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Inside Uber Eats’ Ever-Expanding Super Bowl Foodspiracy

03/02/2026
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Uber Eats and Special US discuss pitting Matthew McConaughey against Bradley Cooper in their latest Super Bowl play, alongside a cameo-laden ‘Build Your Own Super Bowl Commercial’ in-app experience, writes LBB’s Addison Capper

Matthew McConaughey’s case for ‘food-ball’ is facing its final hearing.

Uber Eats’ methodically crafted, tongue-in-cheek NFL conspiracy universe is culminating for a second year running, with Matthew’s food-ball theorist character going head-to-head with Bradley Cooper as Parker Posey fans the flames in the brand’s latest Super Bowl spot.

“It’s a juicer!” says Matthew, standing outside the suspiciously shaped Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. It’s one of many conveniently named, football-adjacent pieces of ‘evidence’ he uses to convince Bradley of the theory.

Rather than hitting reset, Liza Keller, head of integrated marketing campaigns at Uber, says the brand and its agency partner, Special US, wanted to let the ‘Football is for Food’ idea keep evolving.

“Over the past two NFL seasons, the conspiracy has continued to unfold, with new ‘evidence’ stacking up along the way,” she says. “What’s stayed the same is the deliberately humorous – and consistently clever – tone fans love.”


Matthew, effectively the face of this mythology as its lead for a second season, delivers “credibility, and an incredible commitment to the bit”, according to Liza. “He sells the theory with a perfect amount of unhinged seriousness that it feels real, but enough charm that people want to continue to offer new evidence, debate it, and share it.”

Bradley, meanwhile, came into the realm earlier this NFL season as Matthew’s nemesis. A known diehard Eagles fan, his presence as the sport’s ultimate defender made sense after the team’s Super Bowl win in 2025.

This year’s campaign was directed by Steve Rogers via Biscuit Filmworks x Revolver, with social and teaser support from William Stefan Smith. “Steve brings a mix of comedy and visual craft to his work,” say Matthew Woodhams-Roberts and Dave Horton, co-CCOs of Special US. “This combination has been very important throughout this campaign.”

The scope of the shoot was also “incredibly ambitious given all of the elements”, and his experience and problem-solving was crucial to its success.

“William’s incredible comedic chops and ability to improvise with talent in very tight windows of time helped us get the absolute most out of some very busy days,” they add.

Performances were structured to leave room for improvisation, without losing control of an increasingly complex shoot, further heightened by a new in-app experience designed to complement the on-air activity.

For what Uber says is the first time ever, it is putting the conspiracy directly into fans’ hands with a ‘Build Your Super Bowl Commercial’ experience in the Uber Eats app. Users can create their own ad, with more than 1,000 potential combinations, with cameos from the likes of Addison Rae, Amelia Dimoldenberg, Tramell Tillman, Sauce Gardner, Jerry Rice, Pork Chop Womack and Sourdough Sam, alongside Matthew, Bradley and Parker.


“As always, we work with talent going into the shoot to craft dialogue and give them room to put it in their voice,” say Matthew and Dave. “Steve was great at getting that quickly and then allowing for some time to play.”

But given the ambition of each day, they needed to be very disciplined about how much time they gave each set up. “Everyone was very aware of the number of scenes and variations we needed to capture to make a ‘build your own” experience that would have enough variation that it would be rewarding for fans to play with.”

This marks Special’s sixth Super Bowl outing with Uber Eats. Over that time, Matthew and Dave say the agency has developed a unique collaborative way of working with celebrity talent when it comes to the brand. “We don’t really ask them to play fictional characters, and definitely not traditional spokespeople,” they say. “Instead, we work with them to really create a usually self-deprecating, maybe slightly more unhinged version of themselves.”

It begins with establishing a creative point of view and tone they’re hunting for. “Then we always work closely with talent themselves to shape it in their voice. It’s been a joy to work with Matthew and Bradley to develop these characters and long-running storyline across seasons.”

For the ‘Build Your Own Super Bowl Commercial’ experience, a customisable ‘bowl’ of proof will be available to order on the app. Every ingredient people select is a different food connection to football – sometimes from players, sometimes from celebrities, sometimes from talking burgers. ‘Build Your Own Super Bowl Commercial’ allows users to explore more than 36 hours worth of bespoke films, featuring different scenes, celebrities and conspiratorial evidence. Two examples are embedded below.



“We really wanted to make sure there was something for everybody, not just hardcore football fans,” say Matthew and Dave. “Whether it’s Amelia Dimoldenberg helping point out a wishbone formation, Addison Rae shilling Diet Pepsi or Jerry Rice still eating… rice.

“You’ll see ‘Football is for Food’ evidence popping up everywhere,” they add. “Not just on TV and inside the app, but across social, in out-of-home, and at an experiential event within the Super Bowl fan experience in San Francisco.”

With the conspiracy now fully formed across film, in-app experience, and beyond, Liza says the Super Bowl remains a uniquely powerful moment for Uber Eats from a business perspective. “The Super Bowl is one of the biggest cultural and food moments of the year, with millions of fans making real-time decisions about how to feed their gatherings,” she says. “No other moment combines cultural scale, sustained storytelling, and immediate food-driven behaviour the way the Super Bowl does – making it a natural fit for Uber Eats.”

Success for the campaign is measured equally between cultural impact, brand metrics and sales performance. “Our campaign is designed to drive cultural relevance, strengthen the brand, and support the business, and the real signal is when those things move together,” adds Liza. “At a high level, we’re focused on whether the work shows up meaningfully in culture and reinforces Uber Eats’ role in moments that matter to fans.”

The long-term thinking behind ‘Football Is for Food’ is reflected in Uber Eats’ ongoing partnership with Special US. It’s an approach the teams unpacked on stage on the LBB Beach at Cannes Lions last year, as the campaign evolved into a multi-year platform built in close collaboration with Uber’s marketing and in-house creative teams.

“A long-term partnership builds real creative chemistry,” says Liza. “Over time, we’ve developed a shared trust, instinct, and a common language, which allows the work to move faster, go further, and take smarter risks. That foundation lets us push each other, have fun in the process, and stay aligned on what matters most – creating bold, meaningful work for the brand.”

“Every year our ambition rises higher and higher,” add Matthew and Dave. “With Bradley and Matthew’s showdown – and especially with ‘Build Your Own Super Bowl Commercial’ – this year is definitely a new bar.

“This kind of work is only possible because of the foundation of trust we have with each other – a willingness to push each other, and ourselves, at every step, and a shared commitment to craft, comedy, and putting the best possible work out into the world."

Keep up with Super Bowl LX here.

See every 2026 Super Bowl ad so far here

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