DoorDash shoppers come to the app with a need, not a shopping list, and that makes them unusually loyal and unusually open to discovery. Katie Daleo, General Manager of CPG Ads at DoorDash, joins Phillip and Alicia to talk about how brands can plan for moments instead of audiences, why DoorDash pursued Alliance for Audited Media incrementality certification, and what changes when commerce media is measured on orders and intent instead of impressions.

Plus, we dig into the newly launched Brand Center, which turns what Dashers see on the shelf into real-time availability and substitution data, why brand and performance marketing are converging again, and why Katie sees DoorDash as "local commerce at scale."

The Moment Is the New Demographic

Key takeaways:

DoorDash's incremental ROAS methodology earned AAM incrementality certification, and Katie says partners are seeing 30%+ incremental sales lift on average.
Discovery is up for grabs. In some categories, unbranded DoorDash searches (think: "beer") drive 10% of orders, so brands have to win the shopper who hasn't picked a brand yet.
Videos under six seconds perform best, and placement matters: what works on the homepage can get in the way on a product page when someone just wants to check out.
The funnel collapses inside the app. Awareness, consideration, and conversion can happen in a single session, so offsite creative and in-app click-through need to work as one journey.
Brand Center turns the shelf into a data source. Brands can now see on-shelf availability, which SKUs actually make it onto DoorDash, how their product content shows up, and where shoppers go when an item is substituted.
Out-of-stocks are a loyalty test. Roughly 40% of shoppers ask for a refund rather than accept a substitute, which tracks with the third of shoppers who arrive with a specific item in mind.
"If you can find a solution that works for the consumer, it will work for the brand, in which case it will work for DoorDash." — Katie Daleo
"Data is the currency we have with CPG partners." — Katie Daleo
"You can now do the full funnel in like three minutes." — Katie Daleo
"Any media should be showing impact, but the actual metric or the methodology may need to be different." — Katie Daleo
"I think of DoorDash as a platform that allows you to do local commerce at scale." — Katie Daleo

Associated Links:

Episode 474: Commerce Media's Day Two: The Agentic Shelf and the Measurement Reckoning
The Senses: The Advertising Week Mid-Week Dispatch
“Vertical Dramas” and the New Era of Commerce Media
Ad Infinitum: Retail Media is The Final Boss
Episode 452: LIVE at Shoptalk Spring: Retail Media Confessions, Hype Cycles, and the Creator Reckoning
The Future of the Funnel (Live from K:LDN 2026)
Insiders 224: Non-Determinism and the Death of Performance Marketing
Insiders 238: Where Were You When the Monoculture Returned?
The Senses: Quick Commerce's God Complex
Even TikTok is an Ad Network Now
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40% Won’t Settle for A Substitute: What DoorDash’s Data Tells Us About Loyalty

Future Commerce

40% Won’t Settle for A Substitute: What DoorDash’s Data Tells Us About Loyalty