million people. By doing this our aim was to attract attention and raise awareness of the Uber Eats brand by making it a truly integrated PR and influencer-led campaign.

Describe the PR execution (20% of vote)

This campaign marks the first time Uber Eats has run the same Tonight I’ll be Eating commercials in two markets with the campaigns premiering on the same day in Australia and North America - addressing a potential audience of nearly 600 million people. We had Stewart and Hamill release the film on their own channels first so fans of both franchises could watch the film, share the film, debate the film and even recut and made their own edits of the film. It then spread exponentially from there. A campaign of this scale had to win the attention of an audience with an incredibly low attention span in a saturated advertising climate. We rolled out OOH, digital, social and TV assets fronted by global and mega super stars, we secured global exclusives with media outlets and received almost 100 individual pieces of quality news coverage across the globe.

List the results (30% of vote)

Following the successful launch of our Showdown campaign we managed to attract almost 100 pieces of quality news coverage spanning all sections of the web, from mainstream consumer media to fan culture to trade media and film websites. The campaign was an undeniable success from the start with 300,000 shares on Twitter within 24 hours and 7m views on Twitter in launch week. The Showdown campaign also managed an extremely difficult feat, it scored in the 99th percentile for breakthrough according to Kantar Millward Brown.