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Kris And Kendall Jenner Front Uber Eats Australia’s Latest Push For Market Domination

Posted on by Phil Lam X

Uber Eats has enlisted Kris and Kendall Jenner to help launch the brand’s new positioning as it transitions away from its long-running ‘Tonight I’ll be eating positioning”.

The delivery platform, which launched in Australia in 2016, has enlisted the Jenners, along with a handful of Aussie celebrities, to showcase the brand’s expanded delivery offering, which now includes food, groceries, alcohol and more.

The new brand platform ‘Get almost almost anything’ aims to highlight the expanded service while acknowledging that Uber Eats still can’t deliver some things.

The campaign, which Special Group created in collaboration with Hello Social and MediaCom, features the brand’s trademark mix of celebrities employing self-deprecating humour.

Andy Morley, director of marketing at Uber ANZ, said: “This year we will continue to deepen our get “anything” offering across Uber Eats – building on our already rich range of restaurants, greengrocers, supermarkets, fishmongers, butchers, florists, to add even more retail items. While takeaway food will remain a hallmark, as our selection deepens and evolves we believe it’s time for a new brand platform to capture that. Get almost, almost anything absolutely does that job for us.”

Julian Schreiber, CCO & Partner of Special, said, ‘Being confident enough to discuss what you can’t do is a great way to create entertaining cut through about what you can do, particularly when it’s a huge new diverse offering. It delivers the message but also makes fun of all the over promises that marketing is constantly guilty of.”

The campaign comes as Australia’s food and grocery delivery market undergoes significant changes as it matures. Last year, British-owned delivery giant, Deliveroo, pulled out of the Australian market after six years in operation, citing “challenging economic conditions”. Meanwhile, food delivery service VOLY also withdrew from the market in November, blaming economic uncertainty.

The high concentration of big players in the Australian market has created a competitive landscape. Figures from last year revealed Uber Eats remained the market leader with around 53% market share, ahead of rival Menulog at 20%. Deliveroo held about 12% share, which is believed to have been shared among rivals, including Door Dash and HungryPanda.

Research from Roy Morgan revealed over 7 million Australians use food delivery services, which equates to almost one-third (33.4%) of the population aged 14-plus; this has increased from 3.6 million in 2020. According to the same research, Uber Eats is used by 3.5 million Australians, up from 2.3 million in 2020, confirming its position as the clear market leader.

It’s a position this latest campaign aims to solidify as the brand showcases its ability to deliver more than takeaway meals.

Source: The Drum

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The AI Was Tasked To Imagine Advertisements For 10 Popular Brands—And Within Five Minutes, It Produced Hundreds Of Posters

Posted on by Phil Lam X

Artificial intelligence has proven time and again that creativity can be taught, having been the brains behind some headline-making artworks, and even a magazine cover, of late.

Now, it’s making its way into adland. But don’t worry—instead of stealing jobs, it’s being used as a resource for an experimental project by advertising agency 10 Days. Here, the studio still assumed the role of a creative director of sorts while Midjourney, an invite-only AI platform, followed the instructions of its human coworkers.

The tool was led simply by the cues of six genre-based words, including “sci-fi,” “noir,” and “cinematic,” to produce spec work for companies like Nespresso, KFC, Gucci, British Airways, and Ray-Ban. Projects that would have each taken human creators months to finalize were concluded by the AI in minutes—with 24 wholly unique designs per brand.

These tools, of course, aren’t for everyone. We can name a few minimalist brands that would turn their nose at the idea of launching advertisements in the form of surreal, Salvador Dalí-esque nightmares.

With that being said, the experiment is a teaser of the implications AI might have on the industry. It envisions a future where less time is spent on ideation to allow more space for execution and delivery. Picture relying on one of these to dream up virtually countless storyboards, or even packaging designs.

“It’s staggering what AI can achieve given the right set of prompts and keywords,” describes Jolyon White, co-founder and creative director of 10 Days. “We’re now able to create 24 layouts in the time it takes our Art Director to take their first sip of coffee.”

Source: DesignTAXI

Are DoorDash, UberEats, Postmates, Grubhub, Good For Restaurants?

Posted on by Phil Lam X

While indoor dining has dropped way down during the pandemic, food delivery has grown considerably. DoorDash and Uber Eats, the two largest delivery apps by market share both saw their sales double from the end of 2019 to the end of 2020.

But while it might be an easy decision for customers to use these third-party delivery apps, the decision for restaurants is not so easy. There is a lot to consider, and it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution.

To find out more, watch CNBC’s deep-dive into the pros and cons of third-party delivery apps for restaurants.

Wilbur-Ellis Software Engineer Joe Kassuba (With Wife Holly) Of Issaquah Washington Hurls Racist Slurs At Lyft Driver

Posted on by Phil Lam X

Along with wildfires, mass layoffs, and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, it seems all the racists and “Karens” of the world are coming out of the woodwork this year. A Washington man joined the club after launching into a racist tirade against his Lyft driver, as shown in a video recently uploaded to Instagram.

The video, shared by user @davenewworld, shows a seemingly drunk man hurling racist insults at a Lyft driver, who goes by @davidthestudent11 on Instagram. The video begins once the passenger has already become belligerent, and the altercation appears to have begun over a face mask.

