Uber Canada / M.A.D.D.
Uber Moms

The Challenge

Research from the Center for Disease Control found that of the world’s 19 wealthiest countries, Canada ranks first in the percentage of roadway deaths due to impairment. Armed with a study that shows a decline in alcohol-related crashes in cities with ride sharing, the agency worked with Uber Canada to apply its reputation for disruptive thinking to this entrenched problem. Through an innovative partnership with Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD), a joint fundraising and awareness campaign was developed to remind Canadians of the consequences of impaired driving. The target audience was professional adults over the age of 35. This a core user group of Uber, but is also a group with a disturbingly high incidence of impaired driving. Particularly during the holiday season, that group needs to be encouraged to choose a responsible and reliable way to get home.

The Insight

Knowing that people become desensitized to the familiar arguments against impaired driving, the agency chose to set aside a strategy that was rooted in the personal risks involved. People believe they’re immune to these possibilities, and that tragedies happen to other people. Instead, the team framed the issue in a universal and emotionally intimate way as the loss of motherhood. The impact of an impaired driving death is magnified when, instead of affecting a nameless stranger, it’s a tragedy that happens to a mother.

The Plan

The first part of the campaign vividly portrayed the reason we all need to make smart choices when it comes to impaired driving. In the PSA at the centre of the campaign, a gut-wrenching story unfolds when a women is informed of horrific news. The story takes her in reverse through the life of her son, from happy moments as a young adult to the day he is born, finishing with her newborn child being removed from her arms. The story ends with the words, “No mom should have motherhood taken away,” and reminds viewers to request a safe way home if they’re impaired.

The connection between Uber and MADD became even more personal in a second component of the campaign that tells a mother’s harrowing story of loss and the actions she takes in response. During creative development, the team sought for a mother among the Uber drivers, who’d lost a child to impaired driving. That led to bringing Shelly, whose oldest daughter died tragically 17 years ago, on board. The team rode along with Shelly one night, capturing her conversations with riders about doing her small part to get people home safely to their mothers. Her story made the impact of impaired driving – and the simple way to avoid it by taking a safer ride home – come to life in a meaningful way. The agency’s content division, Zulubot, turned the footage into a video that ran on social media.

To enable much-needed fundraising for MADD, the final component of the campaign turned awareness into action by involving Uber’s customers. That was achieved by leveraging a mechanism already at the core of Uber’s app. For every “Compliment” badge riders gave to their drivers in December, Uber would donate $1 to MADD.

The Results

By taking a disruptive stance consistent with Uber’s brand, the campaign gave people a new reason not to drive while impaired and provided an example of a way to make a better and safer choice about how to get home. The PSA reached 1.8 million Canadians, generated 11.5 million earned media impressions and resulted in $100,000 being donated to MADD Canada in just 19 days, 11 days ahead of the brand’s target. Shelly’s story was shared on Uber and MADD’s social channels and on the Uber app, which has 1.5 million monthly users. It was seen by almost half a million viewers through the holiday season, a period when the message is especially needed.