Grubhub has named UM as its U.S. media agency of record following a competitive review that was conducted internally. The incumbents were Dentsu, which previously handled out-of-home media, and Havas, which previously handled TV. Both defended the account. 

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The food delivery app was looking to consolidate its media advertising under one agency, according to Bridget Scanlan, director of marketing, omnichannel strategy for Grubhub, who joined the company seven months ago.

Evolving needs

“Our needs have evolved recently and what we were really looking for was holistic channel management and strategy,” Scanlan said. “We're having UM lead unique integration opportunities for us that could bring in television, digital, connected TV programmatics. [UM brought] that full vision down to the granular level of being able to provide investment decisioning that's best for our goals and being able to identify what should be our right channel mix. So [we chose the agency] for everything from those big ideas and the innovation that we saw in the review to the performance details that we need for channel investment planning.”

UM was also recently named global media AOR for Amsterdam-based Just Eat Takeway.com, which acquired Grubhub in 2020, Scanlan said. While both entities ended up with the same media agency partner, they conducted separate reviews independent of each other.

One of Grubhub’s biggest challenges moving forward will be the competitive online food delivery market. According to a January report by analytics company Bloomberg Second Measure, DoorDash controlled 58% of U.S. consumers’ meal delivery sales last year while Uber Eats came in second and Grubhub third. Moreover, fewer customers are loyal to one food delivery brand. According to the same report, in the fourth quarter of 2019, 59% of Grubhub’s customers didn’t use other meal delivery services; by the end of 2021 that number fell to 47%.

Grubhub has been increasing its advertising as of late. The meal service company spent $121.4 million on U.S. measured media in the first 11 months of 2021, up from $88.4 million in the first 11 months of 2020, a 37.3% rise, according to Kantar.

Emotional benefit

The brand is looking to stand out in this “commoditized and competitive category” in a couple of ways, Scanlan said. “One is just the overall functional benefits that Grubhub brings,” she said. “We launched this messaging in the summer with a Grubhub guarantee. So we are essentially putting our money where our mouth is. We guarantee on time-delivery; we guarantee that you receive the lowest price, or you receive a credit up to $10. That's something that none of our competitive set is currently offering. Second, what you're starting to see in the work Is that emotional benefit. So, standing out in the commoditized category by really focusing on the emotions that a meal brings to someone.”

To attain that emotional focus, last month Grubhub launched its “that Grubhub Feeling” campaign by Known. The media work for that campaign was initially handled by Havas and Dentsu and will be handled by UM moving forward.

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This is the latest win for Interpublic Group of Cos.' UM, which recently secured AOR duties for Enterprise, Tonal, Storck USA, Behr Paint and NYC & Company and successfully defended its H&M and Henkel accounts.