Taxis take aim at ride-sharing services in Thinkerbell’s first work for 13CABS
13CABS has introduced Australians to the ‘Good Serge’, a cab driver who explains taxis do not have confusing surcharges.
The six ads are the first pieces of work created by Thinkerbell, launched in June by former Cummins & Partners global chief strategy director Adam Ferrier and joint ECDs Jim Ingram and Ben Couzen.
The ads detail the only type of ‘surge’ you will see at 13CABS, with the driver saying, “13CABS. No surge pricing. Only Serge driving”.
Ferrier said in a statement: “The communications strategy primarily uses a digital approach with support in outdoor and radio. There’s oodles of contextually relevant content, all created to deliver the right message to the right location, at the right time.”
Thinkerbell has also created ads centred around when Uber would normally have surging prices such as Friday night and during bad traffic, noting 13CABS never has surging prices.
Ingram said: “Surge pricing is a hot issue at the moment. When the trains in Melbourne went down a few weeks back, a certain ride-sharing company surged their prices by 3.6x! We want everyone to know that with 13CABS, there’s no surge pricing, just Serge driving. On that note, 13CABS actually has a lot of Drivers named Serge – so the campaign not only communicates a timely message, but also gets the message out in a fun way. Special mention to Cousin Serge for his acting debut.”
In another spot for 13CABS, Serge explains how he is confused by two times Serge, because “two times Serge means me, Serge, and my cousin, Serge”.
“At 13CABS the only Serge you get is Serge driver”.
Credits:
- 13CABS
- Chief Operating Officer – Stuart Overell
- Head of Marketing – Liz Attia
- Marketing Services – Kim Henkul
- THINKERBELL
- Alex Grivas – Strategy and Account Direction
- Adam Ferrier – Strategy
- Martin Kemba – Data Science
- Jim Ingram & Ben Couzens – Creative Direction
- Shirley Bahar and Andre Augusto Pinheiro – Creatives
- Jackie Fish – Production
- Chris Reynolds – Post Production
- Natalie Perkov – PR and Social
- Collaborate Media
- Steve Fagan – Media Director
- Katie O’Mara – Account Director
Linkedin
Don’t use Uber, get a cab with some stinky old bloke called Serge.
No thanks.
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Done deal.
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Cringeworthy.
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Serge is the problem
#sergeyourway
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The challenge here is that this ad is not going to appeal to the people who use uber and thus is only talking to the people who don’t use uber.. but ironically also won’t have any idea what surge pricing is.. so the joke is lost. Much like Bunnings did in the early days, the perception now is that uber is cheaper (and far more convenient), we’ve all been stung with surge pricing but overall, the perception is that it’s cheaper. It’s the cars, the drivers and the tech, hard to beat an ingrained mentality now. (also old school cabs just feel a little lame now… e.g. “I’m not ‘with’ the times if I use a traditional cab… sad but true)
If you want to increase 13 cabs usage, invest in technology and make an app that is the same as uber. Ad’s won’t fix this problem guys.
Cute ad, but it won’t work.
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No confusing surcharges… from the one industry that can still charge exorbitant surcharges for using Credit Card – 10%. It’s almost comical
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I think it’s right for 13CABS.
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I’ll take uber surge pricing over taxi pricing any day.
A cab from the airport will often add on so many surcharges and fees, with no transparency, often backed up by a tiny receipt if you’re lucky enough to get one printed.
Taxis will always have a core market, but unsure what this does to reach those already turned off.
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It’s not racist if you stereotype Europeans, but imagine if they hadv’e used an Indian.
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How to reinforce every Uber customer’s perceptions of cab industry. The writing, the casting, the performance, the production values – all remind me why I would do anything to avoid a cab even if means (very occasionally) I may need to pay more. And ultimately the savings I make taking Uber more than cover these occasional surges.
Taxi industry should pay them to stop running these.
I think there’s a lesson here for all start-ups; manage expectations, keep the hype down until you have the product to justify it. Hopefully Thinkerbell will reload and come out with something deserving of the hype next time.
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That the perception of using “old” cabs drives thought just goes to show what is truly “wrong” with the western world. Car,driver, passenger, payment. Difference? Unbelievable!
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5% in Victoria. Choice is yours. Pay cash. Or not.
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All add-ons from airport are displayed inside the cabin for passenger to peruse whilst parked on the “freeway”. Plenty of time to read them.
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Surging isn’t around all the time…only when the demand is high. Taxis go into higher rates after a certain time every evening until morning plus every public holiday. Is that not worse than surging?
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How many video….Surge?
Ok uber has surge charges!
