When mentioning “the benefit of doing PR is earning trust”, everyone must have known about it. Well, does it mean the trust of customers being built up is a successful campaign? What about a PR campaign being so perfect with its message, images, and viral content but it seems opposite with the real actions of organizations. Shall that difference lead to unexpected results in the trust of society for the firm?
In April 2020, Uber launched a PR campaign “Thank you for not riding with us”. That was given kudos by Evie Shaw, account manager in top PR campaigns in 2020.
This seems a successful campaign as it caught audiences’ attention by encouraging people to stay home instead of making people book more rides. That may be worse for their income, especially in this crisis financial period.
Uber was actually asking people to “stay at home for everyone who can’t”. The video might make watching people burst into tears with excellent filming and editing work. Audiences could easily relate to the content. For example, young people say hi through the window with their grandparents; a pregnant woman feeling lonely; a young couple is stressed over the pandemic; friends sharing a glass of wine on Zoom and families doing home workouts with the dog getting in the way; etc.
There is no denying that the content of the video pointed out not only empathizing but spreading positivity and heart-warming supports. In this case, Uber does not highlight the brand identity but can still memorize audiences about what they are trying to do, keeping people safe. Besides the viral video, Uber practiced a campaign named “Move What matters” to provide 10 million rides and food deliveries for free to healthcare workers, seniors, and people needing helps.
Uber has done well in taking advantage of the pandemic to build up their CSR report. Uber did not advertise for their services or mobile application but told people to stay home and be safe. This means they care more about human beings rather than their margin. The campaign’s delivery is comprehensive from the idea of the tactics so far in my opinion.
However, if we take a look at the interactions of audiences on social media over this campaign, we might all firstly have a question in mind” Why this such a bold video was not affectional as it should be on social media? Despite 415k views on Youtube, the video has no Like and more than 300 comments, mostly negative reactions. On Twitter, there are around 4.3K views and also some bad comments about the brand from people who said they used to work for Uber.
The fact that Uber was being complained about the way they treat their employees not only after this campaign. Uber drivers were considered “workers” not self-employed as the policy. That leads to some issues in holiday payments, rest breaks, minimum wage, and private rights. The “Thanks for not riding with us” campaign is the last straw that broke the camel's back. Uber asked people to stay home more, and a lot of people who work for Uber as full-time drivers will have fewer jobs when already are underpaid or even worse when some people just applied for the job and have no shift anymore. Some could not receive financial assistance while Uber encourages people not to book more rides.
“Thank you, Uber for underpaying your drivers before the pandemic so you can expand to other countries”
“Hey, I've been driving as my main source of income for the past 4 and a half years. However, I won't be eligible for pandemic assistance because I'm still able to log into my app, despite only being about to make about $3/hr due to the pandemic.”
(Comments of uber drivers)
It sounds like someone’s been stabbed in the back. This could be a bad impact on the campaign as all audiences can read public comments. Meanwhile, none of the comments is from the official Uber official account for explaining. This might make watchers are more confused about the ethical working environment for employees at Uber. This is the time for the audience to rethink about trust in Uber and where is the justice for drivers? Furthermore, there were no other campaigns at the same time or after the crisis that supports Uber drivers.
“Beautiful ad. Now make sure you look after your drivers who RELY on our business to survive. Maybe make a nice ad for the next.”
Audiences can also read reviews about Uber which is more realistic. (Image: Pinterest)
Overall, Uber is doing a beautiful job in terms of taking care of society by the look from the outside. However, for a campaign that has viral and bold content at the right time like this, whether Uber has done the right things about CSR while all drivers are also a part of this society? Is the campaign a backfire? It can be misleading to the public that this is a “fake" business that cares about human beings but their employees.
The solution for uber should be addressing the most perceived problem. You cannot convince people to trust you if you are not honest in PR. So firstly Uber should deal with their drivers to find the best solution for both organization and employees as well as work more with all the feedback from the internal and external working environment.
After that, let audiences know how Uber makes it up for drivers by creating another PR campaign. For example, this time Uber encourage people to stay home so uber driver they are keyworkers, they are also heroes delivering your parcel, your foods, and they also take other “heroes”-doctors to work and help people.
Keywords: marketing, PR campaign, Uber, Two-faces business, best PR campaign, Uber drivers, CSR.