DoorDash Dances Stress Monsters Away in Campaign from Hard Work Club

Mastering messes, conquering chaos, and pummeling paperwork. DoorDash can help.

DoorDash is showing how it can assist in conquering everyday 'stress monsters' with a dance-tastic new campaign from Hard Work Club called “Dancing With My Stress.” It is the Toronto-based agency’s first work for DoorDash since being awarded the account late last year.

The campaign brings to life three well-known stress monsters — laundry, paperwork, and the kids’ mess — and shows how taking a dinner (or dessert) break with DoorDash can alleviate the stress of having to prepare a meal. All of the spots were directed by Karim Zariffa of 1stAveMachine, who is well-known for his ability to bring magical scenarios to life without relying on VFX.

Soundtracked by the Robyn song 'Dancing On My Own', each spot opens on a DoorDash customer feeling overwhelmed by a household task before them, such as laundry, paperwork or a mass of kids' toys that need to be put away. 

After showing them placing a DoorDash order, the spot continues with the customer dancing with a physical manifestation of one of the tasks as a Dasher makes his way to their home. The spots conclude with their delivery order being placed at the door and their task miraculously completed as they sit down to enjoy their food.

“When you place an order with DoorDash there is a whole neighbourhood ready to help make that to-do list a little lighter,'' says Heather Cameron, director brand marketing and creative, DoorDash Canada. “That favourite neighbourhood spot is cooking up comfort with love, Dashers are ready to deliver it on their route and our customers have a little extra time to focus on crushing something else off their list, even if that is just taking a moment."

All of the effects for the video spots were created in-camera, with Hard Work Club and 1st Ave Machine enlisting a team led by acclaimed Cirque du Soleil costumer Lucien Berneche Atelier to create actual costumes representing the various stress monsters worn by the dancers.

More than 1,000 toys and kids’ items were sewn or tied in place to create the toy stress monster, for example, while each laundry monster featured about 75 items of clothing sourced from a thrift shop. Each costume took nearly 60 hours to create.

“For the campaign we wanted to portray the idea that there’s power in giving yourself permission. Permission is the freedom to pay for convenience that can turn your morning, afternoon, or evening around,” says Meghan Kraemer, partner and creative director, Hard Work Club. “It's relief from the things that have taken hold of you, like that pile of laundry nagging you from the corner of the room.”

The campaign debuted on April 18th with the 'Laundry' and 'Toys' spots, with the 'Paperwork' spot launching on April 25th, timed to coincide with tax season. The ads will run until July 3, with a second flight scheduled for later in the year. 

The media buy includes high-profile English and French programming, and a heavy investment in sports programming, complemented by online video. There is also an additional layer of TV ads more focused on promo marketing.