Uber offers free rides in a BMW for the cool factor

Hard to see who benefits most in these promotions: Uber, BMW, or the rider?

Any chance it gets, Uber sets off promotions to get people talking and new users signing up.

Today, riders using Uber’s ride-hailing service in New York, Miami, Chicago, or Los Angeles can get to where they’re going in the new BMW 7 series, which won’t see its U.S. retail launch until this Saturday, October 24. The promotion, which starts today at 12 p.m. local time today and ends at 8 p.m., won’t cost a thing as long as the trip doesn’t go over 30 minutes.

Here are the promo codes for each city:

• New York: "7SERIESNYC"
• Miami: “7SERIESMIA”
• Chicago: “7SERIESCHI”
• Los Angeles: “7SERIESLA”

With a manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) topping $81,000, the BMW 7 series isn’t affordable for just anybody, which is probably why they've chosen to promote the car in specific cities for a limited time.

Whether it’s offering free donuts or free rides (or even a photo op with the Iron Throne from “Game of Thrones”), Uber and its competitors regularly launch daylong promotions like this to both build its brand and hopefully attract new customers to its platform. As is common with these promotions, however, it’s more gab than gift since Uber itself says “demand will be very high and availability will be limited.”

From personal experience, I recall it’s usually only one friend in a crowd of hopefuls that actually manages to cash in on the promotion. That said, the stir on social media and in offices across the country is usually enough to at least garner a few new registrations for the ride-hailing service. And a lot more conversation.

I’ve reached out to Uber to see if they’d reveal how big a bump in new users they actually see when they do promotions of this kind, if any, but they declined to comment. They did say, however, that they consider these promotions more as a way to differentiate themselves in a crowded field. I guess it comes down to cool factor: be hip and hopefully customer growth will follow.

Given this, it would seem that the promotion “for BMW” actually works more in Uber’s favor than for the luxury car company since only a small minority will actually get a chance to ride in the car. Unless BMW is also trying to rope in some cool factor by partnering with one of the technology industry’s most well-known unicorns, and one that has raised a billion dollars several times over.

If that’s the case, then I’m sure BMW hopes they also don’t get associated with Uber’s many battles, like those with taxis as well as with its very own drivers, who complain about the lack of a tipping option and want a higher minimum rate.