Stop dialling, order online, says Zomato in quirky print ad

The online food platform mashes a popular Hindi film title with the unreliable state of mobile telephony to create an amusing print ad.

Quirky is the middle name of the online restaurant discovery platform Zomato. The brand has done it all, from advertising on porn sites, to executing funny digital campaigns. This time, the platform is promoting its online food ordering service Zomato Order, through a print campaign.

Released in the Sunday edition of the two national dailies Hindustan Times and The Times of India, the full page ad is a clever word play on how online food ordering is better than food ordering on phone.

"Kya pata.... call ho naa ho," reads the copy, urging consumers to stop dialling for delivery, and instead, order food on Zomato. The ad copy is also a clever mockery on the inadvertent call drops that consumers face on a daily basis.

Launched in April 2015, Zomato Order, as of November 2015, claims to have over 12,000 restaurants across 14 cities in India. However, in January this year, it announced the shutting down of its operations in four cities, namely, Lucknow, Kochi, Indore, and Coimbatore.

Zomato also launched two television campaigns in November last year urging consumers to order food online and enjoy family time. The ads were executed by Ogilvy and Mather.

This seemed like a strategic move by the company in order to take on existing players in the food delivery space such as Foodpanda and Faasos which had also spent money on television.

As per the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) data, the food delivery market in India registered a growth of 40 per cent, reaching Rs 350 crore in 2014. It accounted for 17 per cent of the overall online services market which stood at Rs 2,025 crore.

While the segment is a hot favourite among start-ups, few are faring well in the game though. Zomato Order's major competitor, the Rocket Internet-backed food delivery platform Foodpanda, has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. According to a Medianama report, the online food ordering start-up has laid off 15 per cent of its staff (around 300-500 employees) across verticals to become sustainable and profitable.

Meanwhile, another food delivery start-up TinyOwl was also in the news last year for shutting down operations in four cities, and laying off over 100 employees.