Dissecting Deliveroo's Brand Update
Instacart + Camping World, Momofuku Ko closes, patent activity plummets
Quick — which food delivery platform is a “house for teal”? If you answered Deliveroo, then its brand refresh is already working! We’ve also got an important new partnership between Instacart and Camping World, some major moves by Chef David Chang’s Momofuku group and some data on patents. Let’s get to it!
This week’s edition is brought to you by Cambridge Mobile Telematics.
Today:
Deliveroo Doubles Down on Teal
lnstacart Goes Camping
Chart Time | Patents Still Pending
End of an Era for David Chang
ADS | Deliveroo Refreshes Its Branding
With the company turning ten, worldwide food delivery player Deliveroo decided it was time to freshen up its branding. The company opted for an evolution, not a revolution, as it pushes its disparate international arms to better adhere to brand guidelines that hadn’t been updated in seven years. Fear not, the company isn’t ditching its iconic kangaroo “Roo Head” mascot, nor its teal color palette, created by London-based branding agency DesignStudio (which has done work for iconic groups like Airbnb and British Airways.) Instead it’s built upon the familiar brand elements it already has — better defining the palette, updating its icons, and formulating new rules for when to use different logo / color elements.
The Big Picture: Strong branding is a critical tool in any commodity business, giving customers a reason to remember your brand over that of your competition. Think about how in the wireless service space Verizon is a bold red, T-Mobile a vibrant pink and AT&T a cool blue. The same rules apply to food delivery — Uber is black, DoorDash is red, Just Eat Takeaway and its subsidiaries like Grubhub are Orange, Wolt is blue, etc. Delivery companies also have the advantage that they are very visible brands — you see the big insulated bag on the back of the courier, the sticker on the restaurant door, the app icon on your phone. Maximizing the impact those impressions make can mean all the difference in which platform a customer chooses when they have multiple ways to get the same service.
PARTNER | Save Money and Make Drivers Safer
Auto insurance is the top expense for rideshare companies. Last year, Lyft attributed 90% of its $730M cost of revenue increase to insurance. One insurance carrier doubled its annual premium written for Uber.
To help reduce insurance costs, companies are turning to telematics. They’re making drivers safer through real-time feedback. They’re also rewarding their safest drivers.
3PD | Instacart Partners with Camping World
Instacart has a new retail partner: Camping World. The Illinois-based company is bringing its 185 stores into the Instacart same-day delivery network, giving customers access to 1,800 products. Camping World is the country’s largest RV dealer, but sadly you can’t get one of those delivered yet — instead this means on-demand access to camping items like outdoor chairs, mosquito repellent, generators and tents, as well as very RV-specific items like fuses, sewer hoses, and scaled down appliances. Camping World has a footprint in 43 states (looks like Vermont is too hippy dippy to appreciate the majestic beauty of a giant RV.)
The Big Picture: This is a big coup for Instacart, as the 3PD has not done as much to branch out of its grocery sweet-spot as competitors like DoorDash and Uber have done to broaden their offerings beyond restaurants. Uber of course ran its “Don’t Eats” campaign during the 2022 Super Bowl — showing celebs delighting in the taste of kitty litter and light bulbs. DoorDash offers delivery for Spirit Halloween, Sephora, Petco, Finish Line and more. While Instacart does offer a few non-food brands like Michaels and Staples, this partnership is perhaps its biggest leap out of the grocery category.
CHART TIME | Patent Filing Falls
GlobalData has charted out the invention activity in the foodservice ecommerce space, and it looks like it’s been a tough few quarters for new ideas. Both patent filings and grants are down in Q3; of those that are still inventing, the largest patent filers are Panasonic, Sony, Avery Dennison, Alphabet and Grab. 63% of global patents for the sector happened in the United States.
BRANDS | David Chang Shuttering Momofuku Ko
Celebrity Chef David Chang’s Momofuku empire is retrenching, as his flagship Momofuku Ko restaurant is set to close next week; another kitchen of his — Ssäm Bar — already shuttered last month. It isn’t necessarily that Chang and company have run out of cash — last month the group closed a $11.5 million funding round from Alliance Consumer Growth and Siddhi Capital — but that the food world has evolved. When Momofuku opened twenty years ago, it quickly become a smash hit for bringing California-casualness to NYC’s more self-serious fine dining space. The New York Times gave his first spot a review after about two years of operations, and Ko earned its Michelin stars back in 2009.
The Big Picture: So if the money isn’t being used to keep fine dining afloat, what’s it good for? Going mass market, evidently. While Chang’s media arm now reaches millions of people via Ugly Delicious, Secret Chef and the Dave Chang Show, he looks to be making food with almost as big a reach as his digital productions. His Fuku fried chicken chain tried to go nationwide with ghost kitchens and dining halls, but has since retrenched to just serving Manhattan office drones. His consumer line Momofuku Goods has perhaps seen more success, it sells Chang’s Chili Crunch and packs of instant noodles at 3,500 locations, including Target and Whole Foods.
A Few Good Links
Taco Bell teams up with Revolution Carts to bring back LA’s street vending market. NYT has a fun, interactive game on the complexity of restaurant reservations. Takeaways from the HNGRY Summit. Pearl Street Equity acquires Mrs. Fields, TCBY franchisor. Instacart rolls out holiday updates to FoodStorm order management platform. Zaxby’s offers boneless chicken BOGO promo for Halloween — seems like the holiday should be more about food *with* bones, no? ALDI releases 350 holiday items. Klarna payment employees may strike. PopUp Bagels raises $8M. Uber and Waymo launch in Phoenix. UPS buys reverse logistics player Happy Returns.
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