• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, February 10, 2023

DoorDash is expanding from restaurant delivery to the grocery business, and it’s breaking the news on the Super Bowl with a new ad starring three unexpected flavor experts.

The campaign launch "is about introducing our grocery delivery service to the largest possible audience there is," says David Bornoff, senior director and head of brand marketing at DoorDash. "We wanted to kick it off in a way that creates the most buzz possible in one moment."

Created with the Martin Agency, the ad follows celebrity chef Matty Matheson, who stars in Hulu's "The Bear," Tiny Chef, the puppet who stars in his own hit cooking show on Nickelodeon, and Raekwon The Chef, of the legendary Wu-Tang Clan. (The rap legend isn’t exactly a chef, concedes Bornoff. "He represents flavor style and plugs into what the zeitgeist is.”)

The idea is that customers will get the kind of delivery experience they deserve. "That means it's perfect -- on time, the right quality, everything you need to make the grocery experience great when you order through DoorDash."

Bornoff tells Marketing Daily the creative challenge was creating a campaign compelling enough "to shift the mindset of consumers, to say, 'We don't just deliver from restaurants, but you can come to DoorDash for the best of your neighborhood -- including groceries.'"

The three chefs build that bridge, he adds.  "They already trust us with the restaurants they love. The chefs behind those restaurants trust us with the groceries they need to power their restaurants."

Beyond the Super Bowl, the 360-degree campaign will run on TV, in-app, through paid digital, out-of-home activations and radio from February through June.

In restaurants, DoorDash competes with brands like Grubhub and Uber Eats. In grocery delivery, that competitive set becomes much larger, including Instacart and Shipt, grocery behemoths like Amazon, Target, Walmart and hundreds of regional groceries that have built robust delivery businesses in the last few years.

The San Francisco-based tech company believes grocery delivery has significant potential.

"While our history is rooted in the restaurant category, our vision has always been to build a world-class local commerce marketplace spanning multiple categories in several countries," it says in its most recent quarterly results. Gross-order value from non-restaurant categories grew by more than 80% in its most recent quarter.

"By expanding beyond restaurants, we believe we provide existing consumers more ways to leverage our service and new consumers more ways to engage with us for the first time."

Recent partnerships include Loblaw Companies Limited, Sprouts Farmers Market, Dick's Sporting Goods, Grocery Outlet, Giant Eagle and Tractor Supply Co.

In its most recent quarterly results, DoorDash reported revenues of $1.7 billion, up 33% from the $1.28 billion in the comparable quarter of the prior year. It posted a net loss of $87 million, slightly worse than the $86 million loss in the prior year's comparable period.