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Just Eat launched a new campaign featuring cuddly friends who look like they belong in a Wes Anderson film.
That's because they do. Kind of.
The mascots of Just Eat's campaign were created by the same studio that worked on Fantastic Mr. Fox and Isle of Dogs.
They appear in nine (that's right, nine!) ads, each one featuring a different set of characters telling us about a time when they like to order something from Just Eat.
Here are a few of them:
I've stolen a bit of language from Geoffrey Moore's book, "Crossing the Chasm". Your beachhead is your market entry point - the group of people with the most acute problem that you can solve better than anything else they've got. For Just Eat, this was the weekend delivery market. This wasn't just their beach head - practically all delivery apps are more successful here, all solving the problem of easily scrolling through food options and picking your favourite when you want a takeaway at the end of the week.
But that beachhead was claimed years ago. Ever since, Just Eat and their rivals have wanted to claim more of your delivery moments, and more of your cash. So recognising the rise in other delivery moments, and faced with a hotly competitive market, Just Eat launched this campaign to get people to order groceries, breakfast, weeknight dinners and everything else in between.
It's best heard in the endlin of each of the ads.
"For ________, and everything else... did somebody say Just Eat"
(Replace ________ with whatever occasion that particular spot is focusing on).
It's a simple idea, and a simple line. Whether or not it works, you can't fault the clarity with which the campaign tries to expand the brand's beachhead.
This ad is pure social proof.
Each of the fuzzball characters were built based on research done by Just Eat and their agency. The moments they order in, too. That means families ordering extra groceries when their kids "eat them out of house and home." That means a woman ordering some McDonald's breakfast when her husband does the school run.
These are real stories of real people. It doesn't matter that they're niche and specific. Because that's the point. That's how social proof works.
Social proof is a phenomenon where people copy the actions of others because they believe that, because others do it, it's the "right" way to behave in a specific situation.
It happens all the time. It happens when you join in applause at the end of a concert (that you didn't actually know had ended because you're not a classical music boff). It happens when you see two coffee shops next door to each other, and inexplicably join the one with the longer queue.
So it doesn't matter if you don't have a husband. Or kids. That execution is trying to get you to think that, when you're at home and hungry in the morning, you could just order a Sausage and Egg McMuffin from Just Eat.
We talk about this in nearly every campaign we feature.
But it's not our fault that beautifully-made campaigns keep getting produced.
At least half of the Briefly team will tell you that Fantastic Mr. Fox is one of their all-time favourite movies. But these ads are more than just rip-offs. They're delightful, charming, all of that good stuff.
Plus, they're not navel-gaze-y. When the essential insight is that people order from Just Eat in all sorts of ways, it could be easy to make these ads all about Just Eat. "We have breakfast, we have lunch, we have Monday guilty snacks!" Instead, these are pleasant little tales of home life, with some product placement at the end. And we love that.
This is the Briefly Breakdown, a weekly series where we take a look at the strategy behind the latest and greatest work in the industry. Check back here for more insights to come.
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