DoorDash’s CMO isn’t afraid to take risks—as long as it gets people excited about delivery

The Super Bowl is known for its ambitious ads, which represent the most enterprising work of America’s chief marketing officers. Even inthat context, DoorDash CMO Kofi Amoo-Gottfried’s concept for the 2024 telecast stood out. The commercial took the brand’s longtime business proposition that you can DoorDash just about anything and offered fans a chance to win every single other product advertised during the Super Bowl—delivered via DoorDash, of course.

Working with the agency Wieden+Kennedy, Amoo-Gottfried and his team somehow made it happen. Getting fans excited about a giveaway is easy, but coordinating agreements with 76 other Super Bowl advertisers isn’t. The sheer logistics of the stunt made it a groundbreaking achievement in the field and DoorDash’s riskiest branding work thus far. But Amoo-Gottfried sees these kinds of swings as essential to staying relevant.

“The biggest risk is getting ignored,” he says. “We want to make things that people will talk about, and that requires being able to push the edges to find interesting things that people aren’t talking about.”

He’s found those edges before. In 2023, after the phrase “Taco Tuesday” stopped being copyright protected and became free for all to use, DoorDash partnered with Taco Bell to celebrate by delivering customers $5 million worth of free tacos from 20,000 restaurants across the country in one day. And this fall, DoorDash introduced fans to the warmer side of former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, with a new series of ads starring the NFL legend in his first-ever brand campaign.

“We try to stay away from things that are trending for the sake of trending, because once that happens, the conversation is already over,” Amoo-Gottfried says. “We’re much more interested in how we can create a new conversation.”

This story is part of Fast Company’s 2024 Brands That Matter. Explore the full list of honorees that have demonstrated a commitment to their brand’s purpose and cultural relevance to their audience. Read more about the methodology behind the selection process.