[ad_1]
Delivery service DoorDash first shared the ambitious concept for its Super Bowl commercial in late January, unveiling in an ADWEEK exclusive its plan to deliver an item from every ad in the game to one lucky winner.
The audacity of the campaign—yes, that means giving away multiple cars and a $50,000 down payment on a new house, among other prizes—was matched only by the sheer volume of logistics it entailed.
For one, there are the legal considerations. DoorDash cannot, for various reasons, give away alcohol, insurance or sportsbook bets, according to its chief marketing officer Kofi Amoo-Gottfried.
But more pressing was the need to communicate with, and ideally get buy-in from, every other brand airing a Super Bowl commercial.
DoorDash had already secured support from about 20 brands prior to launching the campaign on Jan. 30, but in the two weeks between the announcement and the game, it needed to get in touch with the rest.
“It has been stressful,” said Amoo-Gottfried. “There is a lot of ambiguity. This is not one of those things where we know exactly what is going to happen every step of the way. We had to be malleable, because we were building this plane as we flew it.”
Getting brand buy-in
DoorDash does not technically need approval from the brands to send the sweepstakes winner a gift from those companies, according to Amoo-Gottfried.
But it does need buy-in to feature the brands on its microsite, doordash-all-the-ads.com, as well as to involve them in social media promotions, which have been critical to building awareness for the campaign prior to the big game.
Amoo-Gottfried and the DoorDash team had hoped that the campaign and the buzz surrounding it would entice other brands to get involved, and it has. Immediately after the details of the sweepstakes emerged, interest from brands like Booking.com, Etsy and e.l.f. Cosmetics came pouring in.
