Grubhub Super Bowl Ad: Key Findings
Campaign Snapshot
Grubhub is making its Super Bowl debut with two firsts.
George Clooney's first Big Game appearance and an Oscar-nominated director behind the camera.
The brand's 30-second spot, "The Feest", stars Clooney announcing that Grubhub will eliminate delivery and service fees on restaurant orders over $50.
Created by Anomaly and directed by Oscar-winning Yorgos Lanthimos, the offer launched ahead of the game and claims to save frequent delivery users an estimated $675 annually based on average fees of $13 per order.
Marnie Kain, VP of Brand for Grubhub, breaks down the brand strategy behind the campaign:
"We’ve partnered with acclaimed director Yorgos Lanthimos to address the category’s biggest pain point through a bold, cinematic lens.
"This [spot] is the first step in a broader ambition to fundamentally change what people expect from delivery."
Grubhub positions the campaign as a brand reset, addressing delivery's biggest friction point through distinctive creative.
Voice of Reason at a Surreal Dinner Table
The spot shows a group of patrician-class characters sitting around a dining table inside a stately mansion.
After enjoying the spread, the group is presented with the final course, the fees.
View this post on Instagram
An argument erupts about who will "eat the fees" before a smartly dressed Clooney appears and utters, "Grubhub will eat the fees."
The phrase becomes a rallying cry at the table.
Lanthimos' trademark fisheye lens lends a surreal, funhouse effect to the spot, while the mansion location mirrors the settings from his popular films.
Lanthimos' Visual Signature
Hiring Lanthimos, who also directed Squarespace's Super Bowl ad this year, represents a departure from food delivery advertising conventions.
His films, including “The Favourite,” “The Killing of a Sacred Deer,” and “Poor Things,” are built around controlled compositions and unsettling pauses.
This sensibility rarely appears in performance-driven categories, where clarity and immediacy usually guide creative strategies.
The campaign will continue throughout the year across TV, digital, social, radio, influencer, cinema, and out-of-home channels.
Lanthimos’ involvement carries weight precisely because his style is so recognizable.
This gives Grubhub a more distinctive visual signature that audiences can recognize without explanation.
View this post on Instagram
Grubhub's approach offers three lessons for brands looking to build standout Super Bowl campaigns:
- Pair celebrity credibility with directorial vision: Clooney's first Big Game appearance gains weight through Lanthimos's distinctive aesthetic.
- Launch value propositions before broadcast: Going live with fee elimination ahead of the game lets consumers test the offer during Super Bowl gatherings.
- Use cinematic tension to dramatize pain points: Lanthimos's uncomfortable aesthetics around "who eats the fees" makes the category friction visceral.
When brands back disruption claims with actual value changes, their creative choices become proof.
Our Take: Does Clooney Plus Lanthimos Equal Trust?
I think Grubhub is counting on George Clooney's star power and Yorgos Lanthimos' visual strangeness to make fee elimination feel like a category transformation.
And I think this is a smart move on the brand's part.
Clooney brings decades of endorsement credibility, most recently with Nespresso, while Lanthimos' aesthetic makes the message feel truly memorable.
Wonder acquired Grubhub for $650 million in January 2025, and this campaign indicates the platform is reclaiming its position after losing market share to DoorDash and Uber.
Whether audiences will actually change their delivery habits remains to be seen, but I think that launching the offer before the broadcast suggests Grubhub wants performance data.
In other news, Instacart taps Spike Jonze to direct Ben Stiller and Benson Boone singing about bananas, leaning on comedy and music to keep grocery delivery in the Big Game conversation.
Brands pursuing bold creative resets need partners who understand when distinctive is better than safe.
Explore top creative agencies in our directory.
