40 Under 40 2023: Melissa Chen, UberEats

Melissa Chen

Head of marketing
UberEats
Taiwan

Leading the most competitive market for Uber globally, Melissa Chen has been instrumental in taking the UberEats business to a clear market leadership position by building an iconic brand embedded deeply into Taiwanese culture.

Born and raised in Taipei, Taiwan, Chen is deeply engaged with the people and culture of the land. Most of the campaigns she leads are rooted in local insights which has made UberEats Taiwan one of the most engaged on-demand delivery markets at Uber, with the customer base growing more than 10 times from where it was.

One of Chen’s latest achievements is the “Pride of Taiwan” campaign, set out to celebrate the local food culture and establish UberEats as an integral part of the Taiwanese cuisine landscape. The Taiwanese people were empowered to vote for their favourite local food, with the campaign culminating with Taiwanese bubble tea being featured in Times Square, New York City. 

It drove significant results for Uber Eats including a + 3ppt in local selection perception, + 27% revenue uplift from local food, and + 41% increase in first-time orders. The campaign was even being picked up by Bloomberg, with them reporting “How Taiwanese Bubble Tea Has Taken Over the US.”

After solidifying a brand advantage in the core food delivery service sector, Chen launched the “Foods and Goods Like That!” (2022) and “Nearly Get Anything” (2023) campaigns to accelerate awareness that UberEats delivery extends beyond restaurant food. The campaigns cemented Taiwan as the leader in grocery awareness within the Uber ecosystem with a + 15ppts lift since 2022.

Chen is an advocate of long-term brand building rather than short term sales activations that have taken precedence post the pandemic. She spoke at the virtual 2021 Cannes Taiwan Creative Week to advocate for long-term commitment to increase creative effectiveness that will ultimately drive business success, using the newly released Creative Effectiveness Ladder measurement from WARC and Taiwan UberEats campaigns for a case study.

Recognised by Campaign Asia-Pacific as a Woman to Watch in 2022, and PRvoke Media’s Innovator 25 APAC, Chen is an active Taiwan representative across APAC industry forums.