“We think about our audience from a psychographic standpoint,” Jones said. “We think about people who are short on time— that’s our core audience. But we’re trying to open the aperture on that, since the challenge of being time-strapped applies to other folks as well.”
In 2021, Instacart had over $26 billion in grocery sales, up from $23 billion in 2020, according to eMarketer. It's estimated that sales could reach $30 billion in 2022. Earlier this month, Instacart filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to go public. But in March, the company slashed its own valuation by almost 40% to $24 billion.
It’s not clear whether celebrity grocery orders will attract new customers, but Jones is optimistic. “We’re still seeing effective returns on media investments and seeing strong traction,” she said. “We feel like this is a moment to lean forward.”
Instacart is also placing a full-page ad in the New York Times Sunday Edition ahead of Sunday’s VMAs. The campaign will also run on YouTube, social, podcasts and streaming audio, and streaming TV channels.