Issue #110 - Just Eat on TikTok

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Anthony McGuire

and

Simon Andrews

Oct 25, 2022

Welcome to Good TikTok Creative!

We are Simon Andrews and Anthony McGuire, two people who have been working in marketing, advertising, and media for decades.

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TikTok Case Study = Just Eat

Simon’s Take:

One of the few traditional campaigns to stand out recently has been Just Eat. They have built on a great line - Did Somebody Say Just Eat?

The breakthrough was the inspired casting of Snoop - an intriguing balance between the South Central ‘hood and Hackney Empire Pantomime. (Highly Recommended btw)

Now they have splashed the cash on Katy Perry, who has made the song her own with a lavish video - which they shared on TikTok.

The @JustEatUK post got only 63k views. But when JustEatIreland (@JustEatie) shared it (back in May) they got 2.3m views.

And their original sound has blown up - with over 14k videos full of people performing the song and having great fun doing so.

This sort of thing is gold. And JustEat seem to have done little to encourage it.

So it seems there is real potential to build on this. Especially as the UK activity is so low - just 60 videos using the sound.

We know the idea of having people perform to the song works - reducing the risk behind investing ad dollars to boost reach - and inspire more participation.

The marketing team need to do some outreach to the people behind the best videos and get permission for JustEat to repost as an ad. You could probably get away with a Just Eat Black Card or vouchers for collaborators - or you could really dial this up and have Katy Perry judge the best versions, with some money can’t buy prize.

With a proven concept, that is right on brand, there is so much potential for Just Eat to take this to the next level.

Anthony’s Take:

Katy Perry is a huge star, one of the world’s biggest. I’m not sure the terms of the deal between Just Eat and Katy Perry but to me, it looks like the brand is punching above their weight. A relationship with Katy Perry is likely not an inexpensive partnership. But what did Just Eat get out of it?

An original song, partially inspired by/remixing a Snoop Dogg song, that has lyrics tailored to Just Eat and directly reaching out to customers who are looking to order food. With lyrics like “want a curry in a hurry,” “a little sushi while I watch a movie,” “did somebody say Just Eat,” this song is trying to become THE Just Eat jingle. The video itself also looks high quality, with the sort of in-your-face visual aesthetic you expect to see in a Katy Perry music video.

In analyzing Just Eat’s decision, you must realize that they could have easily worked instead with a micro-influencer and created a completely different song. While Just Eat is not a tiny startup, they are definitely not a massive advertising giant like GM or P&G. The decision to work with someone like Katy Perry is a consequential part of the brand’s marketing spend and quite frankly - it’s a big gamble.

And they need to use that. Just Eat is likely extending this content partnership across other digital media channels and figuring out any other ways they can utilize Katy Perry for whatever activations they have agreed to in the contract.

The most important (subjective) test - is it a good song? Or could they have just paid someone else to do something just as good? Well so far, it looks like the song is resonating. Just Eat may not have yet racked up billions of views but Simon and I can see several people who have taken this song and remixed it themselves with their own video. The first video Simon and I stumbled upon was a group of students from UAL singing along and creating their own version of the video. That looked pretty organic and exactly the kind of demographic Just Eat would like to reach.

Just Eat has many competitor brands in the crowded food delivery market. But when you think of Deliveroo or Uber Eats, do you think about them having a song? This Just Eat song is stuck in my head now. And it didn’t require herculean amounts of creativity since the jingle is so much inspired by a famous Snoop Dogg song that I already know well. Out of all the ‘brand songs’ I have heard recently, this one sticks out as one of the best. And hopefully Just Eat can capitalize on that momentum in order to differentiate their offering.

There were rumours yesterday that TikTok may be banned soon by the US government? Let’s wait and see what happens but none of these were confirmed. And regardless of the actual outcome, the reality of the modern media-advertising industrial complex is that TikTok’s influence continues to grow.

Here’s an article from Digiday talking about agencies prioritizing the creation of TikTok-native content vs. Instagram/YouTube content and here’s an article from The Guardian profiling the rise of TikTok’s influence.

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