Taxi have 3 types of different tariffs for different times of the day/night…Oh and a running meter!
1. Which means if the cab is stuck in traffic the customer becomes frustrated and worries about the cost!
2. Taxi drivers going the long or wrong way
… Meter is ticking!
3. Drivers not turning on the meter. How do you know if the charge is cheaper or expensive?
4. Eftpos charges differ from States!
5. It would be nice to have a clean cab!!
6. Finally Cab Apps need to be as good or better than uber!
Drive Safely!
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Serge Looks like a fun guy, I hope I get him next time I need a cab
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Very bland creative that relies (again) on using a name as the creative idea – done to death lately.
Also can someone please elaborate on the “oodles of contextually relevant content”? Would like to know what this actually entails beyond analogue media strategy.
Also, I don’t see any sophisticated use of data and ‘measured magic’ (???) the agency proposes as their point of difference. Just some very cheap looking executions based off the Uber surge pricing observation.
Would have been very interesting to discuss the idea of listening to what the customer wants as a creative and brand challenge and setting about change over time instead of a bandaid solution with a silly name pun as the central idea.
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Ferrier had an idea and no one was brave enough to tell him it sucked.
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This is excellent. It’s real and honest and not over claim. Bold client letting the brand speak how it is and defend its strongest advantage.
This is good work.
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The industry would be much better placed advertising to drivers rather than consumers. It’s not consumers that need to change the way they think and act! But arguably it’s too late. The war has been lost.
Sure pricing is a false objection and actually a massive benefit of the Uber system. Just the other day we were having a whinge about having to wait 9 minutes for an Uber – 9 minutes!! Back in the day you’d wait 20 mins for a cab operator to answer the phone, then another 20 for them to arrive.
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Im a massive fan of Adam, Ben and Jim but… this is such a load of rubbish. They’re focusing on 1 tiny negative of Uber. How about fixing the broken cabs model?
1. Smelly drivers
2. No water
3. No mints
4. Cars with an average of 500,000 km on the clock
5. Drivers on handsfree
6. Drivers like Serge with awful attitudes
7. Expensive standard fares
8. Drivers are clueless with routes
9…. cbf listing anymore
Seriously – this ad is borderline racist too.
Foundation client – take the money and run lads. Sinking ship. It’s soul is broken and the cabbies are too stubborn (and clueless) to fix it.
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When I see a piece of content and don’t like it, the first thing I ask myself is…am I the intended audience? (because if i’m not it doesn’t really matter).
The problem is I am in the audience bullseye.
It’s a tough brief, but they’ve answered a business problem about service + stereotypes with…. more stereotypes.
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Marketing won’t extinguish the fire on this burning platform.
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My latest Uber antics around Sydney have been horrible. 20 minutes for an Uber to turn up in Surry Hills whilst I watched about 20 cabs drive past me on Crown St. Next time I got a cab instead and the ride ended up cheaper than the Uber!
Luck of the draw, I know. But Uber definitely isn’t the messiah that’ll save our taxi’ing needs.
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Is Serge is bad.
I’m no consumer psychologist, but if I was going to play the ‘Serge’ analogy, I wouldn’t have used an old grey haired cabby to defend his old, grey business model. Bad optics..
Why not Serge as the symbolic Uber character, in blue and black lycra suit: a sleazy dude pretending to be something he’s not, and who’s always out to gauge you for extra when you need him most? A more powerful, salient image to put in the minds of your audience.
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Agreed. Tough sell.
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This is pretty terrible stuff. Uber will absolutely love this.
Shame for Thinkerbell as first impressions last.
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This strat reeks.
1.
Fuddy duddy old cabbies are one of the issues, so how is using one going to convert Uber users who moved *away* from drivers just like that?
So all you have is an retention campaign. Maybe.
But really, nothing at all.
Because the churn will continue…
2.
Cabs have surcharges too.
Sorry, Sercharges.
And NSW is a BIG market, where cabs’ c-card fee is 10%.*
So you can’t sit there in your smelly old rustbuckets calling Uber a ripoff.
It’s a joke.
*Another joke is saying 5% in VIC makes it ok. It’s a smallee ripoff but still a fleecing.
… Time to wave that wand and try again.
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@Cheap
Where Uber IS the Messiah is in two general area’s for me and that is no longer price, (however if traveling a longer distance then it is price for sure, to be fair):
– Being able to see where my driver is (how long away) before pick up
– Feeling safe in the car and being able to rank my driver and knowing that they can rank me: accountability and integrity.
