DoorDash emulates restaurant pop-up trend in first integrated campaign

Dive Brief:

Digital food delivery platform DoorDash is today rolling out its first integrated multichannel campaign, according to details shared with Marketing Dive. Called "Pop-Up," the effort will run through September across TV, radio, out-of-home (OOH), digital, social media and experiential marketing.
Spots for "Pop-Up" are airing nationally and digital and OOH content will appear in 13 major cities, including New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. The creative emphasizes DoorDash's role as a sort of digital pop-up for restaurants, letting consumers sample a variety of cuisines wherever they are. Select cities will also receive experiential activations tied to the pop-up concept throughout the summer. On the promotional side of the push, DoorDash is waiving delivery fees for first-time orders.
The campaign, created with Brand New School, additionally spotlights some of DoorDash's biggest national partners like The Cheesecake Factory, Wendy's and Chipotle, along with more regional brands like Costa Vida, Zio's Italian Kitchen and The Original Mels. "Pop-Up" is DoorDash's second campaign to feature a national TV play, following up on an effort titled "Delicious at Your Door" from Q1 2019.

Dive Insight:

DoorDash is attempting to link the convenience of digital delivery services to the pop-up activation trend that has come to define experiential marketing in recent years, driven by consumer sets like millennials and their preference for Instagram-friendly spaces to snap photos in. "Pop-Up" shows how digitally native disruptors like DoorDash are pushing beyond the online spaces where they built their names to tap into more traditional marketing channels centered around broad reach and brand building, such as TV, experiential and OOH.

"Pop-Up" is intended to show that DoorDash is available, not just for home delivery, but also other spaces like the office, marking a change from the company's past marketing. DoorDash switching up its messaging and media strategy so soon after "Delicious at Your Door," which debuted in January and was handled by agency M/H VCCP, demonstrates the agility that many disruptors have to adopt as they try and figure out ways to attract fresh customers and grapple with a growing number of competitors. On the latter front, DoorDash has plenty to contend with, including rival platforms like UberEats, Postmates and Grubhub, which have recently ramped up their own marketing efforts and partnerships in the restaurant space.

To keep an edge, DoorDash is leaning heavily on its reach — the company offers delivery in more than 4,000 cities across the U.S. and Canada — and the recognition of some its biggest merchants, many of whom have seen a turnaround due to focusing more on delivery.

Chipotle, which struggled with a sales pinch for years amid multiple food safety crises, claimed last May that working with DoorDash boosted its weekly delivery orders by 667%. The fast-casual Mexican chain has continued to develop tools and services centered around mobile and digital ordering since then. The Cheesecake Factory and Wendy's have similarly deepened their partnerships with DoorDash, tapping into newer features the platform has introduced like a $9.99-per-month subscription called DashPass.