Uber Eats’ Super Bowl ad to star Charli XCX, Martha Stewart and Matthew McConaughey

Uber Eats is returning to the Super Bowl with a spot that will build on ads that are already running—those starring Matthew McConaughey and his conspiracy theory that football is meant to sell consumers food. McConaughey will be joined in the Big Game spot by two other celebrities: Martha Stewart and pop star Charli XCX. The 60-second Super Bowl spot, once again from Special Group U.S., was directed by O Positive’s Jim Jenkins. It’s the delivery brand’s fifth consecutive Super Bowl commercial. “The Super Bowl plays perfectly into our concept—the inextricable link between football and food,” said Danielle Hawley, global executive creative director at Uber. “Creatively we saw a lot of joy from the ‘Football is for Food’ campaign. We wanted to capitalize on that and bring it all together.” “The original brief was around cravings,” added Kelsey Hodgkin, CEO and partner of Special Group. “We spent time thinking about what drives cravings, and it’s often subliminal, sometimes irrational. But there was this leap to how there are so many food references in football—scrambles, turnovers, some players’ names.” An ongoing campaign shows McConaughey with San Francisco 49er Christian McCaffrey, who wonders why he is still hungry. McConaughey explains that it’s because he is watching football. “The whole thing is basically an elaborate scheme to make you buy more food,” McConaughey says, pointing to football phrases such as “turnovers,” “pancake blocks,” “scrambles” and the “feed me” hand gesture some players make after scoring a touchdown. His theory seems to be proven when NFL legend Jerry Rice sits down with a to-go container of rice. Uber Eats began teasing the Super Bowl ad with videos starring McConaughey, Stewart and Charli XCX that will run on linear TV, social media and digital. In one, Stewart and Charli XCX play on the TikTok trend “We listen and we don’t judge,” which involves couples admitting something bad or weird that they do. Stewart says she thought Charli XCX’s name was the WiFi password; Charli XCX says she thought Stewart, the food entrepreneur, was catering the shoot. Another clip features Stewart and Charli XCX participating in the “This and Yap” TikTok trend, which typically shows women at a restaurant putting down their purses and phones before cutting to shots of their drinks, dinner, and dessert—implying a girls' night filled with gossip or catching up. Stewart and Charli XCX set down green bedazzled Uber Eats purses, chips and dip and a club sandwich, caviar and champagne. One shows McConaughey mimicking former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka, while another has McConaughey explaining how even Super Bowl LIX’s Roman numerals sound like “licks” and that the game is being played in the Caesars (salad) Superdome. Another features Charli XCX explaining football in club terms—the quarterback is the DJ and a defensive lineman is like a bouncer. Uber Eats has a history of using multiple celebrities in its Super Bowl ads. Last year’s spot showed celebrities being forgetful to convey that in order to remember Uber Eats delivers an array of items, consumers have to forget something else. Jennifer Aniston forgot she worked with “Friends” co-star David Schwimmer; the Beckhams forgot that Victoria was a part of the Spice Girls; country music artist Jelly Roll forgot he has face tattoos; and Usher forgot that he just played the halftime show. Uber Eats caught some flack after the ad, released before the game, included a man forgetting that peanuts were in peanut butter, leading him to have an allergic reaction. The company cut that part of the ad before airing it during the Big Game. Diddy starred in Uber Eats’ 2023 ad making a song to promote its UberOne membership. The year prior, Uber Eats had another star-studded ad with Jennifer Coolidge, Nicholaus Braun, Gwenyth Paltrow and Trevor Noah eating household items, to hammer home that Uber Eats delivers more than just food. In 2021, the brand tapped into Wayne’s World and Cardi B to spotlight local restaurants. UberEats will once again have some competition in the Big Game. DoorDash’s Super Bowl ad, from Wieden+Kennedy Portland, will focus on DashPass, the delivery service’s subscription option that provides unlimited free delivery on eligible orders from thousands of restaurants, grocery stores and other retailers. Uber Eats’ third-quarter delivery revenue rose 18%.

Uber Eats’ Super Bowl ad to star Charli XCX, Martha Stewart and Matthew McConaughey

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