Uber Eats and Huey bring the democracy sausage home
Uber Eats is acting as a “democracy top up” this election weekend, according to its ANZ head of marketing, Nicole Bardsley, by getting “more sausages in more mouths”, via a campaign from Special.
Across Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne, people will be able to get their hands on a democracy sausage — onions and all — via the Uber Eats app for just $3.50, as the latest iteration of the brand’s ongoing ‘Get Almost, Almost Anything’ platform.
Featuring celebrity chef Iain ‘Huey’ Hewitson, the campaign encourages Aussies to enjoy the “quintessential” post-vote snack.
Bardsley told Mumbrella that Huey is an icon, in that “he’s a national treasure” despite not being Australian.
“That both adds to the comedy of his advocacy and ensures he really doesn’t have a horse in the race on election day,” she said. “From the reception we’ve seen so far he’s resonating in just the way we hoped for. As an affable man on the tongs. His sausage manifesto is landing.”
The campaign is socially-led, and Bardsley stressed that the whole team was conscious of possible limitations surrounding election content.
“[We] wanted to ensure that this was clearly and immediately a satirical, tongue-in-cheek exploration of the tropes of the election cycle. We’ve relied on our partners internally and externally to ensure we’re adhering to the correct protocols,” she said.
She said they managed to “thread the needle” by finding a common denominator that all Australians agree on.
The social content is full of election tropes — from political-style bill posters to endorsement videos — which will be updated in real-time to “temperature check” the nation’s attitudes towards things like their favourite sauce options and whether onions are essential or not.
The campaign speaks to the early voters more than anyone else, as pre-poll voting has hit a record-high this election.
“We’re on a mission to help Australians get almost, almost anything and with 1 in 5 Aussies having cast an early vote, we wanted to make sure they weren’t missing out on the election day magic,” Bardsley said.
It was a “primary consideration” that Uber Eats didn’t overstep the community aspect of the democracy sausage — in that they are often sold by community-run clubs and organisations. According to Bardsley, community was so important, in fact, that Uber Eats will donate $3.50 from every order to its ongoing charity partner, the Australian Red Cross.
“We absolutely didn’t want to take away from important fundraising opportunities for local communities. It’s why we’ve said in all our communications — if you can make it do a local voting area then absolutely support local first,” she said.
“If you’re going to miss out on a democracy sausage because you voted early or there isn’t one near you then hopefully that’s where we come in. We’re also not turning on the offering until midday, providing the morning for the local schools or community halls. We see ourselves more as a democracy top up — helping get more sausages in more mouths and supporting our partner The Australian Red Cross in the process.”
Similarly, Masterfoods Australia has also hit on the democracy sausage cultural reference, with a campaign introducing its ‘Democracy Sauce’. Around 4000 bottles of Democracy Sauce-labelled tomato sauce will be sent out across the country to sausage sizzles staged outside polling stations for the election on Saturday.
This marks the first campaign from Special since international creative duo Peter Defries and Alan Wilson joined Special to round out its regional leadership team for the Uber and Uber Eats creative account.
The pair recently returned to Australia after a decade in New York, to join the independent agency as regional group creative directors for the Uber and Uber Eats accounts.
The campaign is being pushed out across a series of social and digital spots, OOH placements, and influencer channels, supported by the brand’s media agency partner EssenceMediacom.
EssenceMediacom, who has held the media account understood to be worth AU$235 million since 2017, also recently made a senior appointment for the Uber and Uber Eats account, naming Maddison Keogh as its new APAC client manager partner.
Credits:
Uber Eats
Senior Director of Marketing, International: Lucinda Barlow
Senior Director of Marketing, APAC: Andy Morley
Head of Marketing, ANZ: Nicole Bardsley
Sr. Marketing Manager: Olivia Sykes
APAC Agency Lead,: Bec Morton
Creative Director, APAC: Adam Ledbury
Director Communications, ANZ: Peta Fitzgerald
Head of Delivery Communications, ANZ: Nick Vindin
Communications, ANZ: Josh O’Connor
Social Media Manager, APAC: Chanelle Murray
Social Media Associate; Haley Evirgen
Media Lead, ANZ: Rob Maddison
Special
Partner/CEO: Lindsey Evans
Partners/CCO: Julian Schreiber & Tom Martin
Group Creative Directors: Peter Defries & Alan Wilson
Lead Creatives: Toby Moore & Magnus Flynn
Managing Director: Lauren Portelli
Team Leads: Chris Braks, Rachel McEwen
Business Director: Cali Fish
Head of Strategy: Celia Garforth
Strategy Director: Heather Sheen
Executive Producer: Margot Fitzpatrick
Integrated Producer: Will Sealey
Head Of Stills: Nick Lilley
Stills Producer: Danielle Senecky
Head Of Design: Adam Shear
Finished Art: John Rivera, Jen Bailey
Managing Director PR: Alex Bryant
Creative Strategy Director PR: Kate Wilkinson
Account Manager PR : Helena Hampshire
Special Made
Editor: Ollie Knocker
Maverick
Rose Freeburn: Innovation Director
Jessica Sandow: Executive Producer
Mackenzie Argent: Associate Producer
Machine Studio (Film)
Director: Josh Mullins
Producer: Sam Boneham
Editors: Hugh O’Brien + Damien Boneham
Rumble Studios
Sound Executive Producer: Michael Gie
Sound Designer: Daniel William
Wellcom Worldwide (Stills)
Group Account Director : Kariena Foyle
Christina Kouvaras: Senior Producer
Photographer: Sean Thomas
Retouching: Wellcom Worldwide
Media Agency: EssenceMediacom
Retail Agency: Hatched
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Lauren McNamara is the associate editor at Mumbrella, covering the creative and PR beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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And what about the rest of Australia? Aus doesn’t consist of the east coast!!
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