PR Event

In April 2016, five New York inspired taxis played an immersive part in Kate Spade’s two day store opening event, bringing a real touch of New York to one of London’s major shopping streets.

During the 1st event day, the Kate Spade taxis transported exclusive VIPs to and from the brand’s events across Central London.

On the 2nd day, the new flagship store on Regent Street hosted a captivating edible window installation which, was open to the public and attracted many fans to the store.

To create brand stand-out and unique photo opportunities, five striking NYC-style taxis showcased outside the flagship store on Regent Street during the events, with their iconic pulling-power helping to create a real buzz for what was happening inside of the store.

With the Actimel, #StayStrong campaign we helped to reposition the brand with a new global platform around ‘positive resilience’ to a younger, more upmarket audience.

Building on the core USP of the product, immunity resilience, Danone identified that one of the key problems around the brand was the fact that it wasn’t visible enough, so 20 branded taxis were used to generate brand stand-out and social sharing.

The 20 branded taxis were out in force in London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Liverpool & Manchester, offering little bursts of positivity and resilience to consumers in their moments of need. Actimel used their taxis to surprise and delight the public with a free taxi during their morning commute, ranking-up at key mainline stations from 7am. Although hailed as usual by the public, once on-board, passengers were surprised by cabbies with news that their journey was going to free! 

Each driver was asked to impart the messafe,  “to help you stay strong, Actimel are offering you this journey free of charge

The taxis in London were also armed with a selection of Actimel bottles to distribute to their passengers, with a handy leaflet to explain the benefits of the product.

The kind gesture made consumers associate a positive experience with the brand and many turned to social media to share their experience.

The drivers feedback included: “I’ve got some great reactions from my passengers, with many of them saying they will go and purchase some Actimel!” “I just took a lady to visit her husband in hospital. She lives far away, so the free ride really made her day” 

Arriving in the Springtime, 30 Trilogy taxis breezed into London.

The taxis were part of a campaign that saw New Zealand skincare brand, Trilogy launch its window displays at John Lewis and Wholefoods.  The objective of the taxis was to raise some city-centre awareness of the brand, to a cosmopolitan female audience, and, with a helping hand from their friendly taxi drivers, Trilogy was able to personally introduce a new audience to their organic skincare treats, with high-value product sampling, from the taxis.

Any female passengers who tipped their driver were handed a Handbag Heroes box set with the message "thank you for my tip; here's a tip for you from Trilogy!".

We helped Trilogy to ensure that the drivers were fully briefed about the brand and the products, including a list of retail stockists, should passengers ask.

The samples prompted a feel-good factor among consumers, and a very positive brand experience; feedback from cabbies was very positive, wiht one of the drivers telling us that, “all customers appreciated the free samples. One passenger tried out the Rosehip Oil and liked it so much that she said she would buy some. I gave her a receipt with the details on.”

Celebrating their 5th Birthday in fashionable style, Mr Porter hosted an exclusive party at Mayfair's Saville Club in February 2016. Surprising their guests with bowler hats, a wide selection of bars & even a Narnia themed wardrobe; everyone received the VIP treatment. Always ensuring their guests were catered for, Mr Porter turned to Ubiquitous to organise on site taxis to provide their attendees with a safe journey home. With the help of Ubiquitous coordinators, 15 of their striking branded taxis were lined up outside the venue directly under the flag baring the brand's name. A perfect opportunity for all the photographers on site! When ready to depart, guests were escorted to their own taxi which happily took them onto their desired destination. One things for sure; Mr Porter certainly know how to celebrate a Birthday!

To mark the start of Stoptober; 65 BLU liveries took to the streets in Autumn 2015. Driving brand presence for 18 weeks; the taxis encouraged Londoners to quit smoking and switch to E-Cigarettes. From the outset the BLU drivers have been educated about the brand with the use of driver briefing sheets. Including key facts about their E-Cigarettes; the drivers were able to converse with their passengers about the brand and their different flavored variants. To also allow taxi passengers to experience the #FlavoursWithOomph advertised; each taxi has been provided with either a menthol or blueberry freshener.

BLU decided to utilise their colourful taxis and as proud sponsors of the National Reality TV Awards provided celebrity guests, such as Kerry Katona and Caprice, transport to and from the event in their own branded taxis. The taxis were featured in many publicized images of the arriving guest and this further cemented the brand and their sponsorship of the event. The passengers were extremely pleased with their free BLU taxi rides and they even took to Twitter to personally thank their BLU PR driver's!

HAVAIANAS teamed up with Ubiquitous to bring a taste of Brazil to London. With 15 liveries and 80 supersides the colourful taxis were complimented with both matching Tip Seats and Receipts. However, 3 of the Livery taxis were given a unique makeover to celebrating both the Summer Solstice and International Flip Flop Day. Giant flip-flops were affixed to the roof of the taxis, and they were used to showcase at key London locations including The London Eye and Selfridges. One of the taxis was positioned at the HAVAIANAS Canary Street Store for an entire day and was joined by promotional team members with inflatable flip flops, they then encouraged the public to have their photographs taken with the taxi and share on social media.

