The Top 10 coolest Uber promotions
While everyone knows how Uber has revolutionized world travel, many of the amazing promotions Uber has run are lesser known (I’ve even been a recipient of one!) Hence, in honor of Uber’s 5th birthday and inspired by David Letterman’s recent retirement, I wanted to list what I think are Uber’s top 10 coolest vehicular promotions.
10) Uber Transformers
Dallas/ Phoenix/ Los Angeles — June 16/ 19/ 21, 2014
To help promote “Transformers: Age of Extinction,” Uber teamed up with Paramount Pictures and drove people around in an Optimus Prime-like vehicle for 15 minutes. Besides being a sweet ride, it must’ve been pretty cool to battle with the Decepticons.
9) Uber Chopper
While Uber has become synonymous with cars, the UberCHOPPER promotion illustrated how Uber can really be for all methods of transportation. It’s interesting to note that what was conceived to be fun Uber promotion evidently had merit, as there are now full-fledged companies built around this concept.
8) Uber Boats
San Francisco — August 5, 2013
Uber continued their move into all types of transportation by taking to the water and unveiling UberBOAT. Ubering to work on a boat? Forget about Seaworld; this is as real as it gets.
(similarly, in 2015 Uber expanded their nautical offerings and ran an UberYACHT promo in Chennai and Miami among other places)
7) Uber Indycar
In honor of the Indianapolis 500, Uber Indiana ran a promotion where people were driven around in an Indycar. The cool thing about Uber Indycar is that it shows how Uber runs location-relevant promotions (this wouldn’t have had the same impact if it was in, say, Lincoln, Nebraska). It must’ve been sweet to drive around like Mario Andretti, but probably wasn’t street legal so let’s keep that on the down low.
6) Uber Call of Duty
Los Angeles — June 10–12, 2014
I’m not a Call Of Duty player, but this promotion shows Uber’s ability to get the most iconic cars that exist, such as Call Of Duty’s trademark armored personnel carriers.
5) Uber Roving Record Store
Uber decided to pay homage to Seattle by staging this promotion. There’s only one word that can describe the ability to summon a record store on wheels in a storied musical city: Nirvana (crickets).
4) Uber Charter
Following the success of UberCHOPPER, UberCHARTER marked Uber’s further aerial expansion. While this contest only had one winner, it showed that Uber has the capabilities for commercial aviation and routing logistics.
3) Uber Fast and the Furious
The most popular car franchise in history. Uber. ‘Nuff said.
2) Uber Movers
This neat promotion was incredibly practical and helpful. In fact, it was such a good idea that multiple people decided to create companies revolving around this exact concept. Again, it’s amazing how a one-off Uber promotion inspired the birth of new companies.
1) Uber DeLorean
San Francisco — September 6–8, 2013
And finally, I think the coolest promotion that Uber has ever run is Uber DeLorean. What can be better than driving in the most famous car in movie history? While there’s no mention on the website whether Doc Brown was driving or if they swerved into a giant pile of manure, I wish I had a flux capacitor to travel back in time to experience this unparalleled promotion.
Future Uber Promotions…
Who knows what future Uber promotions will look like? But as evidenced by this list, Uber has a foothold in all types of transportation. Will we one day see an Uber Subway? Uber Hot Air Ballons? Uber Hyperloop? Uber Mars? Only time will tell… ☺
