Uber Eats Gets 'Sweet, Sticky' Hyping Grocery Delivery

Dude in the :60 below looks like he's roasting at the peak of summer. Drip, drip, drip. His perspiration flows like tears.

Um, maybe he should lose the tie and vest, or take a cool shower?

Nah, the guy orders ice cream through Uber Eats instead. Then he sweats even more, waiting for the stuff to arrive.

Common sense clearly isn't his strong suit. But in the end, everything's chill.

The sultry '70s groove of Ohio Players' "Sweet Sticky Thing" swells on the soundtrack. Our hero longingly eyes a spoonful. A few drops splash on his slacks as he savors the treat.

Nothing vaguely suggestive there at all.

That's one of two new U.K. spots from Mother London and Biscuit Filmworks director Steve Rogers. Each boasts superb visual storytelling—no dialogue, but great shot framing and delectable details—under the brand's vaunted "Get Groceries, Effortlessly" banner.

Next, a woman savors some alone time with a glass of vino. Another killer tune—Allen Toussaint's "Soul Sister"—sets a mellow mood.

"Our focus is people who are living in their 'mad years' and either in the midst of building their careers or home life," Mother strategy director Omar El-Gammal tells Muse. "It's enough that we’re all expected to fly at work, raise kids well, be on top of meal planning, keep up with the latest TV series and somehow get eight hours of sleep a night. Uber Eats is here to help people do a little less sometimes and get them anything they need—effortlessly."

The brand name is already synonymous with ride-sharing. Here, the team focused on "getting people to realize that Uber Eats also offers the full range of groceries," El-Gammal says. "So. whether it's bananas, kiwis, loo roll, or ice cream and wine, this campaign is simply about the fact that you can Uber just about anything."

It's a verb now. That's where we are. And the songs—obscure tracks but absolute winners in context—seal the deal.

"The way we approached it was trying to find a banger that you didn't know you needed, but can’t get out of your head," says Mother creative Fabio Montero. "On 'Ice Cream,' the lyrics helped us push the almost romantic tension. With 'Wine,' it's a super unwinding song that you could imagine yourself listening to on your massage chair in 2003."

Best of all, it's not "Lust for Life," "What a Wonderful World" or some other overplayed earworm. It's refreshing to hear some new tunes in ads. (Even if the songs themselves are actually old.)

Scouting locations for "Ice Cream," Mother "wanted to find a place that would help us accentuate the heat our character would be feeling," recalls agency creative Luke Dawson. "The arrangement of the flat and texture of the ceiling and the brick walls helped us achieve that. Funnily enough, most of the sweat was real, the lighting ended up making the room a sauna."

"For Wine, turbo-charging the massage chair to level 11 was hilarious," he adds. "We needed a chair that would read as relaxing on screen, but we wanted to get that wine wiggling into the danger zone. And we did."

CREDITS

Brand: Uber Eats U.K.
Client: Romy Moeller, Marketing Lead 
Creative Agency: Mother
Strategy: Mother
Media: Essence Mediacom  
Production Company: Biscuit Filmworks
Director: Steve Rogers
Producer: Simon Eakhurst
Director of Photography: Rob Hardy
Edit House: The Quarry
Editor: Jonnie Scarlett
Post Production: Selected Works 
Colourist: Hannibal Lang
Music Supervision: Leland Music 
Audio Post Production: No.8
Sound Engineer: Sam Robson