It appears that the Lyft driver required the racist man and his wife to don face masks or be refused service. Both are wearing masks when the video begins, but we’ve seen enough of these public freakouts to guess how things escalated. They likely attempted to enter the vehicle without masks and were refused service when things got heated. Perhaps they decided to put on masks after the driver told them to get out, but it was too late. They’d already revealed themselves, and the driver was no longer willing to transport them.

“Racist Joe,” as @davenewworld aptly nicknames him, goes full bigot straight out of the gate. He repeatedly calls the driver a “sand [N-word],” a vile, racist term for a person of Middle Eastern descent. When the driver calls him out for his language, Racist Joe takes it as a request for a lesson.

“Do you know what a sand [N-word] is?” he asks as he sways on his feet. “Because I do.”

At this point, Racist Joe’s wife—a Karen by anyone’s standards—cuts her husband off—not because she is appalled by his language or his treatment of another human being, but because she is recording. And his repeated slurs really aren’t helping the couple’s optics.

While Karen attempts to paint herself as a victim on camera, Racist Joe continues hurling insults the driver’s way. He calls him a “fucking stupid idiot” before threatening to “piss” in his vehicle. Thankfully, Racist Joe changes his mind before any urine hits the car.

Source: Daily Dot

Uber and Lyft just avoided a shutdown. How they got here and what’s next

Posted on by Phil Lam X

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The warnings are the result of California’s efforts to bring gig economy companies in compliance with state labor law — a clash that threatened to come to a head this week.

An emergency stay granted Thursday by a California appeals court temporarily defused the situation, allowing Uber and Lyft to continue operating under their current model for the time being. But unless a resolution is reached, millions of Californians who use Uber and Lyft to hail rides may yet find themselves forced to resort to other modes of transportation.

In early August, a San Francisco Superior Court judge ordered the companies to classify their drivers as employees rather than independent contractors, building in a 10-day window for the companies to appeal the move. With that window closing Thursday night, Uber and Lyft had threatened to shut down services at midnight Thursday, saying they cannot transition their business models quickly enough. Lyft reiterated that threat in a blog post Thursday morning, saying: “This is not something we wanted to do.”

“Uber and Lyft are threatening to kill jobs in California. I believe the companies are trying to force us into a decision around giving them what they want, and that’s Prop. 22, which is to keep denying us basic labor protections and benefits we have earned,” said Cherri Murphy, a ride-hailing company driver for about three years. An Oakland resident, Murphy is also an organizer with labor groups Gig Workers Rising and Rideshare Drivers United, which have fought to win protections for drivers.

Uber pushed back on this assessment, saying many drivers prefer to remain independent contractors. “The vast majority of drivers want to work independently, and we’ve already made significant changes to our app to ensure that remains the case under California law. When over 3 million Californians are without a job, our elected leaders should be focused on creating work, not trying to shut down an entire industry during an economic depression,” Uber spokesman Davis White said in a statement.

“Fortunately, California voters can make their voices heard by voting yes on Prop. 22 in November,” Zimmer said, and if passed, the measure “would protect driver independence and flexibility, while providing historic new benefits and protections.”

San Francisco’s district attorney sued food delivery app DoorDash in June, alleging worker misclassification. Uber said it anticipates a similar fight on this front.

Source: LA Times

TikTok/YouTube stars Alan & Alex Stokes (Stokes Twins) charged with felony after fake Irvine bank robbery pranks that led to police responses at Metropolis Apartments & UC Irvine

Posted on by Phil Lam X

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Two 23-year old twins face criminal charges for a prank in which authorities say they staged a fake bank robbery in Irvine that resulted in a police response, including officers holding an unsuspecting Uber driver at gunpoint.

Alan and Alex Stokes, 23, of Irvine each were charged with a felony count of false imprisonment and a misdemeanor count of falsely reporting an emergency, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

Prosecutors allege that around 2:30 p.m. on Oct. 15, 2019, the brothers – dressed in black, wearing ski masks and carrying duffel bags full of cash – pretended like they had just robbed a bank, while their videographer filmed them.

According to the DA’s office, the brothers ordered an Uber, but the driver – who was unaware of the alleged prank – refused to drive them anywhere. A bystander, believing the two men had robbed a bank and were trying to carjack the driver, called 911.

Irvine officers ordered the Uber driver out of the car at gunpoint, then released him after determining he hadn’t committed a crime. The officers let the Stokes brothers go with a warning, according to the DA’s office.

Prosecutors allege that four hours later the brothers carried out a similar prank on the UC Irvine campus, and officers once again responded to reports of a bank being robbed. The men left before officers arrived.

Source: OC Register

Barbr – Mobile App

Posted on by Phil Lam X

Last year I prototyped a mobile app that allowed users to get quality haircuts in their home by booking barbers in the area. The concept came from people in big cities who work tight schedules and can’t make it to a barbershop during business hours, or they just don’t feel like driving somewhere and paying for parking. Sure the idea could use some more refining but with all the recent closures and limited gatherings, I don’t think I was too far off with this one💈