When Purple Becomes a Clue: Brilliant Branding or Too Clever for Its Own Good? - Zomato Rakhi advertisement today (28-08-2026)

 

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 colour purple is supposed to be a dead giveaway, but it did not strike me at all. So, like all of us, I asked Google: “Which quick-commerce company in India uses purple?”

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

 

Delulu, Trululu, Solulu… or Just Confusulu? - Zepto Banner Ad.

"The only Trululu is we have the Solulus." I opened my Zepto app and this was the first thing staring at me. I read it once. Then again. Then a third time.

Only after a few seconds did I realize what the copywriter probably meant: Zepto has all the solutions ("Solulus") to my everyday problems.

Unfortunately, by then the moment had passed. The slogan makes the reader pause not because it's clever, but because it takes effort to decode. Good advertising should make people think about the brand, not about what the sentence is trying to say.

I understand where this is coming from. Words like Delulu have become part of internet culture, especially among Gen Z. Once a slang term becomes popular, marketers naturally want to ride the wave. But that doesn't mean every campaign needs to manufacture new cousins like Trululu and Solulu.

Sometimes, creativity crosses the thin line into confusion. There's another interesting angle. For Telugu speakers, Solulu sounds uncomfortably close to Sollu.

In Telugu, sollu has negative connotations. It can refer to saliva dripping when someone is infatuated, and the expression sollu maatalu refers to cheap, sleazy or vulgar talk. While Zepto obviously didn't intend this association, language is full of cultural nuances. A word that sounds trendy in one context may sound awkward or even embarrassing in another.

This is where marketing becomes fascinating. India isn't one audience. It is hundreds of audiences speaking different languages, carrying different cultural references and interpreting the same message differently. A slogan that delights one segment may completely puzzle another.

I have no problem with brands being playful, youthful or even a little quirky. In fact, I enjoy clever advertising. But cleverness should never come at the cost of clarity.

Today's marketers have access to incredible analytics, audience segmentation and AI-powered insights. Use them wisely. Target campaigns to audiences who appreciate this style of communication instead of broadcasting them to everyone.

After all, the goal of communication is not to make consumers stop and decode the message. The goal is to make them instantly understand the value.

Here's my simple test: if I need to mentally translate a slogan before I understand what you're selling, you've already made me work too hard. And that's the irony.

Marketing should reduce cognitive load, not increase it. If your audience spends more time decoding the slogan than understanding the value proposition, the creativity has defeated its purpose.

Sometimes the smartest advertising doesn't make us say, "Wow, that's clever." It simply makes us say, "I get it."

Keywords: Zepto marketing, Gen Z slang, Delulu, Solulu, Trululu, advertising, branding, Telugu language, marketing communication, cognitive load, consumer behaviour, viral marketing, Miscommunication, Different meaning in another language, translation errors

#Marketing #Zepto #Advertising #Branding #ConsumerBehaviour #GenZ #Delulu #MarketingInsights #Telugu #BrandCommunication #DigitalMarketing #MarketingMusings #Miscommunication, #Different meaning in another language, @translation errors

Not so Sweet Jab: Paytm takes a playful dig at Zepto's free Soan Papdi Campaign!!!

Paytm's new campaign, ‘Iss Diwali gifting ka naya tareeka shuru karo (this Diwali starts a new trend in gifting),” comes as a surprise. Paytm is a fading brand in the payment apps. It is seen as a Nokia in that category. Just like Nokia, it grew the segment only to give way, market share, word of mouth, and top-of-the-mind awareness to Google Pay and Phone Pay. Phone Pay and Google Pay have become the default payment apps, and Paytm is slowly fading into the background.

The advertisement shows a family visiting their friend’s house on Diwali night. As they are ringing the bell, they hear voices from inside the house. The husband is commenting, “What did you get as a gift from your office?" His wife says, “Soan Papdi, what else? and adds, “If anyone else gifts me Soan Papdi, I will shove it down their damn throats.”.

