Uber Eats Reveals Football’s Dark Food Secrets

Uber Eats

Football is for Food

4.0

Uber Eats has a track record of making inventive, slightly edgy ads which get the most out of the top-tier celebrities and actors who star in them. And their latest effort, made with agency Special, pushes the envelope again, with actor Matthew McConaughey presenting a fully-fledged (and hilarious) football conspiracy theory.

McConaughey’s big idea is this: what if football is just a conspiracy to sell you food? His co-star, 49ers star Christian McCaffrey, complains of being hungry – but according to McConaughey, that’s exactly what Big Food wants. Everything from the gestures to signal plays to the very language of the game (like “turnover” and “scrambles”) is a plot to get you hungry. “Refrigerator Perry wasn’t his real name”, McConaughey tells McCaffrey, in the knowing tone of a guy who’s got it all figured out.

McConaughey’s acting skills help sell the concept of the ad – anyone who’s inadvertently triggered someone’s big conspiracy ideas in a bar will know his type exactly. And unlike plenty of real life conspiracy cranks, there’s nothing harmful about the ideas McConaughey is pushing. In fact, he’s onto something – this is an Uber Eats commercial, after all…

It’s an original, funny and relatable idea for an ad and strange enough to be memorable, with a good joke at the end involving a cameo from Jerry Rice. The facial expressions, gestures, and general human connection between McConaughey and his co-star is what makes the ad appealing to the connection-spotting right side of the brain (very helpful in building long-term effectiveness). And for all its cleverness, the ad works just fine as a branding exercise, with an Uber Eats delivery bag discreetly placed at the centre of the whole conversation.

So how does it score with the general public? As an entertaining, emotional ad, it’s a hit, with a 4.0-Star Rating pointing to strong potential for long-term share gain (given the right investment). But that strong branding – and the ad’s ability to bring on those hunger pangs – shines through in Exceptional ratings for both short-term Spine Rating and for Brand Fluency.

That’s an excellent result all around for Uber Eats, which will be running this ad across Game Nights this season, and will be looking for (and getting) some strong short-term sales impacts. But the ad will also help the brand in the long term – the latest in its series of smart, funny commercials which respect viewers’ intelligence and aren’t afraid to try different ideas.

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