Delivery rider in a white helmet on a black scooter with an "Uber Eats" delivery box, crossing a street at a crosswalk
Submitted by Socially PowerfulAgency IPI Score 54/100

Uber Eats UAE #DontTellUberEats Instagram Creator Campaign

Influencer Marketing

Socially Powerful built a secret-sharing Instagram creator campaign around #DontTellUberEats for Uber Eats in the UAE, which the agency reports delivered 400K impressions.

400KImpressions
19KEngagements

Case in 60 seconds

Uber Eats needed more awareness of its app in the UAE, where food delivery is one of the most crowded app categories and every competitor fights for the same order, so a discount code alone would not set it apart.

When delivery apps look alike, perks and promotions decide where people order, and the page frames the offer itself as the lever, because a perk passed on as a secret carries more pull than one announced as a promotion.

Socially Powerful turned a standard promotion into a secret, with creators leaking what looked like a hack or glitch in the app, a free Pepsi with every meal ordered on Uber Eats, under #DontTellUberEats.

Instagram creators from food, fashion, family and lifestyle verticals each shared the leaked free Pepsi offer with their own community under #DontTellUberEats, so the story travelled through several audiences rather than one, which the agency says drove new users to the app.

Socially Powerful reports 400k+ impressions, 175k+ people reached and 19k+ engagements on Instagram in the UAE, and calculates that over 10% of the people reached actively interacted with the content.

Strategy Breakdown

UAE consumers choosing between food delivery apps, reached through the communities of food, fashion, family and lifestyle creators on Instagram.
Food delivery is one of the most crowded app categories in the UAE and the apps look alike, so the page treats perks and promotions as what decides where people order rather than differences in the product.
Uber Eats is cast as the brand whose secret has slipped out, which lets the offer circulate as something shared between friends rather than as advertising from the brand.
People pass on what is framed as a hack or glitch more readily than a published offer, because spotting an apparent loophole rewards the person who shares it, and the #DontTellUberEats concept was built on that behaviour.

Creative & Execution System

Assets & channels

  • Instagram

Partners

  • Socially Powerful

Participation mechanic

  • Audiences were let in on a leaked hack, a free Pepsi with every meal ordered on Uber Eats, which they could act on by ordering through the app and pass on under #DontTellUberEats.

Results & Evidence

MetricValue
Impressions400K
Engagements19K

Why Socially Powerful's strategy worked

  1. 1

    Where competing apps offer near-identical service, framing a perk as leaked insider knowledge rather than an advertised promotion gives audiences a reason to pass it on, because sharing a secret carries social value that sharing a discount does not.

  2. 2

    Recruiting creators across food, fashion, family and lifestyle verticals carries one message through several distinct communities, so a campaign on a single platform can reach beyond the audience any one category of creator holds.

  3. 3

    Making the perk a named item, a free Pepsi with every meal, gives the leak a concrete detail that is easy to repeat, rather than an abstract discount that blends into the offers competitors already run.

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