Unilever Captures Late-Night Cravings with DoorDash Dayparting

For brands on DoorDash, success often hinges on knowing when customers are most likely to shop—and showing up in those key moments.

That insight led Unilever’s Ice Cream team to explore new ways to better align their campaigns with shopper behavior. While their ads were already driving results, they saw an opportunity to go further by reaching customers right when cravings strike. To unlock that potential, they turned to DoorDash Ads’ Dayparting feature, giving them precise control over when and where their campaigns appeared.

Nighttime Cravings and Impulse Buys: A Strategic Shift

Unilever’s Ice Cream team had a clear goal: grow their share of category sales in DoorDash. But they were facing a common challenge – campaigns that capped too early in the day, missing late-night hours when ice cream cravings spike.

So they tried something new.

With Dayparting, Unilever was able to schedule campaigns by shoppers' local time zones, ensuring their ads stayed live during high-intent evening windows. Our built-in heatmaps gave Unilever insight into their peak brand and category hours - highlighting not only when shoppers were most active, but when they were most likely to buy ice cream.

Unilever launched two Sponsored Brand campaigns focused on weekends and late nights, shifting their spend to match peak conversion periods. The results were clear: higher ROAS, better conversion rates, and a more efficient use of their budget.

By showing up when cravings hit, Unilever made their dollars work harder - and captured more share in the process.

Why It Worked

Dayparting offered three key advantages that unlocked Unilever’s success:

• Local-time precision: Targeting customers in their own time zones helped maximize evening exposure across regions.

• Category-level insights: Heatmaps showed when ice cream buyers were most active, down to the hour.

• Flexible budget control: Spend was shifted away from low-performing hours, allowing for higher bids where conversion potential was highest.

More Than a Feature—A Competitive Advantage

Unilever’s late-night win isn’t just a great story - it’s proof that timing matters. With Dayparting, advertisers show up when it counts. 

Explore how Dayparting can unlock new performance for your brand.