Client: Grubhub
College students spend $40 billion annually on food, and delivery habits form with the independence of college life. Win a student, and they tend to remain loyal for at least the next decade of adult life. So every year, the first term is like a battleground state, with all delivery companies competing through money-off discounts and incentives. DoorDash dominates with 67% market share. Uber Eats commands massive advertising budgets across TV, social media, and influencer campaigns. As a challenger brand, Grubhub is severely outspent by competitors investing billions in aggressive promotional warfare. In 2024, Grubhub challenged us to find a new way to cut through and drive uptake of the Grubhub+ Student loyalty program—a membership that's free for all during all of college. The problem? Many students had no idea it existed. And those who did questioned whether Grubhub had good deals, relevant selection, or was even "a brand for people like me." We couldn't out-spend the competition. We needed to out-think them.
