When Uber Eats decided to take creative in-house, we had one final chance to show what external creative leadership could do. With only the unspent retainer budget left, I reframed what could have been a quiet goodbye into an opportunity to deliver a bold, culturally resonant campaign we’d both be proud of.

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We identified “takeaway shame” - the relatable, funny, slightly guilty relationship people have with their delivery habits as a fresh, insight-driven way to cut through category sameness. It gave Uber Eats a distinctive, ownable creative platform rooted in truth and humour.

 

From pitch to delivery in three weeks, I rallied a cross-agency team to work at lead-agency pace. It became our biggest shoot to date; something only possible because I leveraged years of production-creative experience to balance scale with speed.

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With no guarantee of future work, I positioned this campaign as a “last dance.” Instead of playing safe, we delivered something unapologetically ambitious; a campaign that showed the value of external creative firepower even as Uber transitioned in-house.

 

The campaign tapped into a universal tension (ordering that same dish three nights in a row, hiding from your delivery driver, fibbing about who the food is for). It resonated with audiences because it was funny, human, and rooted in everyday behaviour - the kind of work people see themselves in and want to talk about.​

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Takeaway Shame wasn’t just a successful campaign, it was a masterclass in turning a budget underspend, a looming transition, and an impossible deadline into a strategically sharp, creatively fearless piece of work that cemented our value right until the very end.