Behind Instacart’s ‘bananas’ Super Bowl ad

Sometimes the obvious answer is the right answer. Case in point: If you’re making an ad about bananas, that ad should probably be, well, bananas.

That’s what the team behind Instacart’s second consecutive Super Bowl ad was thinking when they cooked up a 30-second spot that will air during the first quarter of the game. The ad, starring Ben Stiller and Benson Boone as a faux-’80s Europop duo, finds Stiller jockeying for attention after Boone lands one of his signature flips all while the pair sing a tune about how “Instacart lets you choose your bananas.” (Yes, those are the actual lyrics.)

“People watch it and they’re like, ‘That was bananas,’ and we’re like, ‘Yep, bananas, just how you like,’” Laura Jones, Instacart CMO, told Marketing Brew. “We love the double entendre of the comedy and kind of zaniness of it being bananas, but then also hitting the nail on the head. This is really just an ad about bananas.”

The wacky concept serves as a way for Instacart to communicate a new offering called Preference Picker, which allows customers to select additional details about the products they want delivered to them. And bananas are Instacart’s “most-commented” and “most-sold item,” per Jones, with 1.8 billion bananas sold and 32 million notes about how people want their bananas.

“If we can get the banana right and people can trust us to get them their perfect banana, then that is a really good indicator that we can be trusted to get your whole order right,” Jones said, adding that the tool will allow people to share their preferences in a more structured manner than the existing Notes function.

By using an original song (perhaps you might even call it a jingle), the hope was to create an “earworm,” Jones said.

Instacart is one of a number of delivery services that will air a spot during the Big Game this year as the category continues to prioritize the Super Bowl, often aiming to make a splash with top-tier talent. Uber Eats will return to the broadcast again this year, tapping stars Matthew McConaughey and Bradley Cooper, as well as new addition Parker Posey, for a series of teasers leading up to the ad’s official release. Meanwhile, Grubhub will make its debut with indie director Yorgos Lanthimos at the helm. (DoorDash, though, is sitting this one out.)

Behind the music ad: Stiller and Boone aren’t the only big-name talent behind the Instacart spot. The delivery app nabbed director Spike Jonze to direct his first Super Bowl spot in over 20 years, as well as cinematographer Autumn Arkapow, who is nominated for an Oscar this year for her work on Best Picture nominee Sinners, and choreographer Robbie Blue, who was behind the dance moves for last year’s viral Gap ad with KATSEYE.

The company has also released a long-form director’s cut of the ad, which builds on the story and comes in at two minutes and 30 seconds. The company was confident in releasing the extended cut because of the talent behind the spot; “Spike came in and really added to the narrative universe,” Jones said.

As part of the universe-building, Instacart also rolled out two teasers ahead of the game from the shoot. All of the spots feature Boone and Stiller as the Europop duo and have a vintage look and feel to them. While the ads were shot digitally, the look is thanks to the use of vintage tube cameras.

Instacart’s in-house agency, Local Produce, worked with Omnicom agencies BBDO and McCann for the campaign. Initially, Instacart had planned to work with FCB, but had to rework those plans following Omnicom’s completed acquisition of IPG, a reminder of the various ripple effects the megamerger has had on the industry.

“For a minute, we were like, ‘Who is the agency?’” Jones said. “But the way we’re framing it is, it’s a collaboration between Local Produce, McCann and BBDO. And we are super grateful, because [McCann global CEO Tyler Turnbull] assured us when that happened that they would keep the team together and finish the campaign. And they have, and it’s been amazing.”