Uber announced it would be advertising at the biggest television event of the year, just like DoorDash, and pulling on some nostalgic heartstrings.
The company announced it bought an ad spot in which Wayne’s World stars Mike Meyers and Dana Carvey embark on a mission to support local restaurants. The ad highlights Uber’s new, $20 million program to support independent restaurants over the next six months. The program includes $4.5 million in micro grants to restaurants in major metro areas, in-app donation options with Uber matching and other support initiatives like free delivery from independent restaurants.
The program also waives fees for restaurants using pickup or via their own websites and will remove any fee to receive daily payouts. All of those changes last through July of this year.
National Restaurant Association President Tom Bené said it was a nice lifeline.
“Restaurants continue to face unprecedented challenges this winter. Uber’s support underscores the importance of the entire restaurant and foodservice industry working together as one to advance our recovery efforts,” said Bené. “These microgrants will help independent restaurants stay open and continue serving their customers and their communities.”
It’s not the only third-party platform at the big game. As we reported in last week’s Food On Demand newsletter, DoorDash announced it was going to have a Super Bowl ad spot featuring all manner of muppets from Sesame Street. The company also announced it would donate $1 to the educational media non-profit Sesame Workshop for every order on Super Bowl Sunday (February 7) up to $1 million.
Both ads come after a windfall year for delivery companies who are putting some of that cash toward the biggest-budget marketing out there for the first time. Both are using it to drum up some goodwill, as well. Neither Grubhub or Postmates (which was acquired by Uber) will be featured during the big game. The former had a pre-game ad spot back in 2015.
Check out the Uber commercial teaser below:
