Why Grab’s internal note on Uber and Didi was a brilliant move

Photo: Grab

Yesterday, some three hours before Uber China and Didi’s merger was confirmed, it was revealed that Grab’s head honcho Anthony Tan sent out a company-wide email, breaking the news (or rumors of, but I mean, c’mon now) and rallying his troops to continue fighting the (presumably) good fight.

Kiasu? Sure seems like it. The memo is peppered with jabs at Uber, and the penultimate paragraph concludes “They’ve lost once, and we will make them lose again.”

But stop for a moment and zoom out a little, and you may come to the same conclusion as I have – that the timing of this memo’s dissemination was a conscious, strategic communications decision. Here’s why I think so.

Our world is worth fighting for

First, the obvious reason: validation of efforts. Up to this point, everyone has been rallying against Big Bad Guy Uber in theory. Whether its the never-ending battle of discounts and promotions, positioning themselves into another niche, or milking the localization card, transport app companies around the world have been looking for the magic formula to beat Uber at its own game.

Anthony’s email laid out a number of tenets that, up to this point, his Grabbers have hung onto, with no more than blind faith that it will one day come to pass. So it has, and so he duly reminds them.

You heard it here first

By breaking the news to his team before the official announcements, Anthony’s email relieved more than 500 Grabbers (or however many read it before the confirmation dropped) of potential deer-in-headlights situations.

With both Uber and Grab being such high-profile companies fighting for pole position, families and friends of Grab employees are bound to approach them sooner or later with curiosity and questions, as news of this massive development trickles down.

Imagine what they would think if the Grabber went, “Wait WHAT?” or “Oh… is it? I haven’t heard eh.” While it’s no reason to start a riot in the streets, it does put Grab and its staff in a position for easy ridicule.

Instead, Anthony saw a prime opportunity for Grab to reinforce their position as one of the front runners of this race, and his email allowed Grabbers to proudly represent the company, and confidently say, “Yep, we knew about it before it was announced.”

Guess who just got a little cooler? The Grab employee. And their company along with it.

I have something to say

But far more important than the benefit of hearing the news in advance, is the fact that Anthony’s email also provided all Grabbers with a semi-official point of view, direct from their CEO’s inbox.

Brace yourselves

If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you twice