In today's fast-paced and ever-evolving world, brands have no time to rest on the laurels of their prior success. To stay ahead of the competition they must garner every possible insight from the performance of previous marketing campaigns and constantly evolve their media strategies to meet the shifting demands of modern consumer behavior. 

Ordering platform and delivery service, DoorDash has long advocated for pushing the boundaries of innovative marketing tactics and driving optimization to make the most out of its investments. Recently, DoorDash has extended its forward-thinking marketing tactics into the powerful medium of digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising.

DoorDash and DOOH: A Tasty Match

From data-driven audience targeting capabilities to contextually relevant media buying, DOOH advertising offers many unique benefits to marketers. DoorDash has recognized these advantages and as a result, has continued to invest in and experiment with DOOH as a premier channel to drive awareness and action from its target audience. 

“We've tested DOOH with Vistar for many quarters now and for many key moments. Vistar has helped us work through how an upper funnel channel such as DOOH can support us in more mid/down funnel metrics such as conversions, lift in consideration and intent, and site visits. Due to the success of DOOH through this consistent long-term testing, DoorDash is evaluating how to incorporate DOOH into an evergreen strategy.”
— Akriti Suri, Manager, Client Solutions at Kepler

Across its campaigns, DoorDash has developed an agile campaign strategy built on data-driven insights and strategic activation tactics, including:

• Tailored creative:

  DoorDash runs a variety of static and video ads with specialized creative messaging centered around authentic value propositions that DoorDash’s employment opportunities provide, such as the ease of signing up and immediate earning potential. 

  

• Geotargeting: 

  Utilizing Vistar’s programmatic technology, DoorDash strategically activates DOOH media within key DMAs and around relevant POIs, like college campuses, based on their specific campaign goals.

• Mid-campaign optimizations: 

  DoorDash leverages the flexibility of DOOH to adjust its media planning and buying tactics throughout its campaign flight, based on the number of active dashers in a given area. DoorDash is able to monitor the number of active Dashers in a given DMA and when Dasher numbers dip, they have the ability to increase DOOH budgets in those specific areas to spur sign-ups.

  “Leveraging DOOH for our Dasher recruitment initiatives has been highly successful. DOOH's flexibility and innovative capabilities have allowed us to optimize our campaign in real-time and effectively engage our target audience throughout the funnel.”
  — Akriti Suri, Manager, Client Solutions at Kepler

• Contextual relevance:

  DoorDash programmatically purchases both large-format screens and place-based DOOH screens spanning many different media owner networks across venues like airports, bus shelters, malls, train stations, gyms, universities and gas stations. This allows DoorDash to reach potential Dashers at multiple touchpoints throughout their daily routines and consistently keep the brand top of mind.

  
  
  

• Omnichannel alignment:

  DoorDash leverages Vistar’s device ID passback solution to understand who was exposed to its DOOH ads and retarget those audiences across additional media channels. This allows DoorDash to re-engage its target consumers and set up sequential touchpoints with those who have already had an interaction with its campaign. 

How DoorDash Measures DOOH Success

For years, the in-depth measurement capabilities of DOOH have allowed brands to gain insight into campaign performance and identify opportunities to improve future initiatives. To understand the impact of DOOH media on Dasher sign-ups, DoorDash utilizes Vistar’s partnership with leading measurement providers to conduct brand lift and/or online conversion studies across their out-of-home campaigns. 

• Brand Studies: Brand studies measure lift in brand metrics such as awareness, consideration, purchase intent and brand favorability driven by verified DOOH campaign exposure. DoorDash uses brand lift studies to understand its brand health and evaluate the performance of its DOOH campaigns against consideration and intent to sign up as a Dasher. 

• Online Conversion Studies: Web attribution studies help brands measure the effectiveness of DOOH campaigns across a variety of online KPIs after campaign exposure. DoorDash leverages these studies to understand online conversion metrics like website visits and Dasher sign-ups as a result of consumers seeing its DOOH ads. 

DoorDash's Commitment to Driving Results

Throughout its several campaigns, DoorDash has seen tremendous success in both increasing consideration and intent to sign up as a result of its continued dedication to optimization and investment in an iterative DOOH strategy. All of DoorDash’s hard work has also not gone unnoticed. In fact, its 2022 “Dash Course” campaign was nominated as a finalist in The Drum’s Digital Advertising Awards.

To learn more about DoorDash’s most recent DOOH initiative including tactics and the full campaign results, check out the case study below: