In an effort to endear itself to existing and prospective customers, Uber pulled a marketing stunt by partnering with Cheezburger to deliver kittens to customers' doorsteps. For $30, customers get to have kittens delivered to them for 15 minutes of snuggling, and proceeds from the publicity stunt will go to local shelters participating in the event.
In fact, this is not the first time Uber has come up with such marketing strategies to promote its service. Last year, it allowed users to hail ice cream trucks in 33 cities around the world, delivered roses and personalized cards on Valentine's Day for $150, and offered helicopter rides to East Hampton for $3000 to promote its July 4 launch in the Hamptons.
Despite having these campaigns, there are many challenges lying ahead for this ride-hailing company - from widespread regulation problems to competition from its own investor, Google, who is developing driverless cars.
The following article highlights some interesting challenges that Uber has to face: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/can-uber-distract-us-with-cute-animals-2015-02-05
For instance, while Uber did announce a partnership with Carnegie Mellon to create driverless cars, other competitors are likely to own them by the time these cars are available. Additionally, Uber is seen as a "faceless entity" given its lack of a prominent founding story. Clearly a lot is left to be done for this company, but it will be interesting to see how much further Uber is able to grow while facing multiple lawsuits and resistance from taxi drivers and lawmakers.
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