In this year’s Super Bowl, the Philadelphia Eagles fought to defend its record to clinch the championship during their rematch with the Kansas City Chiefs. Similarly, so will the team’s most famous superfan, Oscar-nominated actor Bradley Cooper, in his dogged defense against allegations that his beloved pastime is merely a ruse to sell food in the latest chapter of Uber Eats’ clever Football Is For Food saga.
This time, he’s hoping former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and Hall of Fame legend Troy Aikman and Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield join him in the fight.
The Silver Linings Playbook star, who introduced the Eagles onto the field during Super Bowl LIX, returns to the gridiron to enlist Aikman and Mayfield in debunking the (increasingly strong) conspiracy theory to no avail in two new hilarious spots developed in partnership with creative agency Special US.
In Player Names, Cooper pleads with the unmoved Aikman to convince the team’s owner, Jerry Jones, to stop recruiting players with food names to its roster, citing that in the past two years the team has had players named Cooks (Brandin), Bass (TJ), Lamb (CeeDee) and Redwine (Sheldrick), arguing that it’s less of a roster and more of “a three-course French dinner.”
In Celebration, Cooper unsuccessfully attempts to get Mayfield to quell his victory ritual of “baking” to dispel rumors he’s selling bread. The cheeky spot is a fun callback to Bradley’s Mission, the campaign’s first spot that launched at the start of the NFL season, in which Cooper lamented on how the alleged conspiracy — previously conjured up by fellow thespian Matthew McConaughey, which culminated in a star-studded Big Game spot — ruined “the greatest day of his life,” upon the galling suggestion his team won to sell “wings.”
“That was a joke that we wanted to make last year,” Special US CCO, Dave Horton, told Campaign, about the inspiration behind Player Names. “Not with Troy specifically, but the Cowboys’ roster. They had an insane roster last year. They had Sheldrick Redwine. They had two Cooks. They had CeeDee Lamb. They had TJ Bass. They had so many players with food names last year. And it was something that we kind of tried to work in, but just didn’t get to. So, taking that case directly to Troy Aikman, who you would imagine still has sway over the Cowboys, is one thing. And then [Celebration with] Baker Mayfield was another one that we talked about so much last year, and we just never got to do.”
The sharpness of the creative is being supported by equally sharp and strategic media placement. Player Names will be running during the Eagles matchup against the Cowboys and Celebration airing during the Buccaneers matchup against the Los Angeles Rams during the Sunday Night Football games lineup on November 23.
“We’re intentionally airing this next batch of spots during games that tie back to the talent — it naturally boosts the humor and adds extra fun and surprise for fans watching live,” Uber Eats head of marketing Georgie Jeffreys told Campaign.
Jeffreys says the spots deliver the same energy fans loved last year, while uncovering fresh and unexpected connections between food and football.
“We’re always interested in blurring the line, obviously, between the marketing and then what’s actually happening within the culture of the NFL,” said Horton. “It can get really interesting when we can actually influence how you’re seeing food show up within the game, when people are seeing those connections, or when we can kind of plant those things in real life.”
Horton says this year’s campaign stands out from its successful predecessor in that Cooper, who he praised as being a great sport and “fun to work with,” is calling out the absurdity of the conspiracy theory. He also noted that last year’s campaign, which entailed a dizzying amount of spots over the course of the season tying into the theme, were more oriented around specific retail partner offers, whereas this year’s will feature fewer spots that focus more on the brand’s NFL partnership.
“As the season wears on, [we’re thinking about] how we show up within the culture of the game and on the field and during the broadcast,” he said. “That’s something that we are continuing to play with, and especially as the season goes into the holidays and then into the playoffs. We’ll be continuing to push that narrative. You’ll see us popping up in pretty fun places that’s not just television commercials.”
Dining and Cooking