The Internet Is Obsessed With Bowie the “Uber Dog”—for Good Reason · Kinship Leave a comment

For many people, Take Your Canine to Work Day is a uncommon deal with. However for Colorado-based Uber driver Kevin Ferman, ride-alongs together with his Yellow Lab, Bowie, are simply one other day on the workplace. Collectively, they’ve launched the digital content material sequence Bowie the Uber Canine — racking up greater than 400,000 Instagram followers, 144k on TikTok, and tens of millions of views on YouTube. 

Bowie’s complete bit revolves round a brilliantly easy premise: He rides shotgun whereas Ferman picks up passengers, and a splash cam captures each excited squeal as passengers climb inside. Viewers develop into flies on the automotive window, peeking in on the conversations that ensue.

“The automotive is his favourite place,” Ferman tells Kinship of his doggo colleague. “He will get to observe the world go by, and he will get to fulfill new individuals on a regular basis.”

On the highway: Bowie’s story

Fittingly, Ferman and Bowie’s story started with a really lengthy automotive trip. As a pet, Bowie lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico; a good friend of Ferman’s adopted Bowie from his mom, who’d rescued the entire litter. When that good friend needed to take a second job in 2022, he realized he couldn’t give Bowie the life he deserved. Enter Ferman, who’d simply moved into a spot with a yard that he was desperate to share with a canine. The trek residence took seven hours, however that didn’t appear to faze five-month-old Bowie.

After Bowie had settled in, one among Ferman’s jobs fell by. He had labored for Uber previously, so he determined to return as a stopgap — and the timing felt virtually kismet. “I used to be realizing that Bowie has fairly unhealthy separation nervousness,” he says. “In order that immediately gave me the thought, properly, Bowie loves the automotive. I am going again to Uber. Let’s carry Bowie alongside and see if it really works.” The 2 rode round collectively for a few 12 months and a half earlier than Ferman determined to share their healthful experiences with the world.

Bowie, now three years previous, has fully modified the driving expertise for Ferman. Up to now, Ferman says, he’d drive “grueling” 12-to 16-hour shifts. He’d cease just for gasoline, and by the tip of the day, he discovered himself limping out of the automotive. However with Bowie alongside for the trip, he’ll cease each few hours to discover a park. In the meantime, Bowie loves each the corporate of latest passengers and the playtime stops at varied locations all through the day. 

Clients additionally behave in another way when Bowie’s alongside for the trip. “After they get into the automotive, and so they see a canine, they only gentle up,” Ferman says. “It makes their day, so it makes it much more enjoyable for me, too.” Pre-Bowie, riders usually requested Ferman the identical handful of questions — like how lengthy he’d been driving for Uber and whether or not anybody had ever thrown up in his automotive. Nowadays, the conversations are much more enjoyable. As Ferman places it, “I’d a lot relatively discuss concerning the canine than the job.”

A dynamic duo

Ferman estimates that Bowie has helped elevate his suggestions by round 10 to fifteen %, and after years with a 4.99 driver score, he’s lastly hit an ideal 5 stars. At this level, nonetheless, he not drives to make a dwelling; because of the “Uber Canine,” he solely will get behind the wheel to drum up content material for the present. They’ve performed round 6,500 rides collectively, and in that point, solely two riders have ever canceled (which Ferman says anybody can do freed from cost).

Of everybody who’s ever gotten into his automotive, Ferman’s favourite passenger is Phyllis — an aged girl whose Bowie the Uber Canine episode has gone viral a number of occasions. “Simply absolutely the sweetest particular person I’ve ever met in my life,” Ferman says. “I’m hoping she calls sooner or later, as a result of she has my card. I used to be presupposed to drive her to the on line casino one among today.”

The playing cards Ferman fingers out are only one a part of his technique to broaden Bowie the Uber Canine ’s pawprint; he’s additionally partnered with sponsors like Temu and PetLab Co. Ferman attributes the present’s success to his expertise in gross sales, advertising and marketing, social media, and filmmaking. “I grew up skateboarding,” he says. “I picked up a digicam from a very younger age and spent the higher a part of 15 years making skateboard movies.” In 2016, he launched a skateboarding video known as “ Debauchery,” which he says received first place in a neighborhood competition.

“That’s my ardour,” Ferman says. “That’s been my complete life.”

So, what’s subsequent for the Uber Canine media empire? Ferman says he’s bought a pair irons within the hearth on the sponsorships aspect that he can’t focus on simply but, and he’s additionally toying with an thought for a possible spin-off sequence — a clip present, of types, the place former riders can come again for longer, deeper conversations and add commentary. For now, nonetheless, he and Bowie are simply having fun with the trip(s).