Uber Eats tells football fans not to cook in Gordon Ramsay campaign

Uber Eats has launched its first global delivery advertising campaign, fronted by Gordon Ramsay and built around a simple idea: when the football is on, nobody wants to cook.

The campaign, Who Could Cook At A Time Like This?, stars Ramsay as the world’s most intense anti-cooking advocate, telling fans to put down the pans, turn on the match and order Uber Eats instead.

Launching globally on 11 June, the campaign will run across 17 markets, including Australia, New Zealand, the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Spain, Ireland, South Africa and several European markets.

Created by Mother and directed by Jeff Low through Biscuit Filmworks, the hero film sees Ramsay going door to door interrupting people mid-cook during football matches.

Set to Dario G’s football anthem Carnival de Paris, the spot leans into the contradiction of one of the world’s most famous chefs telling people not to bother cooking.

“When the football’s on, nobody wants to be standing over the stove stressing about dinner. A night off from cooking isn’t the end of the world, it's called priorities! Get the game on, order Uber Eats and enjoy it properly,” Ramsay said.

The campaign will run for five weeks across TV, social media and out-of-home, with PHD handling media.

Georgie Jeffreys, global head of marketing at Uber, said the campaign was designed to tap into a universal fan behaviour.

“We wanted to find the most over-the-top and entertaining way to play up a very real truth: when the game is on, people don’t want to cook,” Jeffreys said.

“As our first-ever global delivery campaign, it was important to lead with an idea that was universal, simple, and culturally relevant for fans everywhere – while showing how Uber Eats helps fans get the food they want delivered straight to their door, without missing a moment of the action.”

The campaign will be supported by a global social media program and local market activations.

Felix Richter, global chief creative officer at Mother, said the campaign started with the contradiction of Ramsay telling people not to cook.

“The entire campaign started with one very funny contradiction: Gordon Ramsay, probably the world’s most famous chef, telling people this is absolutely not the time to cook,” Richter said.

“Once we had that, everything else flowed from there. Gordon brought the perfect level of intensity, comedy and chaos to it.”

Beyond the Ramsay-led Uber Eats campaign, Uber is also using the FIFA World Cup to roll out a broader suite of travel and fan experience products across the US, Canada and Mexico.

The company will launch Uber Shuttle services at four US match venues, including New York/New Jersey, Boston, Miami and Dallas, offering upfront pricing and no surge pricing after games. It is also introducing Uber Max, allowing fans to reserve 14-seat vans in selected US cities, alongside a Travel Pass designed to unlock savings across Uber and Uber Eats during tournament travel.

The company is also extending its food and fan features, with Uber Cash rewards on Dine Out bookings in US host cities and the ability for fans to customise their Uber car icon in-app with their national team’s flag.