Building Brand Conversation: DoorDash’s World Cup Playbook

Taste is the new social currency. In an age of mass ads fed to viewers every few posts and overused trends that rarely feel unique, original content is vital to stand out in everyday moments, let alone during culture-driven moments like the World Cup.

 

That’s why major brands like DoorDash are willing to go big on the moment. This year’s tournament brought millions of eyes to the screen and for the delivery app, that meant playing its part. The team had a simple brief: “DoorDash fuels the frenzy in the background for the avid World Cup fan.” Their goal as a team was loftier. According to Head of Social Zaria Parvez, it was to have “#1 SOV against World Cup sponsors that spend 600x more than DoorDash.” A goal like that demands the brand come to play. One of the most effective ways to do that is by creating friction and tension meant to spark conversation.

 

For DoorDash, that started early in the tournament with a campaign led by Zlatan Ibrahimović and a call to all DashPass members to get their share of $5 million in-app credits. While the $5 million was nothing to ignore, what followed the announcement is what really got people talking about DoorDash.

 

Next, a World Cup ticket giveaway with a direct tie-in to the game and a great opportunity for their audiences. But, what got people talking was whether the message it helped amplify was cheeky or a bit tone-deaf. The campaign was led by Brooklyn Beckham, yes, the eldest son of famous footballer David Beckham, who made it painfully clear that there’s tension in the family when he said, “You’re probably wondering why I’m watching the FIFA World Cup from home…It’s a long story.” DoorDash took a risk. Whether or not it was in good taste it got people talking and motivated their audience to open the app to redeem tickets.

 

But, what if a brand tries to tell a story that clearly blurs the lines or even violates FTC rules? Well, DoorDash wasn’t done yet. What started as a “fun” coincidence turned out to be a fully-staged stunt and an undisclosed ad. DoorDash had been live-tweeting moments on X/Twitter and in an attempt to celebrate a New Zealand game, tweeted @TPAIN which at first appeared to be an “honest” mix-up between the famous rapper and the team’s Tim Payne. One tweet could be an accident, but another, and then another, started to look intentional, as seen in the back-and-forth between the rapper and the brand account.

 

The stunt got a ton of coverage across social and PR. Following the exchange, a “reveal” from T-Pain as a #doordashpartner drew nearly 50 million views across their own social platforms.

 

Some praised it. Some called it out. But, at the end of the day it got people talking about the brand and how it was showing up for its audience in big-game moments.