This Much I Learned: Just Eat’s Matt Bushby on going with your gut
In the latest episode of Marketing Week’s podcast series, Just Eat UK marketing director Matt Bushby explains how the food delivery giant used a combination of gut feel and data to navigate the challenges of Covid-19, as orders surged and the brand’s Euro 2020 sponsorship was put on ice.
Just Eat has described 2020 as an ‘exceptional’ year for the business, which saw the UK team service 179 million orders, a rise of 35% on 2019.
This growth shows no sign of stopping. During the first two months of 2021, Just Eat’s UK orders rose by 88% and deliveries were up more than 600% compared to the same period last year.
Fuelled by partnerships with the likes of McDonald’s and an exclusive deal with bakery Greggs, Just Eat’s growth has in large part been driven by marketing. The company ramped up investment across both brand and performance marketing, joining forces with rap superstar Snoop Dogg on the high-profile ‘Did Somebody Say Just Eat?’ campaign. Upon launch the campaign delivered more than 90% positive sentiment on social media, a standout result for the marketing team.
Despite the record performance, the past year has not been without its challenges. The brand worked hard to balance consumer demand with the capabilities of the restaurant supply chain during the early days of the crisis, while negotiating the cancellation of Euro 2020 – of which Just Eat was a tournament sponsor – and taking the decision to pause the Snoop Dogg campaign launch in order to gauge the national mood.
In this podcast, UK marketing director Matt Bushby discusses why a combination of gut feel and data helped his marketers make decisions that have resulted in what he describes as their best work to date, despite the team not being able to physically meet up for over a year.
From opening up about mental health issues to closing the career confidence gap, you can listen to previous episodes of Marketing Week’s This Much I Learned podcast on iTunes, Soundcloud and Spotify.