Hearing this, the visiting couple hurriedly dumps the offending soap Papdi gift packet into the bushes. Pleasantries are exchanged, and the cheeky little boy asks, “Uncle, what gift have you brought us?”. The friend couple is nonplussed for a second but recovers dramatically and transfers Rs 1,100/- on Paytm, and the day is saved. But rubbing salt into the wound, he cheekily comments, “With that money, your dad can buy you gifts or can buy you—Soan Papdi!!!”.

In the present scenario, it is quite strange that Paytm launched this campaign. It was okay to talk about its own USP (it is no longer Paytm’s USP) and try to promote itself. Instead, it is trying to make fun of Zepto, who is trying to do a noble thing in trying to bring back glory for Soan Papdi.

While the Zepto campaign brings a lump to the heart and makes us smile, the Paytm campaign tries to be too smart for its own good. It is smart alerky and sounds like a campaign executed by a fresh behind-the-ears management school employee trying to be funny and falling flat on his/her face.

And while Zepto and Paytm have a symbiotic relationship. Each is dependent on the other for survival. Customers use Zepto and Paytm for convenience. So, is it worthy to make fun of your business partner? Not in my view. Both need each other to survive. All in all, a campaign that could have been avoided. 

Great one Zepto, "Make Soan Papdi Great Again" Campaign

In a world filled with overstimulation, overexposure, and Deja vu, I had to be triggered off my Sunday slumber to write this piece. This campaign shook me up!

In India, everything is a status symbol including sweets. Once Padma, my wife hesitatingly asked me, what is your favorite, "sweet?".  Without batting an eyelid, I answered "Ravaladdu". Padma watched me with a wide-open mouth. She was astonished "Ravaladdu?". 

She expected that my answer would be Ajmer Kalakand, Kaju Katli, Badam roll, dry fruit laddu, Matka rasagulla, or something costly and exotic. She sheepishly told me that her favorite was an equally humble sweet, "Jilebi". 

I could never understand how sweets could even become status symbols. I worked in a country where eating sweets was considered a sissy (girlish) habit. There are no sweet shops in entire Ethiopia!!

I am puzzled why Soan Papdi is the Butt of all jokes when it comes to sweets. It is not preferred and is among the least-liked sweets. It is rarely gifted during the festivals and even if gifted, is rarely consumed and the lovely Soan Papdi hardens into lumps and finally is thrown into the dustbin. 

What a pity. This mouthwatering sweet that is easy to eat, and ridicule is actually quite tough to prepare. It needs great muscle power to prepare Soan Papdi. It does not create a mess like the syrupy Gulab Jamoon or the Rasagulla. 

Thus it is heartening to see Zepto partner with a Soan Papdi maker to run the,  “Make Soan Papdi Great Again” campaign  

This festival season with every delivery,  Zepto customers would receive a free box of Soan Papdi and stand a chance to win prizes worth 5 crore rupees. 

Brilliant campaign Zepto!! You have hit the bull’s eye. This one resonates. Triple whammy I would Say. Firstly Zepto is giving a sweet box and receiving a sweet box is considered auspicious, secondly as the sweet is Soan Papdi, Zepto would get a great deal as it is a generic promotion for the product.

The cost of Soan Papdi is reasonable and Zepto would not have to burn a hole in its pocket to get huge quantities. The well-known Soan Papdi makers would give their Soan Papdi free to get favourable word-of-mouth publicity and to garner eyeballs. 

Thirdly as there is a chance to win Rs 5 crore worth of prizes many customers would switch to Zepto for their parcel deliveries. Great way to go Zepto,  a man biting a dog campaign.

update 23-10-2024

My Cousin Mrs. Vasundhara Nanjappa from Bangalore sent a WhatsApp message saying that 100 grams of Soan Papdi was given. Karachi Bakery a Hyderabad based company has tied up with Zepto for the supply of Soan Papdi. Thanks for the update.