On the second day of the activity, the 3 special build HAVAIANAS taxis stirred up excitement by performing a convoy across London. Driving together along a set route, the taxis targeted both shopping areas and tourist attractions including Oxford Street, Regent Street, Marble Arch and Hyde Park. The convoy allowed HAVAIANAS to showcase it’s unique taxis to curious passers-by, and prompted them to join in with their own photographs sharing their own flip-flop taxi experience on social media. Generating even more excitement about HAVAIANAS and the arriving summer, the taxis became an instant hit; alongside the hashtag #TaxiToSummer.

To coincide with the launch of Ballymore’s latest property development, London City Island, the property developer created a fleet of bright SuperSide taxis. They used the taxis to create some PR buzz by showcasing outside City Island and employing the taxis as a shuttle service to bring customers to the new development.

Located in Canning Town, the highly anticipated new development is located on its very own island and is connected by a specially - commissioned bridge. To ensure that potential buyers arrived to the launch weekend with ease, Ballymore utilised their superside taxis to provide a shuttle service.

Positioned at Canning Town tube station the fleet of taxis were easily recognizable to arriving guestswho were then transported straight to the door of the marketing suite on City Island. The taxis also remained on site to ensure that guests were dropped back off at Canning Town station once their visit was complete.

On January 19, 2015, otherwise known as ‘Blue Monday’ Fitness First joined forces with Ubiquitous to turn the day red. Targeting Londoners who need a bit more encouragement to get them into the gym, the Health & Fitness gurus used their taxis to provide stress free journeys to their clubs on the official “most depressing day of the year”.

During Red Monday, the Fitness First taxis circled 3 central gyms & picked up members of the public who ordered their free ride through the #redmondayff hashtag. Operating pickups & drop offs within a one mile radius the red taxis were on hand to transport fitness seekers in style. Passengers were even further surprised when they were joined by a special guest on board (Victoria Pendleton, Fitness First Personal Trainers & Max Whitlock) sharing fitness tips and motivational psychology advice.

On top of the free rides, Fitness First utilised one of their taxis for on-board press interviews at various media houses alongside the free journeys. Using the platform of Red Monday, Fitness First demonstrated to the public that exercise can boost your mental health and used the opportunity to showcase new equipment & ease people into a gym routine.

In March 2014, renowned Fashion House KARL LAGERFELD teamed up with Ubiquitous to celebrate the opening of the highly anticipated KARL LAGERFELD flagship store on London’s Regent Street.

To celebrate the launch, a private cocktail party was held inside the new store and nine liveried taxis were on hand, driving within the vicinity of the store and Bond Street in convoy. The convoy successfully created a buzz and excitement amongst VIP guests, including journalists at the store, awaiting Karl Lagerfeld’s arrival. The remaining taxi drove Karl Lagerfeld to his new store where an array of celebrities and royalty, eagerly awaited his arrival.

After the store opening, the evening continued at Harrods, where Karl Lagerfeld hosted an exclusive dinner to launch the new KARL LAGERFELD fragrance. A black carpet was laid out for arriving guests and the nine convoy drivers circled Harrods generating further awareness. All of the drivers were dressed in smart Karl Lagerfeld suits and shirts especially for the PR Event.

For the remainder of the campaign, the drivers were provided with exclusive Karl Lagerfeld t-shirts to ensure that they were the perfect brand ambassadors throughout. All of the KARL LAGERFELD Kabs are stocked with fragrance samples, with the special Kab stocking miniature Karl Lagerfeld perfume samples, for the drivers to hand out to unsuspecting passengers. So if you spot a Karl Kab, be sure to jump in!

In December 2013, Cath Kidston teamed up with Ubiquitous to help create excitement around their new flagship store.

Eight liveries, covered in a variety of Cath Kidston signature prints, were specifically created to not only add to the store launch, but also play an integral part in the PR stunts surrounding the opening. In the early hours of Thursday 5th December 2013, two out of the eight branded taxis were hidden under a giant gift box in Marble Arch.

By 8am a crowd of curious passers-by were drawn to the site, where the giant gift sat amongst a choir and roasted chestnuts, ready to be unveiled to London. After a countdown, the box opened to reveal two beautifully designed Cath Kidston taxis amongst a cloud of sparkle, much to the crowd’s surprise. The remaining six taxis then joined the action through Marble Arch, where they were positioned for a photo opportunity.

After Cath Kidston’s gift to London was revealed as eight distinctive taxis, the cabs strategically drove out of Marble arch to perform a convoy. Driving in a line, the taxis lead the way to the shiny new store, once more creating excitement and talk around the launch. Once the taxis had arrived at the store, they were then readily available to provide any onward journeys to VIP guests.

The taxis provided a great impetus in generating public interest towards the flagship store, with people soon logging into their social networking pages to share their brand experience. Evoking an essence of London, the taxis proved to be a great attribute to the overall success of the store launch.