MUMBAI: McDowell’s No.1 Soda has joined hands with DriveU, an app-based start-up, which offers on-demand driver service, to launch a feature within the app called Share, through which friends can commute together. A strong mainstream and digital campaign will be rolled out with celebrity drivers.

The partnership creates first of its kind benchmarks where a consumer brand and a startup come together to provide a need-based consumer offering based on a long-term revenue sharing model. Through this partnership, McDowell’s will provide marketing support and generate demand for DriveU with an ambition of generating half a million downloads and completing one million rides in the first year of association.

United Spirits senior VP marketing Subroto Geed said that the unique association was based on USL’s next generation marketing thinking where there were engaging with the right partners to create a personalised experience. This partnership was a true marketing innovation and that they very excited to be working with a young and edgy start-up, he said.

This innovation was a big move that was expected to dramatically increase DriveU's user base to meet its revenue targets. DriveU business was expected to grow tenfold over the next year, while operating across India’s top 10 metros, said DriveU CEO Ramprasad Shastry.