After Zomato, Uber Eats promises speedy delivery 'in a blink'

For many users, the most tiresome part of food delivery is waiting for the food to arrive - this is precisely the insight that Uber Eats' new digital campaign plays upon. The campaign is live with the hashtag #EatsinaBlink and it comprises two parts - a digital film and an augmented reality led game, playable on Instagram. To play the game, a user needs to download a filter for the Instagram story camera. Earlier this month, Zomato had launched a campaign to communicate their '30 minutes' delivery promise.

The filter is found on Uber Eats India's official Instagram page and downloading this filter allows users to play a game, wherein an Uber delivery executive is seen riding through town and every time the user blinks, he makes a delivery on the screen. Glitch is the agency that has worked with Uber Eats to conceptualise and create the campaign.

Brands have worked with augmented reality in the past, but not on Instagram. On Snapchat, brands such as OnePlus have brought out branded lenses that make use of augmented reality to engage with users on the platform.

The lens makes use of augmented reality to show users the game when they open their Instagram story camera and select that particular filter. Uber Eats announced in a blog post that the highest scorer of the game would be eligible to win meals for an entire year (Food worth Rs.1,09,500). The blog also mentions that the next two foodies on the leader board win delicious meals for three months (Food worth Rs. 27,000 each) and that seven lucky foodies stand to win delicious meals for a month (Food worth Rs. 9000 each.)

Experts speak

Pratap Bose, founder and chief executive officer of Social Street says that there are both positive and negative aspects to the campaign. He appreciates that the brand and the agency have attempted something different, but points out that the food delivery market in India is currently dominated by major players like Swiggy and Zomato. Uber Eats hasn't taken off with the promise that they initially started out with, he says.

"The good thing is that they've tried something new. It's in the business space and it's in your phone so you're interacting directly with the brand in that sense. 90 per cent of our other activities (such as streaming content and checking emails) happen on the phone nowadays anyway, so they're in the right space. It's a novel way to get engagement going," he says. "They're right in assuming that people get bored and tired of waiting for their food but they're not necessarily going to be playing the game, the whole time they're waiting for their food to arrive. If an order is going to arrive in 30-40 minutes, people are mentally prepared for that," he points out. He adds that on a more fundamental level, Uber Eats needs to get their act together in India in terms of their back-end, delivery and operations.

Lucky Saini, vice president, digital and marketing solutions, Dentsu India Slingshot, says that he likes the idea of gamifying the concept of ‘Eats in a Blink.’ He mentions that the gamification of ideas is a great way to be sticky in an attention deficit world of social media. “In the hypercompetitive category of food delivery, delivery time and how the brand experience is in the wait period is what will define which brand gets a share of the wallet. For a digital first audience, this is a very smart way of integrating the brand’s value proposition while engaging them in a fun way. Execution is simple and easy to understand. Something that is a must when you are gamifying things,” explains Saini.

He adds that the concept of a visible 'Leader Board' was a good idea as it makes people want to play more and share the game too. "Using an AR filter is an engagement driven idea. A user opens Instagram multiple times in the day and offering a simple, easy to play and short game is an effective engagement tactic. Since it’s a branded activity with the name of the brands integrated in the Instagram filter, game brand recall will be high," he opines.

Saini however, adds that the campaign has its shortcomings too. "The video missed out a bit on communicating the fast delivery call out of Uber Eats. It tells you how you can make your waiting time interesting but the fact that Uber Eats delivers fast - in the blink of an eye - should have been integrated somewhere. Right now, it does not tell you that," he says.

He points out that the video could have started by setting the context on how people can’t wait to eat the food that they have ordered and the game is something to keep them happily entertained. "Not everyone is bored and sitting around and waiting. Currently, it starts with a pitch of a new game and then comes to the pain point of waiting. Assuming this campaign was done for driving consideration and not just awareness, the key call out which could drive consideration ( speed of delivery) could have definitely been plugged in," Saini opines.

"Overall, it's a great brand led engagement piece but for driving consideration and preference for the brand, it could have been designed better," he signs off.