Episode 57 - LIVE! Just Eat Euros Ad Reviewed by Aunt Bessie's and MADE.com
For our latest episode, we’re throwing it back to those happy days full of anticipation just before the Euro 2020 tournament… with a live review of the Just Eat ad featuring - you guessed it! - a lot of football.
This episode was recorded at MAD//Fest London. We’re asking why Just Eat have chosen the cameos in this ad, whether too much is going on to even make out a call to action, and if it’s convincing enough to order our next takeaway from them.
See what our guests Lauren Spearman (Head of Social + Advocacy at MADE.com) and Sam Dolan (Head of Marketing at Aunt Bessie’s) thought about it.
Transcription
The following is an automated transcript of the file, which is not 100% accurate but will give you a good idea of what was discussed.
Tom Ollerton 0:43
Right, Lauren, you're sitting... You sat watching a football... This ad comes on, what's going on in your eyes?
Lauren Spearman 0:49
So before I answer this, I came on one of your very first episodes of Advertisers Watch Ads, and I absolutely slated the Just Eat ad with Snoop Dogg, and I very much eat my words on that because that like, that kind of, that ad stuck in my head for ages, and that like, "Did somebody say Just Eat?"
Tom Ollerton 1:08
Because, that's, that's voice still running...
Lauren Spearman 1:10
It sticks, like it really sticks.
Tom Ollerton 1:12
Yeah.
Lauren Spearman 1:12
So, I put I kind of think that was actually way more memorable than this. Like when I first watched this, first of all, I didn't realize that Just Eat had gone orange. I was like, "Is it something to do with... I thought it was something to do with sponsoring the Dutch football team. That was my birthday. I mean, I'm not a football fan. But, and then I, I was like, "I guess you totally get the, it's tied in with EUROs." I get it. I thought Eric Cantona was a bit of a strange choice. But that was mainly my perception of who I thought Just Eat would be targeting. I would imagine they're targeting a lot much younger audience. And therefore, is Eric Cantona a bit too old? I mean, he's not old but...
Tom Ollerton 1:51
How about you, Sam? Cantona, too old? Wrong choice? Good ad, bad ad?
Samantha Dolan 1:54
He clearly fallen on hard times, doesn't he? Virgil van Dyck, he pops up in it as well. And which again is... Two of my most favorite things in the world, football and takeaway, so this should be right on my street.
Tom Ollerton 2:08
And was it?
Samantha Dolan 2:08
And it is coming home people. So, it should be, but there's too much, there's just too much going on. For me, I think, I think if you take, you know, you sit in telly, you watching it you get that they sponsor the EUROs, it gets you fired up about the EUROs. It's a, it's it's a better run for me than the McDonald's one, actually. Because I guess it's talking about two things that appeal. But there's a lot of vignettes. There's a lot of stuff going on. I agree the Cantona thing is weird. The Virgil van Dyck thing is even weirder for me. I mean, I've, I've overthought this people, I know you shouldn't. But is it because he plays, he's Dutch? And they play in orange and just it's orange? I don't know. It's strange.
Tom Ollerton 2:49
No, you've got me thinking... Is some Dutch team tie up here? Now, I'm confused...
Samantha Dolan 2:53
There's also at the beginning, this, the players that come out, I've got names on their backs that don't... It kind of, I found myself overanalyzing and elevate, which I'm sure none of you would do. But I just, this is going to divide the room definitely. But for me, celebrity endorsement is the laziest form of advertising. I just, I think short term gain for potential long term. Eric, Eric Cantona could go out and do something ridiculous tomorrow. So, I'm not a massive fan of using celebrities in advertising.
Lauren Spearman 3:02
I feel like...
Samantha Dolan 3:25
There'll be some of you that are going, "You're wrong." But just my personal view.
Lauren Spearman 3:28
Eric Cantona is a bit like you have Vinnie Jones was a footballer, and is kind of actor. It's that kind of vibe of like, is he acting? Or is he himself? Which is this weird, like hybrid role that...
Samantha Dolan 3:37
It's just the whole... Yeah. It's not for me.
Tom Ollerton 3:41
And, what do you think about how... The majority of the EUROs ads that you've seen, because my take is that all these brands are getting great response for in the EUROs? We've got to do a football ad.
Samantha Dolan 3:53
Yeah.
Tom Ollerton 3:53
And so the, the delivery guy pedaling... Oh, and they make a transition across to someone running on the pitch. And then there's like a car ride where the wheels like a football. And it, I feel that almost people aren't marketing anymore, because everyone's doing a football translation. So when you're watching a football, and you see those ads, you see this, there's no standing out.
Lauren Spearman 4:14
It becomes a wallpaper, doesn't it? There's not, there's, there's no kind of original take on it. Like that, that could have been a lot stronger. To your point. I agree about the celebrity endorsement, why aren't they looking into like grassroots football or that kind of the people that are going to get...
