Uber's brand chief on why 'Get Almost Almost Anything' will be bigger than 'Tonight I’ll Be Eating'

Uber’s latest platform, Get Almost Almost Anything (GAAA), is an admission from the brand of its own shortcomings. 

As much as Uber wants to, it will never be able to deliver absolutely anything, Channa Goonasekara, Uber’s head of brands, told AdNews.  

“We can't deliver a horse at the moment, or magic or a period romance. But we can deliver a hell of a lot of things,” he said.

The GAAA platform took some risks and is seeing increasing virality as a result, notes Goonasekara. 

As Uber has evolved, he said, its become known for more than just food delivery. The company realised it needed a new brand positioning that would do a job for all those verticals. 

“We worked closely with our agency village partners and our global creative team studio based in San Francisco and Amsterdam to undertake research and consider a new positioning that would help us grow into the future and give us something to stand for,” he said. 

“That was where the inception of 'Get Almost Almost Anything' came from.” 

The actual idea, said Goonasekara, came from a creative in Uber’s agency village probing the question “But do they actually delivery absolutely anything?”.  

The comment blew up as a broader creative idea and when the company started testing it with different scripts, executions and out-of-home, it knew it could work.  

Goonasekara (pictured right) said this is the second iteration of the platform, launched after the initial creative back in January with the Jenners headlining, as an announcement to Australia around what the idea was.  

“It’s an admission from Uber Eats that we can't get absolutely anything but we do get a lot. It highlights us as an everyday-use case - it's that little luxury that we provide to consumers,” he said.  

Uber’s GAAA creative platform outlines the app’s range of services beyond transportation through storytelling.  

The campaign explores the chaos that would ensue if Uber Eats was actually able to deliver anything. 

Nicola Coughlan, known as a hopeless romantic in famed period dramas, tries ordering ‘Period Romance’ on the app - and a suitor from a bygone era appears at her door. 

The dashing date quickly becomes a disappointment when he proves to have some very outdated views. 

At the heart of the creative execution is Uber’s aim to be the one-stop destination that people can go anywhere with and get anything with, says Goonasekara.  

“We became a brand known for food delivery. We wanted to evolve our business to be able to grow into some of these new verticals like groceries and alcohol and expand that retail offering through driving that selection narrative for us,” he said.   

In 2017, the company entered into market with Tonight I’ll be Eating, a creative platform that ended up going global and made Uber salient for online food delivery, said Goonasekara.  

“We are immensely proud of how commercially and creatively fertile Tonight I’ll be Eating was,” he said.  

As Uber evolved, it knew it needed something bigger, said Goonasekara.  

The challenge for the company, as an agency village team, he said, was how it would set itself up for the future of Uber Eats.  

“With a message that won't tire and can make us synonymous with getting anything delivered conveniently and effortlessly,” said Goonasekara. 

He believes the new platform gives Uber longevity because it will never date. 

The other part of GAAA, he says, is that Uber is on a mission to get as many things on its platform as it can to make it as easy as possible for consumers to enjoy the simple luxury of a delivery.  

The new iteration features various other brands among Uber itself as the hero. For Uber’s merchant partners and the products housed on the app, they are the sum of its parts, said Goonasekara.  

“They drive that important proof point for us around our selection narratives. Their success is our success,” he said.  

What the company has tried to do, said Goonsaekara, is create a framework where it uses its visual identity, tone of voice and its cues to house those brands.  

“We've bought this playful yes/no language device, which is a simple way to say ‘yes’ we deliver this or 'no’, we don't deliver this," he said. 

“The 'no' ultimately has a little teaser around the fact that it's something you don't actually want, but hey - we've got the simple everyday thing available for you instead." 

GAAA has relied on Uber’s distinctive brand assets like its doorbell pneumonic and the way it collaborates with celebrities, said Goonasekara.  

“We're working closely with the global creative team so they can consider how we could take this beyond Australia," he said.

"What we're proud of is the fact that we've seen not just longevity but expansion. Already GAAA has been adopted by multiple global markets."

The new platform has moved into Taiwan, he said, with it being rolled out in the US and Canada in the coming months.  

“In terms of longevity, the yes/no mechanic is ultimately a new asset for us that we can take into the future,” said Goonasekara. 

“The biggest proof point is the fact that we will never be able to get everything.” 

That's a self deprecating admission from Uber as a brand, said Goonasekara. 

“We’ve got shortcomings and we're willing to publicly admit that. At the same time, we're on this relentless mission to keep getting as much onto the platform so that the lives of our customers are ultimately made easier,” he said.