Two minutes for an Uber to arrive? Pretty standard, really. But the same in event-planning parlance? An eternity — equivalent to about 10 days. Coincidentally, this is exactly the amount of time we had to help Uber showcase one of the most anticipated technical demonstrations of our generation. Uber hailed Harbinger to help promote a hands-on (rather, hands-free) demonstration of its self-driving vehicle technology...much to the delight and curiosity of local and national media.

The epitome of a Steel City reforged — Pittsburgh, PA — was chosen to showcase this cutting-edge technology, taking advantage of proximity to Uber offices as well as Carnegie-Mellon, the university think-tank responsible for forging some of the technology on display.

Our role was to attract the right kind of media to this event — namely the major leaders in business news such as Bloomberg, CNBC, MSNBC and Fox Business — and even the leaders in buzz worthy media:. The goal being that, once onsite, the media would become enveloped by such an experiential environment and fluid logistics plan (from arrival to transportation) that they would become innately excited about the technology and rush to enthusiastically share Uber’s story with the world.

Events with abbreviated timelines and high stakes have become a bit of a niche for us so, when called upon to support Uber on such a special project, we sprung into action with an appropriate balance of urgency and finesse.

During the course of the activation, journalists received more than 200 rides and unprecedented access. The resulting exposure catapulted Uber to the top of the industry leaderboard for transportation technology. As for Harbinger, having received rave reviews and a 5-star rating from Uber on the support we provided, were were pleased to have exceeded expectations.