Uber is a car service. So why was it promising to deliver ice cream? By the way, WHERE'S THE ICE CREAM WE ORDERED?
When the techie car service Uber announced it was sending a fleet of on-demand ice cream trucks to serve the urban-dwelling masses in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Washington, D.C., Seattle, and Toronto, we at Fast Company got very hungry.
This Friday, we're delivering happiness. Get the scoop on Uber's on-demand ice cream trucks: bit.ly/NokloM #OMGUBERICECREAM
— Uber (@Uber) July 11, 2012
End of story? Not quite. On Sunday morning I receive an email from Uber New York's community manager apologizing for Friday's truck shortage and gifting me $15 in Uber credit, good for the rest of the month to try out one of Uber's regular cars. Nice bait-and-switch--who says no to free money? Even if it's for a service I wouldn't normally use and for an amount that will get me only halfway to work.
Uber has yet to respond to our press request about when we will get our ice cream truck (we're pretty flexible on flavors and toppings, by the way). But the lesson here is pretty clear: Uber should remember that at its core, it is a car service, not a chaotic ice cream free-for-all. When you peddle something as universally appealing as ice cream, it's a given that you won't possibly be able to satisfy everyone, even if you had dozens of trucks at the ready. Yes, Uber ended up spreading the word about its core business, but it was at the expense of the ill will it generated from a marketing ploy that made people feel like children on the wrong end of a cruel prank. On-demand cabs? Great idea. On-demand ice cream trucks and mariachi fiestas? Do not mess with the creamy desires of the Twitter-connected.
[Image: Flickr user Johnath]