I have trained myself to look for things that are not noticed by others. I was quite taken in by the purple colour at the bottom of the ad and, for me, that was the key thing. As you are aware, I am quite good at remembering ads but sometimes fail to identify the brand name.
The answer came like a flash. Zepto. My go-to quick-commerce app.
And that, for me, is what makes this a brilliant campaign. The advertisement made me think. It made me search. It made me connect the dots. The brand was Zepto all the time, but I had to work it out. And that got me thinking even further.
Is
this really a comparative ad solely by Zomato?
I
would bet my bottom dollar that there is more to it. With Blinkit and District
also in the Zomato family, perhaps the campaign is cleverly bringing the entire
ecosystem into the conversation. Maybe the “sister company” meme and District
trying to sneak into the communication are part of the fun.
Further research showed that Pritham, my student, was correct in guessing that the purple could actually be District, which belongs to Zomato. And suddenly, we have another curve ball.
Purple is also strongly associated with Zepto. So what happens when brands become too clever for themselves?
That, to me, is the fascinating part of advertising. The lesson is not simply to look at what everyone sees. It is to look for what others don't see — or, even more importantly, to understand the significance of what they see. My love for marketing stems from precisely this. Marketing can always surprise you. It is always happening, always changing and always live.
Take
the current acrimonious fight between Beco and HUL. Beco has taken the
snide-attack route, while HUL appears to have chosen the legal route.
Zomato, on the other hand, has always had a quirky sense of humour. It seems to prefer taking the fun route. And the fun route, in my view, almost always wins. But there is a danger here.
A
brand colour is supposed to be a shortcut to recognition.
The
moment you see it, you are supposed to know who is speaking. Yet what happens
when two brands occupy the same colour territory?
We have seen this before. Remember Zomato's famous solid-red newspaper advertisement? Zomato ran a minimalist full-page front-page ad drenched entirely in red, with no logo or brand name, essentially saying that no logo was required because “you know who we are.”
Except many people didn't. The advertisement was widely mistaken online for brands such as Airtel, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Coca-Cola, Vi, redBus, Netflix and BookMyShow.
That
is the irony of distinctive branding.
You
work incredibly hard to own a colour, a shape, a sound or a visual cue. But
once consumers start associating that cue with more than one brand, distinctiveness
can become confusion.
This
is also why some Kotak Mahindra Bank advertising frankly creeps me out. It
gives me ideas about products and services which, even by a wide margin, have
nothing to do with financial or banking services.
And
perhaps that is the real lesson from the tiny purple colour matter at the
bottom right of the ad.
Being
remembered is not enough. Being noticed is not enough. Even being talked about
is not enough.
The consumer should ideally remember you. In this case, I remembered the ad, noticed the purple, thought about it, searched for it — and only then arrived at the brand.
Perhaps that is brilliant advertising. Or perhaps brands are becoming just a little too clever for themselves.
And
that is what makes marketing so much fun.
What
did you see first — Zepto, District or something else?
Keywords: Brand Identity | Distinctive Brand Assets | Brand Recognition | Brand Attribution | Colour Branding | Consumer Psychology | Advertising Strategy | Comparative Advertising | Creative Advertising | Zomato | Zepto | District | Blinkit | Quick Commerce
#Marketing #Advertising #Branding #BrandStrategy #BrandIdentity #ConsumerPsychology #AdvertisingStrategy #DistinctiveAssets #Zomato #Zepto #District #Blinkit #QuickCommerce #MarketingIndia
Really insightful and interesting perspective, sir! I genuinely appreciate the effort you have put into decoding the small details in this communication, especially the significance of the purple colour. While going through the creative, I also felt that the purple box could represent District entering the conversation as the “third sibling.” The entire communication starts with Zomato and Blinkit playfully arguing over whether to cook or order, and the conversation keeps getting more like a sibling fight. Then comes the purple “Can y’all get a life” — which, to me, feels like District stepping in and saying, “Instead of sitting at home and fighting over a meal, why not go out, explore, and actually experience life?” Considering what District represents, I felt this could be a subtle way of completing the conversation and bringing the idea of going out and experiencing something beyond food. Of course, this is just my personal observation and interpretation, but I found this layer of the creative quite fascinating.
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