From branded hats to personalised vouchers, incentive marketing is a tactic that’s been used by marketers for years. In this digital age of instant gratification and reward, Pilgrim Communications teamed up to use the Uber for Business platform to help enhance customer and brand experiences.

It’s been one of the most time honoured and grassroots marketing tactics. Give a customer a reward and receive loyalty in exchange. Attending Royal Shows, conferences, partnered events, guests would come home with goodie bags full of branded merchandise. From pens to hats to a gift voucher of a restaurant miles from home. Anything with a logo meant a successful value exchange. However, with the increase in capabilities of technology comes more sophisticated value to be given.

Uber for Business is the B2B arm of the now dominant ridesharing and meal delivery apps. Working with organisations globally, the technology platform helps to support businesses with both their employee and customer needs. Outside of streamlining employee travel and meal expenses, the platform has expanded with “guest” products to offer Uber Credit which may be used for rides and / or meals requested via the Uber or Uber Eats apps. The Uber for Business platform can be used in a variety of ways, from facilitating rides to events or the airport, through to adding your employee’s benefits programs.

The value of the voucher

When partnering with Sydney-based marketing consultancy Pilgrim Communications and its data capture product Roilti, the Uber for Business platform enabled Pilgrim Communications to open the door of B2B2C, and give client’s consumers a more flexible, more valuable and more transferable incentive offering than the once prized (yet still effective) hat: a Gift Card or Voucher in the form of Uber Credit. Gift Cards, pre-paid and purchased in bulk have no set expiry date and are a quick and easy solution to offer Uber Cash to consumers. Alternatively, Uber Vouchers, are paid for on redemption and generated through an intuitive portal, allowing you to view live campaign analytics while controlling the value, validity and product scope of your campaign. 

So, what does this mean? It only costs you when someone has redeemed the Voucher, providing a cost effective and highly valuable solution to both your brand and the consumer, issued for immediate use to the consumer leveraging the Uber API, exclusive to Roilti in this space. Furthermore, real-time results of the Uber for Business dashboard allows further measurement of your ROI and the success of these rewards. 

Providing relevance through choice

Brands are looking for incentives that not only bolster sales but also elevate brand positioning through involvement in consumer consumption occasions. Cash can sometimes be perceived as a cold exchange. Akin to receiving cash in an envelope on your birthday, the personality is taken away.

However, specific vouchers can also be restrictive. Beer for someone who can’t have gluten. Free car wash for someone who rides a bike. The idea in the choice is finding the sweet spot where rewards are themed, but also provide considerable choice for the end recipient, in essence allowing the brand to facilitate the consumer occasion without changing it. The Uber and Uber Eats apps bridge this gap. Whether it be your weekly grocery shop, ordering dinner from your favourite Thai restaurant or taking a ride to the airport, the flexibility of Uber Vouchers firmly put choice back into consumer hands.

“Uber is a link between the experience and the consumer. If you’re at a beer festival and are given an Uber Voucher it can be used for the ride home or to buy food via the Uber Eats app when you get home, it provides a link between consumer and brand,” Kiel Van Daal, Roilti.

Ecosystem of incentive campaigns

Incentive campaigns sound simple on the surface. Reward a consumer, reap the benefits. However, it creates a rather complex ecosystem with many stakeholders and rules.There’s the brand whose logo is being used, the incentive product (say the voucher or the hat), the consumer themselves and the place in which it’s being given (an event, the local Dan Murphys). It’s rather complex beyond the measure of just product to customer. This is where Pilgrim is able to utilise Uber for Business with its end clients. A brand participating in the consumer occasion, rather than just injecting themselves into a consumer’s life, is where the real magic happens. Understanding the nuance, the complexity and the depth of how it is more than just the exchange itself, can mean the difference between a successful or an unsuccessful campaign. 

Identifying a gap in the market, Pilgrim created the XCollective, a consumer engagement consultancy. Through this lens Roilti was built, a technical product that delivers on incentive-based intelligence while maintaining privacy, regulatory compliance and data security. Looking beyond the typical “one size fits all” solution to incentive marketing doesn’t mean burning all hats and moving forward with only vouchers. It’s about looking at the product and the purchaser, and how a link can be found that will bond the two without interrupting the consumer’s behaviour and experience. 

“Using the Uber platform as a lifestyle augmentation incentive was the obvious choice. It works with the way our brand partners and customers trade and behave. We’re selective with what we work with and what we don’t. Tickets in the meat tray works. Hats work. But Uber for Business is the gold standard” Dan McFarlane, Pilgrim Communications. 

Incentivising customers is a marketing tactic as old as marketing itself. However, it’s the sophistication with which it is done that will spell the difference between loyalty with your consumer. It’s more than just giving them what they want, it’s sometimes what they need, and everyone needs a free ride home.

To find out more about how Uber for Business can work with you, reach out to them. And if you’re looking to bolster your loyalty program, Pilgrim and Roilti are experts in the field.