Uber Eats Runs Spoof, Player-Led Integrated Australian Open Spots On Channel Nine

Channel Nine and Australian Open coverage sponsor Uber Eats launched a series of integrated, tongue-in-cheek campaign television commercials from the start of the tournament in a campaign called ‘Tonight, I’ll Be Eating…’

The creative is designed to work counter intuitively against the traditions of most sports advertising by initially seeming to be real-life moments within the live game footage before revealing that they are actually ads inserted into the live broadcast to generate maximum disruption.

The spots feature a group of tennis stars – including Aussie Nick Kyrgios, current Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki and 17-time major winner Rafael Nadal (as well as tournament officials) – interrupt the Channel 9 Australian Open broadcast.

The ads – ‘Dumpling’, ‘Bench’, ‘Physio’, ‘Serve’, ‘Return’, ‘Cameraman’ and ‘Umpire’ – each follow the same seemingly real-world/ ad reveal format and were timed to roll out the moment television viewers seemingly tuned back into the tennis after a commercial break. They were greeted with footage of the Rod Laver Arena, then the official AO logo flashed on screen, before a camera zoomed in on one of the two players involved in that evening’s match.

For example, one spot starts with a believable scene showing packed stands and tournament staff and members of the media while commentator Jim Courier announce Australian firebrand Nick Kyrgios is receiving an injury timeout.

Then the reveal comes when the doctor is unmasked as former SBS newsreader Lee Lin Chin who promotes Uber Eats on court.

Other spots see Nadal change ends and order food,

and disagree with an umpire before doing the same,

while a further video features Wozniacki about to serve

The campaign, via Special Group (Sydney) and The Glue Society (produced by Revolver), sees collaboration between Nine, Uber Eats, Tennis Australia who all teamed up to secure talent, vision, audio, locations and spot placement.

The spots, which were shot inside Melbourne Park’s Rod Laver Arena to maximise authenticity, were created in harness with agency Special Group

“This is a fun, creative ad that has been designed to both engage and entertain the audience,” explained a Channel Nine spokesperson.

Uber Australia and New Zealand director of marketing Steve Brennen added that the brand identified an opportunity to create videos that catch unsuspecting viewers off-guard during the tournament’s multiple ad breaks.

“The intention of the ads has always been to entertain and excite our audience, plus have some fun with the inclusion of celebrities and unexpected heroes,” said Brennen.

“Every year, the Australian Open gets the nation talking and we hope these films have injected a bit of light-hearted, Aussie humour into the action-packed schedule.”

Comment:

This is essentially a contemporary take on product placement.

One that cleverly leverages not only the brand’s partnership with the official broadcaster but also its recent new tie up with Tennis Australia.

A few Nine viewers have received some complaints from viewers expressing concern that the ads blur the lines between sports broadcasting and advertising: some claim to feel hoodwinked and complain that the ads are tooconfusingly similar to live coverage.

Thanks, I hate it.

Gahd, these Uber Eats ads are so flat and uninspired. As if they got Wozniacki, Kokkinakis, Gavrilova, Kyrgios, Lee Lin Chin, and now even Nadal to do these awful ads. Who else do they have in store? Is it Djokovic's turn tonight? Federer tomorrow???? https://t.co/qJVJYAlTCh

— ace (@aceofblades_) January 17, 2019

But the majority of viewers seem to applaud the ads for their surprising and inventive take on sports advertising.

Anyone knocking the UberEats ads can do one.

Nadal trying to say half-Hawaiian, half-Meatlovers (or whatever he ordered) is hilarious.

And the Lee Lin Chin cameo with Kyrgios is all-time #AusOpen

— Sam Daddo (@sammydaddo) January 17, 2019

Dinner violation, Nadal.
Broadcast violation, Uber Eats. #AusOpen @RafaelNadal @UberEats pic.twitter.com/jZFsmIaXqp

— Uber Australia (@Uber_Australia) January 16, 2019

The Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) Code of Ethics states advertisers should not use “associated sporting [personalities]” in conjunction with “media devoted to general and sports news”, unless a clear distinction is made.

So it appears that the campaign is not in breach of the code of ethics and Ad Standards Australia confirm that it has not received any official complaints about the commercials.

The advertiser and broadcaster released a statement saying they were encouraged by an overwhelmingly positive response: so Australian sports fan cold well expect similar campaigns in the future.

Although any campaign that works primarily through ‘surprise’ means it would be tough for other advertisers to simply copy the same approach.

After all, the same trick won’t work forever.

Plus, punters don’t like to be tricked too much.

The brand has already featured tennis players (including Lleyton Hewitt)

and other sports stars (such as Ashleigh Gardner at ICC Women’s World T20)

in its previous 2018 campaigns.

Links:

Uber Australia & New Zealand

https://www.ubereats.com/
https://www.ubereats.com/en-AU/
https://twitter.com/ubereats
https://www.instagram.com/ubereats_aus
https://www.facebook.com/ubereats
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1xnncYc7586km_rIYQLtLQ

Special Group, Sydney

https://specialgroup.com.au/

The Glue Society

https://gluesociety.com/

Revolver/Will O’Rourke

https://revolver.ws/

Channel Nine

https://www.9now.com.au

Tennis Australia