Uber Eats has worked its way into the Australian Open again. 2022 is the delivery brand’s fourth year of sponsorship and Special Group’s new campaign with is an extension of its recent campaign, This calls for.

Choose your own AO features tournament stars, Ash Barty, Nick Kyrgios and Todd Woodbridge, in a series of films, each of which propose three alternate endings. In order to see how the stories unfold, viewers must have their phones ready and scan the QR code to see the very surprising ending of their choice.

The films all set up dramatic moments of need – an on-court blackout for Ash, a moment of frustration towards the umpire for Nick, and Todd losing his voice while in the middle of commentating. Viewers are then given the power to choose a grocery product and scan the QR code for the ending that solves the moment of need.

Head of marketing at Uber Eats ANZ, David Griffiths, stated, “Going into our fourth year at the AO we wanted to do something different. Something that made Aussies stop what they were doing and go on an entertainment journey. Having such adventurous content available exclusively online is daring but with Uber Eats offering more choice than ever with new categories like alcohol, grocery and personal care items now available on the platform – it made sense to reflect that choice and give the audience the freedom to pick their own adventure.

“The three-week campaign is an extension of our latest brand platform This Calls For and alongside TV sees us leverage non-traditional channels bringing more people in to discover what we’re doing. Keep an eye out for exclusives, easter eggs and loads more unexpected twists as the campaign unfolds.”

Sarah Parris, creative director at Special Australia, Sarah Parris, added, “Since Uber Eats sponsored the Aus Open, they’ve become known for playing with the viewing format. We’ve ambushed, we’ve made the tennis score a game, now with Uber Eats offering even more delivery choice with groceries, it seemed only fitting to let the actual mechanics of the idea bring that to life.”

In each dramatic ending for Ash Barty, the world’s number one ranked tennis player leads a candle filled seance that summons Pat Rafter’s ponytail from 1988, carrots which gives her the power of night vision to spotlight incredibly strange behaviour from the audience and on-court officials, or batteries which lead to a horror film where Ash is stalked by terrifying twin ball girls.

For Nick Krygios, viewers can choose the chocolates to unlock a montage of romantic moments with an umpire, a relaxing bubble bath or a blissed-out trip to a euphoric world where tea is the gateway to adventure, with Nick remarking, “I’ve had tea but I’ve never been tea”.

For commentator, Todd Woodbridge, Uber Eats offers up permanent markers, lemon & honey or garlic to soothe his lost and croaky voice and depending on which QR code they choose, the audience can watch Todd transform from commentator to cleaner to drop truth bombs to Kyrgios (who’s mid-shower), discover new talent by joining a barbershop-style quartet or wipe out players with his garlic breath.

In addition to taking control and deciding the fate of talent via the endings, there are easter egg promotions on groceries and alcohol scattered throughout to reward people for engagement.

The sponsorship campaign covers TV, social, online and OOH as well as reactive social content (created by Hello Social) during the tennis.

Credits

Client: Uber Eats
Senior Director, Head Of APAC Marketing: Lucinda Barlow
Marketing Director ANZ: Andy Morley
Head of Marketing Uber Eats ANZ: David Griffiths
Culture Lead: Josh Pickstone
Brand Lead: Channa Goonasekara
Communications Lead: Nick Vindin
ANZ Media Lead: Louisa Chu
APAC Strategy Lead: Ally Doube
APAC Social Lead: Isaac Lai
Global Creative Director: Viktor Jacobsson

Agency: Special
CCOs & Partners: Tom Martin & Julian Schreiber
APAC Creative Directors: Max Mckeon & Sarah Parris
Creative Team & Creative Directors: Jade Manning & Vince Osmond
Creative Team: Cat Williams & Jessica Roberts
Creative Technologist: Laurent Marcus
CEOs & Partners: Lindsey Evans & Cade Heyde
Head Of Business Management: Tori Lopez
Business Director: Liam Walker
Business Manager: Maddie Armstrong
Group Strategy Director: Celia Garforth
Senior Strategist : Kellie Box

Head of Film Production: Sevda Cemo
Executive Producer: Wendy Gillies
Integrated Producer: Stephanie Wilkinson
Stills Producers: Sonia Ebrington & Emily Willis
Digital Producer: Stacey Szabo
Casting Director: Emily Stewart
Social Lead: Lachlan Stewart
Social Specialist: Sarah Mckie

Production Company: Scoundrel
Director: James Dive
Producer: Jules Shelton
DOp: Danny Ruhlman

Casting:
Sydney: Leon @ I4casting
Brisbane: Michelle @ Ben Parkinson Casting

Post Production: The Editors
Editors: Stu Morley & Mark Burnett
Colourist: Andy Clarkson
Head Of Production: Liv Reddy

Sound: Rumble Studios
Sound Engineers: Tone Aston & Cam Milne
Music Supervisor: Adam Moses
Executive Producer: Michael Gie

Photography: The Pool Collective
Photographer: Sean Izzard
Managing Directorr: Cameron Gray
Production Coordinator: Zoe Izzard