On Monday, Uber launched a surprise announcement stating that copies of EA Sports’ Madden NFL 16 would be delivered as part of a promotion to lucky customers. The Xbox version of the game, which went on sale to the general public on Tuesday, was available to users of the app who were in the metropolitan vicinity of all 32 teams. I spoke with three Uber customers who tried using the promo with varying degrees of success, one of whom received an extra surprise.
In San Diego, self-proclaimed “power” Uber users Mike Slagh (rider) and Micah Letts (driver and rider) were both clued in on the promotion from a retweet by Chris Sacca:
We’re passing a free copy of #Madden16 your way when you request in app today. http://t.co/1KcwxzKaX8pic.twitter.com/icA207FZHW
— Uber (@Uber) August 24, 2015
Chris Sacca’s retweet that motivated Mike and Micah to try it out.
Micah says that from a driver’s perspective this EA Sports promo and others like it, such as ice cream giveaways, are well received. On Monday night however, Micah happened to not be driving and used the unique San Diego promo code to no avail. Similarly, Mike tried several times to use the promo code, but received a “No Players Open. Try Again” notification. Perhaps a shorter supply of games, more convenient time zone, or tech-savvy west coasters quick to the draw were to blame. Nonetheless, our San Diegan sample came up short of the prize.
Meanwhile in Texas, another Uber devotee, Joseph Hernandez, glued himself to the app once a friend told him about the promotion. For two hours, he tried off and on to get the promotion, and for two hours, fared no differently than Mike and Micah. Joseph said he gave up for some time and, on a whim, tried one more time. Alas, he was notified that his driver was 7 minutes away.
What Joseph didn’t know was that when the 2015 GMC Yukon pulled into his driveway, it was ferrying 10-year NFL (9 of them with the Cowboys) veteran Bradie James. After the driver of the high-end Black Car vehicle introduced James to Joseph, an Uber rep snapped a few, once-in-a-lifetime photos and gifted Joseph with the new video game. In addition to the game, James handed Joseph a “swag bag” with Uber sunglasses and mugs. This experience deepened the affinity Joseph holds for Uber, of which he says has “provided a great service to my generation of millennials and to the Dallas community by, among other things, lowering drinking and driving.”
