01 — Uber · 2016–2019
Uber Black
Predictably Premium. Some moments matter too much to leave to chance.
01 — Uber · 2016–2019
Predictably Premium. Some moments matter too much to leave to chance.
The challenge
Uber Black was the first product Uber ever launched. The luxury leader. By 2019 it needed to feel that way again.
Uber Black started the company. Years of scale, new tiers, and uneven cars had blurred what "premium" meant to a rider. The promise was luxury. The reality was a coin flip. Riders paid more without knowing exactly what they were paying for. Martha Stewart noticed, turning one messy first ride into a public proof point for why the product had to change.
The opportunity was not a new feature. It was a new contract with the rider. Premium should be something you can count on, every single time. That idea became the brand platform: Predictably Premium.
The all-new Uber Black guaranteed excellence for the moments that matter, on every ride and every mile.
Narrative
Uber Black is the original. We leaned into that heritage. The first, the standard, the one everything else is measured against.
Positioning
Not flashy. Consistent. Quiet Mode, temperature set before you step in, top-rated drivers, vehicles that match the price.
Voice
Black on black. Restraint over volume. The brand behaves like the ride: calm, composed, and certain.
The work · the films
A set of fifteen-second films built around arrival and certainty. Each one a moment too important to leave to chance.
:15 film
:15 film
:15 film
Campaign extension
We invited Martha Stewart back for a test ride.
Her first Uber Black ride had become the clearest possible critique: the most premium option did not feel reliably premium. The relaunch turned that tension into a campaign moment, pairing the queen of perfection with the all-new Uber Black to prove the product had been rebuilt around the details she cared about.
The partnership made the new Ride Preferences tangible: a quiet car for work calls, temperature control without sitting up front, luggage help before pickup, newer black-on-black vehicles, and top-rated drivers. It reframed a public complaint as product accountability, then let Martha demonstrate the upgraded experience in culture.
:15 film
:15 film
:15 film
:15 film
Talent
A standards-obsessed partner whose public critique made the premium promise impossible to fake.
Mechanic
Invite her back after the product upgrade and let the ride preferences carry the story.
Result
The campaign earned coverage because it answered a real, public product problem.
What "predictable" meant
One tap for a silent ride.
Set the cabin before you get in.
Asked for, in advance.
A 4.85★ minimum to drive Black.
Curated makes, models, interiors.
Live agents, priority help.
Impact
Uber Black and its sister premium tier scaled fast after the relaunch, the same year Uber went public.
Growth in U.S. premium bookings, year over year (Comfort and Black), Q3 2019.
Global premium-bookings growth in the same period, higher margin than core rides.
Markets that relaunched the enhanced Uber Black experience in May 2019.
Of U.S. Black and Black SUV riders given the new premium controls on day one.
Lift in premium-tier consideration among lapsed Black riders post-campaign.
Earned and paid impressions across the relaunch and Predictably Premium push.
Premium-bookings growth and market figures are Uber-reported (Q3 2019 results and Uber Newsroom). Consideration lift and impressions are representative campaign figures.
Press & PR
The relaunch landed the week of Uber's IPO, a deliberate premium statement at a defining moment.
Cause & community
Uber became the official rideshare partner of Meals on Wheels America, putting the company's logistics and reach behind a cause that needed both: getting meals, and volunteers, to homebound seniors.
The work turned the app, the social channels, and the Uber Eats restaurant network into a recruiting and fundraising engine. Premium brand equity, pointed at something that mattered.
Committed in funding and rides over a two-year partnership.
Local Meals on Wheels programs supported across the U.S.
Donated media behind "America, Let's Do Lunch" in its first 14 months.
Volunteer prospects driven to local programs.
BrandPRPartnershipsCause Marketing