Heetch: Choose Uber
Heetch sought to increase brand awareness and differentiate itself within a competitive ride-hailing market. The client aimed to generate significant buzz and position Heetch as a confident, relevant alternative for urban consumers, challenging the dominance of established competitors.
Creative Idea
Heetch's driver surprisingly advised passengers to choose competitor Uber, creating unexpected brand confidence.
Heetch boldly subverted ride-sharing norms by having its driver recommend competitor Uber, leveraging the unexpected honesty to generate buzz and position the brand as confident and transparent, acknowledging consumer choice in a competitive market.
The Art of Firing Your Most Profitable Customers
A Masterclass in Strategic Sacrifice
While most brands spend millions to capture the Paris 2024 Olympics windfall, Heetch CMO Renaud Berthe took the opposite approach. By intentionally walking away from tens of millions of euros in potential tourist revenue, the brand prioritized its core Parisian user base. This "anti-profit" strategy paid off: Heetch recorded its best sales months in nine years during July, August, and September. While foreign client growth was stifled at just 3%, rides by local French clients surged by 37%, proving that loyalty is more valuable than a seasonal spike.
AI Translation and Hyper-Local Media
To ensure the message reached its intended "non-target," BETC Paris and production house Soldats utilized HeyGen AI to translate driver and influencer videos into 12 different languages, including Mandarin and Portuguese. The media buy was aggressively tactical; every advertisement featured a QR code linking directly to the Uber app on the App Store. Beyond traditional billboards, the campaign appeared on baguette wrappers, pancake holders, and French fry cones in tourist hotspots, ensuring the "Choose Uber" message was inescapable for visitors.
The David vs. Goliath Legacy
This wasn't Heetch’s first time hijacking their rival. In 2021, they ran the "Uber Heetch" campaign, printing ads on 12,000 meal boxes delivered by Uber Eats drivers. Executive Creative Director Olivier Aumard described the 2024 iteration as the "most beautiful expression of love to the people of Paris." By framing Uber as the "tourist choice," Heetch successfully reframed the market from a price war into a values war, cementing its status as the only authentic local alternative.
Creative Strategy Deconstructed
Company
Heetch possessed the confidence and market understanding to execute a bold, counter-intuitive campaign that directly addressed competitor presence.
Category
Ride-hailing services typically focus on promoting their own benefits, prices, or availability, avoiding direct mention of competitors in their advertising.
Customer
Customers often compare ride-hailing apps for best prices or availability, experiencing choice fatigue or loyalty shifts based on immediate needs.
Culture
In a culture saturated with competitive advertising, an unexpected, almost self-deprecating approach stood out by breaking the conventional marketing playbook.
Company
Heetch possessed the confidence and market understanding to execute a bold, counter-intuitive campaign that directly addressed competitor presence.
Category
Ride-hailing services typically focus on promoting their own benefits, prices, or availability, avoiding direct mention of competitors in their advertising.
Strategy:
Subvert competitive advertising norms by embracing an unexpected, confident, and transparent stance to capture attention.
Customer
Customers often compare ride-hailing apps for best prices or availability, experiencing choice fatigue or loyalty shifts based on immediate needs.
Culture
In a culture saturated with competitive advertising, an unexpected, almost self-deprecating approach stood out by breaking the conventional marketing playbook.
Strategy:
Subvert competitive advertising norms by embracing an unexpected, confident, and transparent stance to capture attention.
Strategy Technique
Roast the Competition
Heetch confidently challenged industry norms by openly recommending a competitor, Uber, in its own ad. This bold move created a memorable and talked-about moment, positioning Heetch as self-assured and witty.
Explore Technique
Creative Technique
Reverse Expectations
The campaign deliberately flipped the script by having a Heetch driver advise a passenger to choose Uber. This unexpected recommendation created immediate intrigue and memorability, challenging typical competitive advertising.
Explore Technique
Craft Breakdown
This campaign excels through its ingenious strategic approach and masterful comedic performance, effectively turning a competitor's strength into its own advantage while entertaining the audience.
The lead actor delivers an outstanding comedic performance, embodying the sarcastic, energetic, and slightly unhinged tour guide with perfect timing and facial expressions, making the entire narrative engaging and believable.
The script is brilliantly written, building a clever and layered narrative that subverts expectations and delivers a powerful, humorous, and effective message for the brand, utilizing both English and French dialogue strategically.
The campaign's art direction is notably strong, seamlessly integrating the vibrant magenta branding of Heetch into the classic Parisian cityscape through various outdoor media, creating a visually distinct and memorable presence.
The editing is dynamic and enhances the comedic timing and narrative flow, with quick cuts, playful transitions, and a vintage film aesthetic that contributes significantly to the ad's unique charm and impact.
The campaign's magic truly comes from the synergy between the brilliant copywriting that crafts the subversive narrative, and the exceptional acting that brings that narrative to life with comedic flair.
