The Latest: DoorDash goes hard on Muppet nostalgia

Super Bowl ad DoorDash went hard on nostalgia, enlisting Sesame Street’s Muppets to convey the message that DoorDash can deliver goods from local stores, not just restaurants

Super Bowl Ads

The latest news on Super Bowl commercials. (All times EST.)

___

6:00pm

Super Bowl ad DoorDash went hard on nostalgia enlisting Sesame Street’s Muppets to convey the message that DoorDash can deliver goods from local stores not just restaurants. “Hamilton” actor Daveed Diggs gives the ad some pizazz, with a peppy version of the children’s song “People in Your Neighborhood,” that morphs into a rap.

DoorDash is one of more than 20 first-time Super Bowl advertisers this year, and takes the plunge after benefiting from a shift toward home delivery while people hunkered down at home during the pandemic. DoorDash’s first-quarter ad enlisted the help of characters including Cookie Monster, Big Bird and Grover to try to convey the message that DoorDash can be used to pick up local store items like paper towels.

The ad is directed by “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” director Michel Gondry.

“Over the past year we’ve expanded our business into new categories,” said DoorDash’s vice president of marketing, Kofi Amoo-Gottfried. “It made sense to use the Super Bowl as a moment to start communicating this message given the scale of the audience we have the ability to speak to.”

It’s not the first time Diggs has worked with Muppets -- he appeared in Sesame Street sketches in 2017.