Our campaign had two objectives. First, reduce impaired driving in Canada by raising awareness of the issue and promoting the decision to choose a safe ride, and second, develop a donation stream for MADD Canada to raise much-needed funds, with a goal of $100,000.

We searched for a mother among Uber drivers who had lost a child to impaired driving. We found Shelly, a remarkable woman whose oldest daughter died tragically 17 years ago. We rode along with Shelly one night during the holiday season as she picked up people from festive celebrations at local bars, capturing her conversations with riders about doing her small part to get people home safely. The Uber customers who made their way home with Shelly experienced powerful and highly personal conversations that made the issue of impaired driving very real for them.

For the fundraising for MADD, we leveraged a mechanism within Uber’s app: the Compliment badge. Its usual purpose is to give Uber drivers added recognition for great service, but throughout the month of December, it was rebranded as the Late-Night Hero Compliment badge and each time a rider complimented a driver, Uber donated $1 to MADD.

Shelly’s Story was seen by over half a million viewers throughout the holiday season, and additional Uber in-app messaging reached 1,500,000 active monthly riders and 50,000 active monthly drivers. Our fundraising goal was achieved in less than three weeks, 11 days ahead of target.