They’ve been putting out the fire with gasoline
OPINION: Thirty-four years ago David Bowie put out his 18th studio album Let’s Dance.
It was my seventh-form summer in Timaru, with school completed and an uncertain future ahead. The Let’s Dance cassette got hammered in the Sanyo deck in my 1275 Mini.
The location of choice for local teens gathering around bonfires was Grassy Banks, on the banks of the Opihi River; and that album provided the backdrop to flirtatious conversations, Montana Blenheimer and boisterous behaviour.
Outside of South Canterbury, the album had less rave reviews. One sarcastically called it Bowie’s ‘‘Phil Collins phase’’, while Jay Cocks writing for Time described it as ‘‘unabashedly commercial, melodically alliterative and lyrically smart.’’
It’s apt, then, that ride sharing mega business Uber should choose the title track as the soundtrack for its new television advertisement.
Uber has had a bugger of a year. Its brand has gone from hero to zero as it battles scandal after scandal, from accusations around systemic sexism, through to a selfdestructive chief executive, overt aggression and accusations around hiding data from regulators. It’s no wonder that its shareholders are in open conflict with one another.
So it makes sense, in the interests of improving their public persona, to come out now with a new advertising campaign.
Last month, new Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi was in damage control mode as he tried to to convince the London Transport Authority to reverse its decision to terminate Uber’s licence to operate.
However, down under, the timing of the new TV advertisement also connects with something a lot closer to home – namely, Uber’s ability to operate legally in New Zealand.
About the same time as the ads started in godzone, the Land Transport Amendment Act 2017 and related land transport rules came into force.
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has been working with Uber, amongst others, to ensure they observe the new rules.
Significantly, Uber has told NZTA it will toe the line and comply with the new legal framework (including drivers having passenger endorsements and vehicles having certificates of fitness).
This means the wilful nonconformance that Uber has perpetuated for the past 18 months will stop.
This is a real win for Uber. And it follows another win, the sealing of a deal with Wellington International Airport.
Since September 1 Uber drivers have been officially able to pick up and drop off riders via a dedicated pick-up zone at the capital’s airport, unencumbered by the threat of being served a trespass order.
But challenges aplenty remain for the infamously aggressive ridesharing business.
From a user point of view, the biggest pain factor at either Christchurch or Auckland airports is the time you waste trying to work out where to meet.
The Uber app itself appears to give out misleading information about the car’s apparent location and the phone line quality is terrible when you try to ring the driver.
An associated issue here, which I have written about previously, is airport tolls being mysteriously added to your fare by Uber even when you walk offsite. Tolls you can get out of only by questioning.
Then there’s the fact that the Uber app doesn’t let the driver know where you are going, so some drivers ring you to find out if it’s a big fare or not before they arrive. It’s both rude and annoying.
There’s also the rise of Chariot and other carpooling services in a homogeneous country like New Zealand.
But carpooling services are not the big risk. The big risk is the old risk of any fast-growing, revenuepositive but earnings-negative tech company: money. A story did the rounds early this year that Uber was going to run out of money in 2018.
Then in April it posted its fullyear result, a loss of US$2.8 billion (NZ$4b) despite revenue of US$6.5b. So in simple terms shareholders are subsidising the cost of every ride, to allow Uber to scale and secure market share until it can reset its monetisation settings.
Lining up against that is Uber’s irresistible functionality. When it works, it works brilliantly well. It’s hard not to love it – a heck of a competitive advantage.
The question is whether it can reverse its public image problems to push that advantage home in time.
Track seven on Let’s Dance is Cat People which features the famous line ‘‘I’ve been putting out the fire with gasoline’’. That’s exactly what Uber has been doing this year with an inflammable chief executive and bully boy tactics.
Hopefully with new regulations, a new boss and an apparent commitment to acting responsibly; things are about to change.
❚ Mike ‘‘MOD’’ O’Donnell is an e-commerce manager and professional director. His Twitter handle is @modsta and he reckons Aladdin Sane is Bowie’s best album.