Swiggy Instamart launches regional ad campaign

The campaign has a 30-second TV commercial created to reframe ordinary, everyday banter in a Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, and Malayali households. Pairing localised nuances like the couple’s healthy disses, with subtle humour, the ads showcase how the grocery delivery service’s is a good destination for purchases.

One of the films in Tamil opens with the wife, Simran, closing the fridge door because there are no vegetables. Visibly annoyed, she sighs that they have run out of vegetables except for a ‘Vengayam’ or onion. Here, she is mockingly referring to her husband, R. Madhavan, as the onion. The film portrays a practice unique to the southern states- one of gently scolding loved ones with the names of vegetables. The husband realizes his mistake of having forgotten about the list shared by his wife. She then nudges him to order the groceries, calling out how they are very affordable and delivered in a matter of minutes. In the Telugu film, she calls him a ‘Gummadikayy’ or pumpkin.

As a part of the series, in the Telugu film, Madhavan expresses his frustration that they are all out of spices in the cabinet. Simran mockingly asks him if they are out of masalas just in the cabinet or somewhere else too and nudges him to quickly order spices at an affordable price. Realizing how convenient and affordable it is, Madhavan shamefully confesses that he doesn’t have masala in his head either.

Ashish Lingamneni, head of brand at Swiggy, said, “While this is the grocery platform’s first celebrity-led campaign, it puts the grocery needs and conversations of any southern household front and center. Taking cultural insights unique to this part of the country, our aim is to build a strong brand connection and affinity with customers in the southern cities, even as it grows to become their go-to platform for monthly grocery needs. I am confident the ad films, which capture the relationship between an everyday couple will successfully help us drive home our point of purchasing groceries.”

Deepan Ramachandran, founder of Mind Your Language, the company behind the campaign, said “A lovely insight leads to a lovely story. The practice of gently scolding your loved ones after vegetables and grocery items is very rooted in Tamil Nadu and most parts of South India. This insight fit beautifully with the brief. And when you bring back the delightful pair of Madhavan and Simran to bring the idea alive, magic happens.”

According to Statista, the market value of online grocery across India was ₹396 billion in 2022. Despite this, over 95% of Indian grocery stores are made up of kiranas or a small grocery store. While supermarkets account for about four percent of total grocery shares, online groceries are not even near one percent.