Bacardi Turning Uber Journeys into a Festive Retail Media Commerce Engine

Client: Bacardi

Festive drinking decisions are rarely planned. They happen in transit, on the way to dinners, parties and nights out, as well as when hosting, entertaining or making last-minute drinks purchases at home. Bacardi and Uber Advertising used these high-intent festive moments across Uber Rides and Uber Eats to turn everyday journeys and at-home celebrations into meaningful brand experiences. The campaign delivered impact across both awareness and conversion. It was Bacardi’s biggest month ever on Uber Eats, delivering $264,000 (£196,000) in sales and an incredible 74% new-to-brand purchase rate.

Rather than treating Uber as standard media inventory, Bacardi utilised it as a behavioural commerce engine, aligning brand messaging with the moments when festive plans were taking shape. At the centre of the idea was a simple proposition: bring Bacardi into festive moments wherever they happened, across both on-trade and off-trade occasions. Through Uber Rides, Journey Ads, and gamified experiences, Bacardi engaged and educated consumers as they travelled to social occasions, bringing Bacardi’s signature serves to life. Add-to-Wallet functionality then rewarded riders with a complimentary Bacardi cocktail redemption at participating Fuller’s pubs in London, turning engagement into a tangible festive experience. Uber Eats extended the experience into the home, inspiring consumers to recreate cocktail serves by simplifying the path to purchase through curated ingredient collections. Across both channels, Bacardi moved beyond awareness-led activity, using Uber’s first-party data and retail media capabilities to engage consumers at high-intent moments and drive measurable action.