Bradley Cooper Keeps Uber Eats’ Conspiracy Running in New Ad

Uber Eats’ “conspiracy theory” commercial with Matthew McConaughey was one of the big hits of this year’s Super Bowl, so it’s no surprise that they’ve chosen to extend the idea. With agency Special US they’re back with a sequel, and the conspiracy goes deeper than ever. This time A Star Is Born superstar Bradley Cooper takes the lead role, on the other side of the debate from McConaughey’s conspiracy believer.

If you need a reminder, the ‘conspiracy’ in question is that football only exists as a way to sell food – for decades, Big Food has been using the sport as a means of selling wings, burgers, chips and pizzas to a nation of hungry viewers. Cooper is a great choice for the new ad because he’s a genuine football fan, and the ad uses that as a launch point – he’s furious at the idea his beloved Eagles only won the Super Bowl as a way of selling food.

Cooper begs the NFL board to deny the conspiracy, but instead they laugh him out of the boardroom because, let’s face it, football and food do go together. Game night snacks and pizza parties are as much of an American tradition as gridiron itself.

This is what makes the campaign so clever. Of course Uber Eats – the NFL’s official delivery partner – want to use football to sell food! Rather than try and be high minded and celebrating the game, or the social elements of football, they’re leaning in with a wink and a smile and admitting their commercial motives.

It’s a kind of brazen honesty which makes the ad feel funny and refreshing and helps it stand out amongst a host of ads which try and paper over their money-making aims. And it’s a very 2020s ad, with Americans all too used to a swirl of conspiracies, brand scandals and boardroom denials. Cooper gets to bring his presence, charisma and real love of football to a confident and distinctive piece of work.

In our Test Your Ad platform, ordinary viewers agree. The ad scores a strong 4.0-Star Rating, putting it in the top 6% of food delivery ads for predicted long-term effectiveness. The ad also scores above the norm on our short-term metrics (Spike Rating and Brand Fluency) but it’s this brand building element that really stands out. It uses one relationship – between football and food – to cement the commercially vital one between the NFL and Uber Eats.

With two successful ads, will Uber Eats stick with the ‘conspiracy’ campaign, or will they feel the joke and idea have run its course. Our work on creative consistency – soon to be showcased in our The Creative Dividend report with Effie – suggests they should think seriously about keeping the idea alive. It’s already a strong campaign, particularly when it comes to brand building effects. The profit multiplier for long-term creative campaigns can be huge, but our it really begins to kick in from the second year on. Uber Eats should resist untangling the food and football conspiracy just yet.