Technology isnt disrupting the taxi industry. The taxi industry is killing itself, because SERVICE is shoddy to say the least. I agree that adverts will not make a dent, you need action, (adverts are words and actions speak far louder), perhaps as follows:
Customer service training, (all aspects of it):
– Greet passengers with a smile, regardless of whether their fair is just around the corner
– I don’t care whether you are ‘presentable’ or not. But ffs have a wash and use some deodorant before your shift. (Truly, the amount of times I have to put the window down because my driver, quite literally stinks to high heaven!)
– Drive safely. (This is where the rankings with UBER are great. Crazy drivers get low stars and eventually cut from Uber – guess who they can still drive for. though – that’s right, they can still drive a taxi..?)
– Upkeep of cars – passengers want modern, comfort and no rattling, or ripped seats etc
– Stop charging 10% for credit cards you filthy robbing bstrds.
– Do not drive the long way around. I want A-B as quickly and as safely and as cheaply as possible.
It isnt hard. If taxi’s tweaked a few things they could be firmly in the game. I detest the management team at UBER – a load of ex Wall St toss bags, from what I can gather. I still use taxi’s when convenient. If I walk out of a meeting in the CBD and taxi’s are around to flag, I do so. If they are not around, I would not consider calling a taxi company, I will use Uber.
Peace
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All a little late I feel?
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Serge drives for Lyft.
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This was always going to be a tough brief – the context of the industry will always have taxi brands starting km’s behind the starting line when trying to get back in the race. But toughness aside, these executions are fundamentally flawed in so many ways, notably in that there is by no means any product truth in the messaging.
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Love this – is catchy and well certainly get some cut through. Only critical comment I’d care to make is that this guy looks more like a Sergei than a Surge, but I suppose that name doesn’t work with Surge Pricing.
Oh, one other point – Autonomous Cars = No Uber Drivers.
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Gouge, not Gauge
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Insight – it’s 2017, people want to use a phone number.
Job done.
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Are you aware you can get a free trip with Uber as your name is Sam?
https://pages.et.uber.com/page.aspx?QS=330c754b5e92df74a63277a926980976340ce8ebd6364ec3583d2d06a1746fc2
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Typical agency response….addressing a real product and service problem with just ads. , using no surges as the point of difference.This will not work as cabs have been repositioned by Uber……they have passed their useby date…the same as diesel fuel, people will not give cabs another chance and go back to using them.
I used to try and use Cabs regularly,but could not get one from S MELB to the CITY…too short a ride !!….now am a repeat Uber user. as they are happy to take me……and I wait for the surges to pass….which they do quickly.
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1. Uber is cheap
2. Uber cars actually arrive, and quickly
3. Uber doesn’t have some arsewitted “changeover” whereby no one can get a cab between 2pm and 3pm
Fix these issues, taxi guys, and maybe you’ll still have a business by 2018.
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Do you have smellovision? we can all see that he is not young, but what convinced you that he is “stinky.”
Catch phrases that fall too easily to the tongue of shallow thinkers:
“Gossipy old women” “Dirty old man” “Typical Male” “Typical Female.”
I think “Stinky old bloke called Serge” is just as shallow.
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Um, guys, can I have our money back please. This wasn’t what you promised.
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I see an honest attempt to stimulate awareness. Creatively is apparent, this is a good idea which has not survived the scripting,direction or production processes.
Charaterisation is on the surface and too bold, there should be an appearance of personal concern, a desire to help. Both Serge and his cousin, should have personal qualities that conquer the audience’s natural tendency to disbelieve.
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Harf to find an Indian guy called Serge though 🙂
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How is the use of, or the depiction of an eastern European stereotyping? how would the use of an Indian or other Asian have made a difference? Our taxis are driven by a wide range of people.
If it had been an Australian of British, or Irish origin, there would have been cries of lack of diversity. Of course, the name Serge is fairly uncommon among Indians, or other Asians, but don’t let that get in the way. “Serge” to match ‘Surge’ is probably a concession, since his real name would more likely be pronounced “Ser-gay”
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So true
“His names Serge. Serge, like surge. Geddit?”
“Genius!”
Expect better from an agency that puts itself on such a pedestal.
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The taxi industry as a whole needs to change, not brand itself in a different way.
It is fact that taxi drivers that have stolen from, assaulted and harassed customers, ARE STILL WORKING AS TAXI DRIVERS! Uber actually stops these drivers from working for them, actually taking some responsibility, and ensuring the same things don’t happen again.
Once taxis are more convenient, reliable and accountable, they may have a chance at surviving against a simple app that empowers people to be able to earn money in a simple way.
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Uber has so changed my world.
Convenient, safe, nice everyday people.
If a surge in price – don’t use it.
I would not get into a taxi with the annoying smelly old man.
Done
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