From Free Rides to Andy Murray ‘Deliveries’ – Uber marketing serves at the Australian Open

Uber Australia has a longstanding tradition of kicking off its yearly marketing efforts with a talent-packed and buzzworthy advertising campaign. This year, the company super-charged its efforts beyond its traditional campaign, again partnering with Kia to provide free rides in a fully-electric fleet of vehicles and allowing Aussie businesses to advertise directly to sporting fans in the Uber app with Uber Advertising.

In January, Kia and Uber Australia announced it would offer free rides to between the Melbourne CBD and the tennis precinct in a 50-strong fleet of Kia electric vehicles. The rides were available exclusively to Uber One members – Uber’s membership offering that offers various discounts across both the rides and Uber Eats side of the platform. The two-week activation saw nearly 10,000 EV trips transport more than 19,000 people, resulting in more than 35,000 emissions-free kilometers traveled. With a shared vision for a more sustainable future, this brand link-up was a natural fit that drove significant impact.

Kia Australia’s General Manager of Marketing Dean Norbiato said, “Our partnership with Uber, in our eyes, has been a true ‘win, win, win’ for both brands – and in particular riders – truly benefiting from the unique approach to consumer engagement, while also haloing our shared commitment to electrification. Having the customer at the core of the idea ensured its success.”

Uber Advertising offered local and global brands the opportunity to reach consumers via ads on the Uber platform. Marketers jumped at the chance to leverage Uber’s unique advertising channels across both journey ads (during Uber rides) and on the Uber Eats marketplace, with inventory quickly selling out. These ad surfaces enabled brands to own this unique cultural moment and extend their on-ground activations and strategy to audiences travelling to and from the precinct. Brands created ads with tailored messages that align with their onsite activations, with contextual sporting relevancy.

“As brands consider how they show up and activate around major cultural moments, it’s critical they think through each step of the consumer journey – and for us, we mean that literally,” said Michael Levine, Head of Advertising Sales, Uber ANZ. “Whether that’s during a ride to the precinct or ordering a meal on their way home, Uber Advertising serves up the perfect opportunity to target customers with messaging that’s a natural bridge from their experience at an event to your brand’s value proposition.”

After two weeks on the run, tennis legend Andy Murray has been ‘captured’ by Uber Eats in the finale to Uber Eats’ epic ‘Get Almost, Almost Anything’ campaign in partnership with Special. Throughout this campaign, a very determined Uber Eats delivery duo were seen chasing the triple Grand Slam winner on the streets of Melbourne, through broadcast ads, media hijacks and social media to show you really can get almost, almost anything on Uber Eats – maybe even Andy Murray.

With an in-app prompt allowing Aussies to enter a competition to “order” the tennis star, there was strong “appetite” for Andy on Uber Eats – generating more than 350,000 unique visits to the app in just 12 days. Orders for the tennis maestro were placed on the Uber Eats app as customers added Andy to their carts, before the captured former king of the court was delivered to one select, lucky Uber Eats customer.

“This campaign with Andy was an action-packed evolution of our ‘Get Almost, Almost Anything’ platform – and we’re thrilled by how it was able to extend beyond the traditional television spots with a number of integrations across the network. The result was a truly memorable scene of Andy being ‘chased’ through Melbourne that got people talking and wondering how we did it,” said Uber Head of Marketing ANZ, Nicole Bardsley.

Says James Sexton, Creative Director, Special: “Hopefully by showing that Uber Eats can chase, catch and deliver a retired Scottish tennis legend, it’ll open people’s minds to all the things you might be able to get delivered.”

Across traditional and emerging channels, with marquee partnerships and solutions for both consumers and businesses – one thing becomes clear: Uber continues to raise the bar when it comes to driving brand salience during high-profile moments in Australia’s cultural calendar.

Uber is not an official sponsor or partner of the 2025 Australian Open.