Samantha Dolan 4:28
I think, I think, and you talked about the Snoop Dogg one. But I think what that did that this didn't despite the fact he was celebrity, it was showing you the kind of to get all marketing wanky on you for a minute. It was showing you the higher order benefit of the enjoyment of a takeaway, whereas that focuses more on the actual delivery of the takeaway which is not the sexy bit, right? The sexy bit is the, back to the McDonald's thing, the payoff, like when you get the way, when you get the takeaway and the footballs on and they would have been better starting with the Cantona delivery and then use it in a different way. Showing them, I don't know, everyone's a creative, right? But I, just focused on... We all know they deliver food.
Tom Ollerton 5:08
They've highlighted the delivery. Delivering a pizza, a bald dude on his own. He's...
Lauren Spearman 5:13
They've done a lot of like social cut downs and lots of like, videos... Had to look on Twitter and it's like, it, they've obviously got him which is great, but they I don't think they've utilized him all. There's no, it's just quite wooden, like they're deliv-- Like, it's just quite dry question...
Tom Ollerton 5:28
So what should they have done? What, what's your obvious improvement? What would have made this ad 50% better?
Lauren Spearman 5:33
Not having, not having Eric Cantona.
Tom Ollerton 5:35
Not having Cantona? Who would you hire at the ad?
Lauren Spearman 5:38
I probably will have someone like...
Samantha Dolan 5:39
That hurts me. I'm a ManU, you know, so that hurts me, but I agree with you.
Lauren Spearman 5:43
I think they could have like, I think they, like, I think they could have gone down the kind of Sunday football, you know, like five-a-side type, like, like real people. I don't think they needed that celebrity.
Samantha Dolan 5:54
The one thing now the restrictions are lifted, this EUROs is done for is, we can get back together and watch football. And I maybe would have focused on that as the payoff with a takeaway pizza rather than the build up to it being delivered.
Tom Ollerton 6:08
But does it really matter, right? If you've got a delivery ad before and during the football. Is that is that not enough? Just awareness, just to get people to think right, "I'm gonna go Just Eat... versus straight there.
Samantha Dolan 6:19
Absolutely.
Tom Ollerton 6:21
Is any ad a good ad at this stage?
Samantha Dolan 6:23
That sends us down a whole other rabbit hole of how a takeaway brand should use media versus, you know, what's your objective? We don't know what Just Eat's objective is. It might be exactly that. If it's brand fame, tick. It depends if there's a call to action, do you want somebody to go and do something from it, doesn't it?
Lauren Spearman 6:40
Whereas I think they're becoming a bit, I don't know, my take on it is like, they're becoming a bit of a forgettable takeaway service versus delivery. Delivery is the one that everyone's talking about, so maybe they have to do something like, get a big name into leverage of that.
Tom Ollerton 6:54
So, so what is the take out here? Like if you suddenly get jobs as the joint CMO of...
Samantha Dolan 7:00
I doubt after today...
Tom Ollerton 7:04
So, what would you be doing? So it's, it's the, it's the World Cup in two years, one year? I lost count of it. But what would be your approach to using a sponsorship and that's mostly cost them so much cash.
Samantha Dolan 7:17
Yeah.
Tom Ollerton 7:18
To be the delivery sponsor for the EUROs. What would you... How would you be briefing your teams to take advantage of something like that?
Lauren Spearman 7:24
I guess if they, if they want to go really specific as football like who are the emerging talent or who's the emerging players like not who, not who was great 30 years ago, 25 years ago.
Tom Ollerton 7:38
But is Canada like a sensible quite cheap choice? Because maybe they can't afford to spend 50 million on a sponsorship that they... There's not much spare change leftover.
Lauren Spearman 7:49
He's such a divisive character as well. It's you know, you do love him or hate him. It's a strange, strange choice. I don't think, I think Just Eat is a strong brand with a good story. I don't think they need that celebrity endorsement. I think the sponsorship, leveraging the sponsorship on its own is enough, and answered Lauren's point, you know, grassroots football get, you know...
Tom Ollerton 8:12
So, personal question. Tonight, football. Where you're going to get your takeaway from and who you're going to use to order it?
Samantha Dolan 8:20
Probably Deliveroo. Yeah, I'll be at home. I'm on a half full train to get back up to Yorkshire. I'm going 2 nil. 2 nil England.
Tom Ollerton 8:32
2 nil England?
Lauren Spearman 8:33
Funny enough, our delivery choice has been discussed in the family WhatsApp. We're going direct from Domino's.
Tom Ollerton 8:39
Direct from Domino's. Well, there you have it. Votes for anyone... Hands up if you'd like the Just Eat ad. We have a, we have a winner. McDonald's.
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