The relationship between consumers and brands is changing.
A report by IBM and the National Retail Federation revealed that Gen Z is much less likely than previous generations to develop attachments to brands — they’re skeptical and practical. What does create a bond with brands, though, is quality and authenticity. To be successful, a brand needs to make a genuine connection with its Gen Z audience through shared values, a clear mission and a sense of honesty.
Food delivery app GrubHub has this covered — their goal is to go beyond simple delivery.
“GrubHub is in the business of connection,” said Creative Director Stephanie Chin. “We know that any moment can be made better with food.”
Meanwhile, Codecademy is building connections by taking their marketing to places Gen Z already frequents and trying to make it resonate with them.
“We’re setting out to reach people in an engaging, memorable way,” said Robin Zucker, their chief marketing officer. “Whether that’s through our blog series about the 2000’s internet, timely memes on social media or livestreams.”
Built In NYC sat down with Chin and Zucker to learn more about their brand mission and pillars and how GrubHub and Codecademy convey those pillars to consumers.
How would you define your company’s brand, and what are the pillars that support that brand and differentiate your company from competitors?
As a tech brand, we know the competitive table stakes of speed, variety and price, and we’ll always be working to set the industry bar higher on those fronts. We see a lot of our competitors focusing solely on these functional aspects though, while also expanding into other categories. They’re really in the business of delivery, no matter what point A or B are.
We believe in the fundamental power of food to create meaningful connections — whether it’s providing you with your favorite order, introducing entrepreneurs to new customers or simply discovering unexpected flavors.
For us, it’s more than getting something from here to there. We’re on a mission to bring you the very best takeout experience every time, because we know that any moment can be made better with food. And as a brand, we’re here to tell those stories — the narratives behind the dishes, the sharing of a meal with loved ones and everything in between.
What tools or channels have you found most important or useful in building your company’s brand?
The beauty of GrubHub is that we’re here to serve everyone across the U.S. — from the daily office lunch order to the special occasion splurge. But what that also means is that all of our customers use our product in very different ways, so we need to find a way to meet these diverse groups where they’re at.
Strategic partnerships are invaluable when it comes to translating our brand across audiences and channels. From our recent esports initiatives to teaming up with Amazon Prime, it’s all about tapping into existing communities and finding creative ways to bring meaningful value to them. What are the behaviors that bring this audience satisfaction, happiness or a sense of achievement — and how can we make it even better with their favorite food? By working closely with brands that intimately know their audience, we’re able to identify the opportunities that a one-size-fits-all marketing approach might miss.
And as a brand, we’re here to tell stories — the narratives behind the dishes, the sharing of a meal with loved ones and everything in between.”
Describe a particularly fun or interesting marketing campaign that you were able to run on the back of this brand.
GrubHub wants to be a sidekick to all of our diners, helping them to achieve whatever they need with their order — whether it’s a last-minute gathering or Tuesday dinner. Our current TV campaign “Go for GrubHub,” speaks to this idea by reimagining the role of the spokesperson. Rather than relying on a single spokesperson, we created a cast of characters who swoop into the scene to drop takeout wisdom and inspiration during a moment of need.
The narrative mechanism is pretty straightforward, but the execution is where the magic really happens. We were able to work with an incredible director, Hannah Levy, who brought so much comedy into the performances and helped us bring specific and unique worlds to life across our six spots. Fun fact: She had actually worked for Grubhub as a representative on our care team before, so she really understood the product and brand in a nuanced way.
We then translated this concept to OOH (out of home) with what we’ve been calling our “Grubhubisms” — pithy food-focused twists on aphorisms. For example, “all is fair in love and wontons” and “crust is the basis of any good relationship.”
How would you define your company’s brand, and what are the pillars that support that brand and differentiate your company from competitors?
Our brand at Codecademy is an extension of our mission, which is to empower inspiring careers in technology. We focus on both the personal and professional benefits of learning technology skills like programming, which open up new opportunities for people to lead better lives and better careers. Compared to many competitors in our space, our approach is more inspirational than tactical. We go beyond specific job titles or salary figures — our emphasis is on why people are motivated to learn how to code, which include things like job security, financial stability and flexibility to spend time with loved ones.
These insights come directly from the Codecademy community, which is a key pillar of our brand. With the demand for tech talent on the rise, more and more people are forging career paths for themselves in entirely new ways — as evidenced by Codecademy’s own user base of over 40 million learners. By focusing on our learners and their stories, we’re connecting the Codecademy brand to what’s happening in the world at large, which is what makes this such an exciting time for the marketing team and the company more broadly.
What tools or channels have you found most important or useful in building your company’s brand?
We focus on both brand and performance marketing to help tell our story, reach new audiences and ultimately drive revenue for the business. We recently moved to multi-touch attribution, which helps us better understand where our customers are coming from so that we can reach them at various points throughout the funnel. For example, we can meet prospective learners where they already are with channels like YouTube and TikTok, which have been highly effective for us.
Outside of specific channels, Codecademy’s own product plays a key role in building and showcasing our brand — which comes through on our website, within our interactive learning environment and throughout our community platforms.
By focusing on our learners and their stories, we’re connecting the Codecademy brand to what’s happening in the world at large.”
Describe a particularly fun or interesting marketing campaign that you were able to run on the back of this brand.
Last fall, Codecademy launched its first brand-focused campaign, “Live By Your Own Code,” which was inspired directly by our learners via a community forum post about their goals. Our learners’ responses had less to do with the types of careers they wanted and more to do with the quality of life they wanted to lead — being able to travel the world, provide for loved ones or achieve financial stability. The “Live By Your Own Code” campaign served as a launching pad for Codecademy to tell these kinds of stories and reintroduce the brand in a relevant, customer-centric way. This translated in our ads, with brand awareness increasing up to 10 percent across platforms that the campaign ran on.
“Live By Your Own Code” continues to shape our brand strategy and storytelling. Our content marketers include former writers from Refinery29 and CNBC, who bring an editorial lens to our storytelling — whether they’re featuring a learner story or connecting coding to hot topics. This month, we’re gearing up to launch the next iteration of “Live By Your Own Code,” which will include our first-ever TV commercial — a huge milestone for our 11-plus year old brand!
