June 26, 2014
Mr Porter and Uber team up in Paris
Men’s online retailer Mr Porter, with mobile car service application Uber, is creating an easy way for Paris Fashion Week guests to travel around the city.
The five day alliance will offer Paris Fashion Week attendees free personal chauffeur service in central Paris. The union of Mr Porter and Uber will offer guests the ability to experience both brands in one occasion, likely leading to a positive combination of each brand’s consumers.
“The benefit is exposing your brand to new and complementary audiences,” Jon Nolz, vice president of products at HipCricket. “Uber exposes its ride-sharing service to a high-income demographic while Mr Porter exposes the luxury and style of its brand to a tech-savvy audience.
“The disadvantage of this type of dual-promotion is whether the new audience will really engage with either brand beyond the initial promotion," he said. “Will Mr Porter customers choose Uber when they have to pay regular fares? Will Uber riders have the means and desire to shop with Mr Porter?
“Both brands should collect information from passengers during this promotion in order to remarket in the future. This will keep both brands top of mind and help to increase engagement after the fashionistas have left Paris.”
Mr. Nolz is not affiliated with Mr Porter but agreed to comment as an industry expert.
Mr Porter was unable to respond by press deadline.
Personal Mr Porter
The five days of Paris Fashion Week can be chaotic, but Uber and Mr Porter are trying to ease some of the stress. By typing in the promotion code MRUBER on the Uber app, Parisian guests can easily and quickly request a chauffeur.
This free personal chauffeur service will be in a luxury car that is equipped with a gift certificate to mrporter.com and a bag of gifts. Also, there will be an in-car iPad with a Mr Porter Spotify playlist and a copy of the latest edition of The Mr Porter Post.
Ride in Style with Uber at fashion week
To ride with Mr Uber, guests must download and open the Uber app, type in the promotion code and select the Mr Porter option on the bottom slider.
Once the Mr Porter option is selected, guests are able to set their location and then see the closest vehicle on the map. Also, the app lets consumers know the amount of time until their chauffeur will arrive.
MRUBER promotion code
Once the consumer chooses to wait, they will click on their location and click to request Mr Porter.
In app map showing closest Mr Porter vehicle
Consumers are encouraged to share their experiences on Instagram and Twitter with the hashtag #MrUber.
The campaign is being promoted on Mr Porter’s social media with a video campaign depicting the service in central Paris.
Car service is available between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. from June 25 to 29. The complimentary ride is for a 20 minute drive in central Paris.
Joint ventures
Brands often team up to promote an event to a broad range of consumers, not just the typical enthusiasts for a single brand.
In athletics, Swiss watchmaker Longines tapped its involvement in the world of alpine skiing for a new mobile application that gives enthusiasts news and updates on the sport.
The app titled Live Alpine Skiing allowed users to find out the latest about events and competitors in the area of alpine skiing. Longines released a YouTube video and made various posts on its social media channels to promote the app and its support for the sport of skiing (see story).
In another coalition of brands, Danish audio and video company Bang & Olufsen joined forces with German automaker BMW to offer an in-car audio system.
The surround sound system is available in the United States as an option when customizing a BMW Individual 6 Series Gran Coupe. The collaboration of the two brands will likely created a greater sense of awareness across both sets of brand enthusiasts (see story).
Mr Porter and Uber will offer a similar sense of awareness amongst the opposing brand’s consumers. Especially with the presence at fashion week, the promotion will likely gain attention among consumers, and with advertising and word-of-mouth, the campaign may spread among other fashion-minded individuals.
“The service only lasts for five days, so it’ll be hard to rely on word-of-mouth marketing,” Mr. Nolz said.
“A best practice would be to proactively alert customers through in-app push notifications or text messages,” he said.
“On-site promotion will be key. QR codes and calls-to-action located at the entrance to events, nightclubs, parties or even public transit stations can alert attendees to this service.”
Final Take
Nancy Buckley, editorial assistant on Luxury Daily, New York
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