Playing it safe is expensive when nobody notices you.
Live from the Marketing Vanguard stage at Brandweek 2026, Jenny Rooney sits down with Tyler Stewart, head of marketing at Gopuff, for a play-by-play on how a challenger brand competes in one of the most crowded corners of commerce without trying to outspend everyone else.
Tyler gets into why Gopuff’s real edge sits in its first-party logistics, and how competitors can also become distribution partners
He also addresses why the promise of “instant” means more than shaving minutes off a delivery.
What you’ll learn:
- Why Gopuff’s proprietary logistics are central to its competitive position
- How competitors can also become valuable distribution partners
- Why instant commerce is about convenience and access, not speed alone
- Why dense urban markets matter more than rapid geographic expansion
- How Gopuff uses partnerships to create unexpected customer experiences
- Why challenger brands have to be more resourceful when they cannot win on spend
- Why Tyler would rather have Gopuff debated than ignored
- Why fewer, deeper creator partnerships can beat a stream of one-off posts
This episode is part of a special vidcast series that was recorded live during Brandweek 2026 and presented in partnership with Tatari.
About our guest:
Tyler Stewart is head of marketing at Gopuff, where he leads marketing across the business as the company continues to expand what instant commerce can look like.
His career started in sports entertainment and talent representation before moving through media and integrated marketing roles at GQ, The Players’ Tribune and Bleacher Report.
That mix of sports, media, entertainment and startup experience now shapes how he approaches Gopuff: find where the brand can create attention, build partnerships people actually care about and turn the company’s operational strengths into something culturally relevant.
Episode Highlights:
[05:32] Could Your Competitors Be Your Best Distribution Partners? — Gopuff competes with major delivery platforms, but Tyler does not view the category as adversarial. The company’s first-party logistics allow it to sell through platforms like DoorDash and Uber Eats while also serving as a last-mile partner elsewhere. Here lies a lesson for marketers – competitive advantage can create more options than simply beating everyone else at their own game.
[13:11] How Gopuff Competes Against the Giants — Tyler is blunt that Gopuff does not have the budget to match every larger competitor dollar for dollar. His answer is resourcefulness. Partnerships with talent like Tom Brady are designed to create products, access, and culturally interesting moments rather than simply rent celebrity reach.
[14:32] “We’d Rather Be Debated Than Ignored” — At Brandweek 2026, Tyler offers one of the clearest statements of Gopuff’s brand philosophy. In an attention economy where being noticed is increasingly difficult, he would rather push far enough to spark debate than play it so safely that nobody notices. For a challenger brand, invisibility is the bigger risk.
[17:14] One Deep Creator Partnership Beats Ten Logo Slaps — Tyler’s partnership strategy is “do less but better.” Instead of asking talent for another sponsored post, Gopuff tries to build something with them, whether that means products, content, or unique access. The goal is to make the relationship feel organic to both the creator and the audience.
