‍ ‍Uber Taxi — HANAKIN24

Ideation & copy

Japanese market launch promo

The line

「毎週金曜、タクシー無料！HANAKIN24」

Every Friday, taxis on us. HANAKIN 24.

The insight

Uber Eats is everywhere in Japan — but Uber Taxi isn't the reflex it is elsewhere. The job wasn't to explain the app; it was to give people a reason to open it this week. 花金 (hanakin) — Friday night, the cultural release valve at the end of the work week — was already the night people go out, drink, and need to get home. We didn't invent an occasion. We attached Uber Taxi to one that already runs deep, and gave it a name people could repeat.

The craft

• HANAKIN24 as a coinage. Bolting 24 onto the slang 花金 turns a cultural feeling into a named, ownable promo — something with a beginning and a deadline, which is what drives a first download. It's a handle people can share, not just a discount.

• 無料！ does the heavy lifting. In a market where Uber Taxi has no habit to fall back on, a bold, unambiguous benefit beats a clever line. The exclamation earns its place here in a way it wouldn't on a premium brand — the register matches the job.

• 毎週金曜 sets a rhythm. "Every Friday" reframes a one-off trial into a weekly habit — which is exactly the behaviour an app launch needs, and which the results bear out.

Scope

• Ideation & copy

• Brief from Uber

• My role — concept, headline, social copy

Where it ran

Instagram — organic posts and paid ads (Sep to Oct 2024)

Outcome

+15% first-time riders

rising to 70% on Fridays