Inside UPS’ creator-led series with Kareem Rahma generating millions of TikTok and Instagram views

Comedian Kareem Rahma has made a name for himself on social media with New York transit-themed series such as “Subway Takes,” where he interviews commuters on topics of their choice, and “Keep the Meter Running,” in which taxi drivers bring him to their favorite city spots. So when Rahma partnered with UPS last month to launch a new series, “Business Trips,” it made sense that the project followed a similar transportation-driven format. And according to Kellie Streat, UPS’ director of advertising and partnerships, the resemblance to Rahma’s unsponsored hits is driving a major boost in the brand’s social media engagement. “It’s driving incredible viral momentum for us,” Streat said of the show, which has amassed over 6.2 million views on TikTok and Instagram across its first two episodes. “The right creator with shared purpose and vision can really allow you to reach new audiences and land in culture, and can drive a different type of resonance and engagement. And Kareem is just a natural storyteller [who] can show UPS through a different lens.” Sign up for our Influencer Marketing newsletter UPS is the latest brand to tap into the growing popularity of serialized, creator-led social content. Beauty brands Tower 28 and Milani Cosmetics recently rolled out limited social media series of their own, each starring several creators. “Business Trips,” however, will continue through the rest of 2025 and potentially evolve to include additional cities, Streat said. Each episode of “Business Trips” follows Rahma as he rides alongside a UPS driver to a small business to pick up packages to deliver to customers. Like in “Keep the Meter Running,” Rahma spends each ride interviewing the driver about their career. But along with highlighting the (often unacknowledged) work of UPS drivers, each episode of “Business Trips” doubles as a free promo for a small New York business. In the first episode of the series, Rahma and a UPS driver named Jacek visit Brooklyn-based eyewear brand Indy Sunglasses, discussing how the business relies on UPS to ship products to customers. Small businesses account for roughly 30% of the packages UPS delivers, according to Streat. “Business Trips” will be a yearlong collaboration between UPS and Rahma—as well as UPS’ creative agency of record, The Martin Agency, which pitched Rahma to UPS to host the social media series. The series is running across TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn, and is an extension of UPS’ larger “Unstoppable Together” campaign with The Martin Agency launched in February. While brands and agencies are often hesitant to surrender creative freedom to the creators they partner with, UPS and The Martin Agency are largely allowing Rahma to direct the production of the entire series, said Kevin Ragland, VP and creative director at The Martin Agency. Rahma has brought in the same production team he works with on “Subway Takes” and “Keep the Meter Running” to film and edit “Business Trips,” and the series is entirely unscripted, Ragland said. “We talked about the businesses with him a little bit, and, of course, we told him what we wanted him to talk about,” he said. “But we didn’t give him a list of questions to ask. We wanted him to draw that natural story out of both the driver and the business owner … and a large part of the actual production was him doing his thing and telling those stories.” UPS and The Martin Agency’s willingness to relinquish creative control of the sponsored series to Rahma, along with the fact that they effectively wanted him to put a UPS-branded spin on his existing “Keep the Meter Running” series, drove Rahma to jump at the opportunity to partner with UPS on the series, he told Ad Age. Also read: Why brands should give creators more creative control “It’s such a natural extension of the format that I didn’t really have to change much,” Rahma said. “Obviously, UPS is visible throughout the whole thing, and it’s a UPS project, but it would be a good show on its own. And I think people love it because it just feels like good television.” Only two episodes of the series have rolled out thus far, but they’re already some of UPS’ best-performing social content to date. The first episode of “Business Trips” has garnered over 5.1 million views across TikTok and Instagram, and the second episode has amassed more than 1.1 million views since it was released on Tuesday. Rahma said he’s thrilled to be partnering with a brand on an ongoing project such as “Business Trips” rather than needing to come up with a plethora of sponsored content ideas and formats for multiple brand partners. “You get pitched something, you do it, and then you move on to the next thing—a different project, a completely different brand, a completely different set of KPIs and messaging,” he said. “It’s awesome when somebody comes in and says, ‘We love this idea. We want to do this with you and grow this thing.’ And I think, for the audience, they want to see more.”

Inside UPS’ creator-led series with Kareem Rahma generating millions of TikTok and Instagram views

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